The Shutdown: A Giant Pain in the Bung Hole
I'm pretty sure I'm shouting into the void here, but to whomever reads this that has any influence over the situation: please don
Latest Update on the Crush Report
If you are a buyer or seller who needs help figuring out how to plan for the future without the Crush Report release; how to resolve payment
Update on Crush Report
For a while, I think some of the folks at USDA-NASS's Pacific Region office must have suspected they had the same guy calling in every year with questions about things like, whether the Statewide average Albarinho price was accurate or a typo. Eventually, I just made an appointment to meet with them, introduce myself and discuss methodology. I can tell you, they are a diligent and thoughtful team who do great work. The shutdown endangered our ability to get the timely price
Looks Like Recreational Cannabis Legalization Isn't Hurting Wine Sales After All
I've talked a lot on this blog about whether or not cannabis legalization will hurt wine sales. At first, I was pretty adamant that the effect would be small enough that we couldn't detect it. I based this on some basic research I did showing that (a) wine consumption is positively correlated to cannabis consumption on a state-by-state basis; and (b) nationwide wine consumption is positively correlated to cannabis consumption over time. It also made little sense to me that

Interactive Chart of the Last 27 Years of District 3 Pinot Noir Prices, by Percentile
This creates an easy way to see how District 3 Pinot Noir prices have evolved, by percentile, over time, in both nominal and inflation-adjusted dollars. Below is a screenshot, but the power in the file is that you can scroll through all the years from 1991-2017, using a simple scroll bar. Go to the Grape Data Tutorial page to download this and similar charts. Feel free to use and disseminate it, but please leave my contact info on it. #grapeprices #grapedatatool #percentile
Interactive Chart of the Last 27 Years of Napa Cabernet Prices by Percentile
So, sometimes I'm deep into a client project and I hit a wall. My work quality drops, my productivity falls. In some cases, I just do some jumping jacks or go into the house to change that light bulb that went out a couple days ago - and then get back to work. But sometimes I feel the need to keep my mind focused on the same type of work - I just need a break from the subject matter at hand. So I made a pretty cool interactive chart that allows you to track the distributio

Lake County Wine Grape Price for 2018
So, this post may be coming a bit late to be of much help, but maybe it will be useful to someone. This stems from some casual research I was doing. I've been hoping for a contract to forecast Napa County Cabernet Sauvignon. It's such a huge question going forward, as to what extent Napa Cab will follow a steady, upward trajectory and to what extent it is still vulnerable to cyclical effects and macroeconomic headwinds. To really look at an issue like that would take, in m