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14 WINES&VINES December 2017 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS OREGON HARVEST: ELK COVE VINEYARDS Michael David acquires DeLuca Vineyard Michael David Winery of Lodi, Calif., announced the acquisition of the 160-acre DeLuca Vine- yard in the Clement Hills sub-appellation of the Lodi AVA. The vineyard was planted to own-rooted, head- t r a i n e d Z i n f a n d e l starting in 1961. Mi- chael David has been using fruit from the DeLuca Vineyard in its 7 Deadly Zins label since 2004, becoming the sole buyer for the vineyard's yields by 2009. DeLuca Vineyard adheres to the Lodi Rules sustainable grapegrowing program. Michael David produces 600,000 cases per year and owns more than 800 acres of vines in the Lodi AVA. Breakthru acquires Bacchus Importers Breakthru Beverage Group, a U.S. wholesaler and Canadian broker based in New York, acquired fine wine and spirits wholesaler Bac- chus Importers Ltd. Owned by the Merinoff family since 1994, Bac- chus is a wholesale supplier to Maryland, Delaware and Washing- ton, D.C. Bacchus will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Breakthru yet will operate independently and re- tain all current employees and the company name. World wine production plummets in 2017 The International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) reported Oct. 24 that extreme weather events in- cluding a devastating spring frost in Europe caused world wine produc- tion to fall 8.2% in 2017 compared to the previous year. Wine produc- tion was at historically low levels in Italy, France and Spain, with world wine production totaling 247 mhl, or 7.2 billion gallons. In spite of a 23% decrease in wine production compared to the previous year, the OIV report said Italy produced the largest amount of wine this year, with 39.3 mhl, or approximately 1 billion gallons, compared to 23.3 mhl, or 616 million gallons, in the United States. Constellation opens winery for The Prisoner The Franciscan Estate tasting room in St. Helena, Calif., closed Oct. 30, making way for a tasting room dedicated for The Prisoner Wine Co. Constellation Brands of San Francisco, Calif., purchased The Prisoner Wine Co. from Huneeus Vintners in April 2016 for $285 million. Paul Hobbs buys vineyard Paul Hobbs Winery purchased a 45- acre vineyard in the Alexander Val- ley AVA from Silverado Investment and Management Co., according to Zepponi & Co., a mergers and acquisitions firm based in Santa Rosa, Calif. The 80,000-case win- ery in Sebastopol, Calif., produces Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardon- nay and Pinot Noir under the Paul Hobbs and CrossBarn Wine labels, according to Wines Vines Analytics. The new property will supply the CrossBarn Sonoma County Caber- net Sauvignon program, according to Hobbs. Cayuse says corks ruined wine vintage Winemaker Christophe Baron said in late October that bad corks had ru- ined an entire vintage for Walla Walla Valley-based Cayuse Vineyards. Speaking to Wine Spectator, Baron said the suspect stoppers were used to close nearly 3,000 cases of wine worth more than $3 million. In an email to his mailing list, Baron said he was working with an insurance com- pany to recover losses after "paraffin particulates" in the corks created an oily film on his 2015 wines. Accord- ing to Wines Vines Analytics, Cayuse Vineyards produces 4,200 cases of wine per year with an average bottle price of $80. Okanagan Valley vineyard changes hands Phantom Creek Estates purchased a 63-acre vineyard on the Golden Mile Bench from the Jentsch fam- ily. The site was planted in 2004 and features the red Meritage vari- eties as well as Viognier and Syrah. The vineyard will supply a winery currently under construction in British Columbia. Oregon wineries grapple with big harvest Winemakers scrambled to juggle the final influx of fruit in Oregon, where anecdotal reports estimate the 2017 vintage at between 85,000 and 90,000 tons, up from 79,782 tons in 2016. Christine Clair of Willamette Valley Vintners Inc. es- timated her winery's yields were 30% to 50% above expectations. "We have so much wine that we're looking to offer on the bulk market because it's more than we need for our brands," she said. The record for Oregon's wine grape harvest was set in 2015 with 84,949 tons. Texas winery sold, will be renamed Scott and Linda Poenitzsch pur- chased Wichita Falls Vineyards & Winery in Iowa Park, Texas, from Alton and Lana Gates, who also produce wine under the Gates Vineyards & Winery label. Scott Poenitzsch sits on the board of directors for the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce and says he plans to rename the 2,000-case winery Horseshoe Bend Cellars Vineyard & Winery. Iberian wine regions under fire siege While wineries in Northern California dealt with their own catastrophic fires (see page 16), wildfires broke out Oct. 13 in the wine regions of Galicia in Spain and Dão in Portugal. The fires burned 133,437 acres, killed 49 people and were fanned by winds from Hurricane Ophelia. This was the second series of fires this year on the Iberian Peninsula, which experienced devastating fires in late June. Amazon turns the page on wine When Amazon announced in October it was shutting down its online wine marketplace, the news was widely re- ported in the general press and tech media as the behemoth retailer's latest failure in web-based wine sales. That assessment could prove pre- mature, as it is more likely Amazon was getting in front of a potential tied-house issue following its $14 billion acquisition of grocery store chain Whole Foods. As the Whole Foods wine program is integrated into Amazon's wide-ranging retail empire, the company could be set for a truly disruptive move in wine sales and possibly the three-tier system. See page 15. Visitors return to wine country October's devastating Northern California wildfires cost many tast- ing rooms a month's worth of tasting room traffic, but winery staff breathed a sigh of relief in November, when the tourists started returning. See page 16. LATEST NEWS More detail on the news at winesandvines.com. Top Stories The month in perspective