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12 WINES&VINES April 2018 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS Direct-to-consumer purchases fly free from 29 cities Alaska Airlines expanded its Wine Flies Free program to 29 cities stretching from San Diego to Seattle. The program allows the airline's mile- age club members to buy 12 bottles at any winery in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho and check a case of it on the flight with them at no extra charge. New to the list of airports providing the service are San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose. Bidding passes $4.1 million at Premiere auction Premiere Napa Valley brought in more than $4.1 million to support the Napa Valley Vintners' (NVV) mission to promote, protect and enhance the Napa Valley. Wines from 2016, the fifth in a string of highly-regarded Napa Valley vin- tages, were the stars of the show at the barrel tasting and futures auction, hosted by the NVV. The 217 auction lots were purchased by 58 successful bidders, including 11 new buyers and three returning from years ago. John Anthony buys historic church and vines Winemaker John Anthony Truchard has purchased a 10-acre vineyard property in the Napa-Carneros AVA from which he has already been making a vineyard designated Sau- vignon Blanc for his company, John Anthony Family of Wines. As vine- yard manager, he originally planted a 4-acre plot of vines on the site in 2003 and has been overseeing the vineyard since. The vineyard is known as Church Vineyard for the picturesque 19th century Pennsyl- vania church on the property that was re-assembled there by the pre- vious owners to be a home. Foley Family partners with Banshee Wines California's Foley Family Wines and Banshee Wines announced the cre- ation of a strategic partnership be- tween Foley Family Wines, which includes at least 15 properties and brands, and the 50,000-case Ban- shee and Rickshaw brands based in Kenwood, Calif. Banshee CEO Baron Ziegler said he has relied on buying grapes from independent growers throughout California's top wine regions since 2010. "The part- nership of our two companies will provide Banshee access to grapes from premium Foley Family vine- yards located in the best growing regions along the California coast, while also providing Banshee ac- cess to Foley Family Wine's vast network of sales and distribution." Sustainable vineyards in California grow by 45% The California Sustainable Wine- growing Alliance released its first annual Certified Sustainable Report, highlighting the accomplishments of the 127 wineries and 1,099 vine- yards in California that are certified. In 2017, the certification program saw a 46% growth in the number of certified vineyards and 20% growth in the number of certified wineries. Napa custom crush gets OK to expand Bin to Bottle, a custom-crush win- ery in south Napa County, won approval to add 250,000 gallons a year in winemaking capacity next to its existing facility already ca- pable of producing 312,000 gallons a year. The 5-acre site is in the in- dustrial-commercial area near the Napa County Airport. Bin to Bottle was founded in 2005 and claims 50 to 70 clients with an average bottle price of $65. Lodi growers honor farm advisor At the 66th annual Grape Day, Lodi's grape and wine industry honored the man who helped organize the educational sessions for nearly half the Grape Days held to date. Paul Verdegaal, University of California Cooperative Extension San Joa- quin County farm advisor for the past 31 years, retired Jan. 1. His longtime service was recognized as this year's Grape Day keynote speaker. Verdegaal is well-respected throughout San Joaquin County and beyond for his depth of knowledge, dedication and work as an integral team member with many organiza- tions and the research community. Napa ballot measure would limit vines to save oak trees A proposal to further regulate the development of land in Napa County, Calif., will go before voters in an election this June. Measure C, which was originally described as the Napa County Watershed and Oak Wood- land Protection Initiative of 2018, will appear on the ballot of a June 5 election. The measure would impose additional zoning restrictions on tree removals in areas near streams to protect the natural environment and the county's water quality. See page 13. Washington wine grape harvest down 16% in 2017 Wineries crushed 227,000 tons of wine grapes in 2017, a 16% drop from the previous year, according to the 2017 Grape Crush Report by the Washington State Wine trade association. The final tally fell short of estimates announced in February. Cabernet Sauvignon was the most- harvested grape in the state, representing 27% of total wine grapes crushed with 62,200 tons, though the figure was down 14% from 2016. Chardonnay, meanwhile, held a 17% share of grapes crushed with 39,300 tons, also down 14%. See page 14. LATEST NEWS More detail on the news at winesandvines.com. Top Stories The month in perspective Paul Verdegaal