Highlights:
Just in time for the popular premiere of Downton Abbey’s fifth season, Downton Abbey Wines expands its portfolio with the new Countess of Grantham Collection, inspired by American-born character Lady Cora Crawley. The New World-style collection—a counterpoint to the other Bordeaux-style Downton Abbey wines—features a Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, both sourced from Lodi, California, and will be sold for $15 a bottle.
Music festival season is fast approaching, and on the heels of Coachella and Pitchfork announcing their line-ups comes Napa’s own BottleRock. Scheduled for May 29–31, the third-annual fest will be headlined by No Doubt, Robert Plant and Imagine Dragons. Other performers schedule to take the stage will include Snoop Dogg, The Avett Brothers and Foster the People, while you can imbibe on wine and beer from the likes of Gia by Gia Coppola, Schramsberg, Lagunitas and Anchor Brewing will be poured throught the festivities.
There’s a new app in town, and it’s striving to change happy hour culture. Happy Any Hour (aka Happy) is a new mobile app that allows users to create their own happy hour, any time they want. Happy works with bars and restaurants to create time ranges for happy hour deals; users visit the venue, activate the “Let’s Get Happy” button and have unfettered access to those deals for 60 minutes. The deals don’t veer too far off the “$1 off wine” or “$2 off beer” road, but are typically available for longer swaths of time. Think of it as happy hour on your schedule. So far, participating locations are limited to Manhattan and Brooklyn, but we expect the app to become really popular, really fast.
In the Trade:
The Santa Lucia Highlands Wine Artisans, a trade group of the California appellation’s winegrowers and wineries, announced today the appointment of Gary Franscioni as the new President of the group’s Board of Directors. Franscioni owns the Roar wine labels, and grows grapes on his Rosella’s and Sierra Mar vineyards, among other projects. Franscioni is taking over from outgoing Board President Dan Lee of Morgan Winery.
On January 7, 2015, the Terlato family announced the acquisition of its newest property, the Juliana Vineyard in Napa’s Pope Valley. The 60-acre vineyard joins Terlatos’s other Napa estate vineyard holdings which include the 66-acre Mee Lane Vineyard; the Terlato Estate Vineyard in the Rutherford appellation; and 119 acres in Stags Leap District at Chimney Rock Winery. The Terlato family previously had a long-term lease on the property and developed the vineyard in 1998. The property is planted principally to Merlot and Cabernet Franc, which is used in Rutherford Hill Merlot and select Rutherford Hill Bordeaux-style blends.
In celebration of its 30th anniversary, TGIC Importers Inc. has changed its corporate name to Guarachi Wine Partners. The company represents Bodega Norton, Kaiken, Lea, Montes, Pascual Toro, Santa Ema and Tensley wines, along with a number of proprietary brands.