Labor and land in California wine country – or should we call it California marijuana country … lawyers protecting us from ourselves, and ourselves helping define what kind of wine the mass-market producers will produce for us. [level-members]
Labor and other issues aren’t going away in the US wine industry, as these articles on the rising influence of the LCI – legalized cannabis industry – and immigration reform have on availability and cost of labor and land. The LA Times offers us this piece on the difficulty of finding American workers willing to do the field labor required. The New York Times’ article on marijuana’s effect on California wine country.
Also out it in California, we have a slightly less friendly welcome for tourists headed into Napa. The iconic “Welcome to Napa Valley” sign has been roped off, probably at the behest of some paid-to-be-cautious lawyers. Understandable given the railroad tracks right there and our wonderfully litigious society …
And we have a pair of loosely related articles all about crowdsourcing wines, the lower end of the market, and how wines that definitely aren’t made on the farm are made in the winery.
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