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Jan 22
2010
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The California wine industry is in a world of hurt. Premium wines are gathering dust on store shelves. Warehouses throughout the state's wine regions are full to bursting as vintners, trusting in the saving grace of annual holiday sales, refused to lower prices and held onto their unsold wines. Well, its January and wine sales have not rebounded. Napa Valley and Sonoma County vintners are holding their breath, wondering who will be first to slash prices. More than 100 bankruptcies or foreclosures are predicted this year. Today, I have a story in the New York Times' new San Francisco edition about one vintner -- Naomi Brilliant -- who is walking away from the wine business after 10 years. She simply stopped making Roshambo, calling it plain crazy to keep lowering prices to try to spur sales. Another story I've written -- posted today on the Entrepreneur Magazine website and set to be the cover story for the March issue -- goes into much more detail about the economic troubles in California's wine country. The piece focuses on the smart moves that one young vintner, James Stewart, is making to position himself to not only survive the downturn, but to thrive.


