What You Read: Top Ten Posts in 2024

It's always interesting to see what posts readers read most in a given year. I just tallied up what posts got the most page views and here are the results. (Posts must have been written in 2024 to be on this list.)

THEMES

¨• Event tastings
That includes a Cal-Italian tasting in Healdsburg that included a (very) few U.S. producers with certified organic vines and a Rhone Rangers event in Sonoma (on one of the hottest days of the year) 

• Breakthroughs for the organic sector

A U.S. first–Tablas Creek's organically grown estate wine in a box (all their other previous boxed wines, i.e. Patelin, were not organically grown but will be in the future), U.S. organic wine trade group formed a wine council within the Organic Trade Association, and news from Slow Wine in Italy, that Chianti Classico now 50 percent organic. Another story was about organic acreage totals for the state, Napa and Sonoma–the first time I have ever gotten this info from CCOF (in 13 years of writing about organic vines). And Curtis Mann, the influential MW who heads up Safeway and Albertsons' wine sales, says organically grown wine needs to be more clearly labeled for consumers to know what they are buying.

• Studies showing organic farming is more resilient and produces better quality wine
Napa Green forum (with various North Coast producers), O'Neill's regenerative organic study at Robert Hall and reports from Sonoma and Napa growers that organic is cost-effective.

Rankings by Page View Order

• Festa Italia in Healdsburg Celebrates California Cool Kids' Growing Italian Side: It's All About Pleasure 

This is a community that has yet to embrace being certified organic, but two stars are – DaVero and Preston Farm and Winery – and their wines were standouts. 

• Exceptional Wines from the Rhone Rangers Tasting in Sonoma 

Organic and biodynamic producers are among the top tier when it comes to making Rhone varieties.

• Economics of Organic Definitely Pencil Out, Say Major Producers at Napa Green Event in Rutherford 

Quintessa, Gloria Ferrer and Grgich Hills report on lower farming costs, longer lasting vines, and higher quality from organic grape growing. 

• Organic Vintners Form New Organic Trade Association Wine Council, Seek to Harmonize with Global Organic Wine Standards 

Bonterra's Joseph Brinkley moves back to D.C. to head new lobbying presence for organic vintners. 

• Where Are California's Organic Vines? CCOF Stats Shows 4 Percent of State's Wine Grape Vines are Organic–A Quarter Are in Napa 

While organic wine grape acreage in the U.S. has doubled since 2016, to 23,187 acres, one region, Napa, has about a quarter of those vines. In contrast, Spain, Italy and France have about 18 percent organic–and it's growing. 

• News from Slow Wine Fair 2024: "Chianti Classico Now More Than 50 Percent Organic" 

FederBio's president, Maria Grazia Mammuccini reports that the majority are organic and therefore more resilient, since they have designs "an agronomic strategy to create a ‘vineyard system’ capable of responding to climatic shocks."

• Wine Spectator Top 100 Features 7 Wines from Slow Wine Guide | Including 4 U.S. Wines from Organic Vines

Bethel Heights, Calera, Burgess and Stag's Leap Wine Cellars took home top honors. 

• Can Regenerative Organic Farming Pencil Out? Study Provides State-of-the-Art Data and Demonstrates Dramatic Improvements in Wine Quality and Yields 

In what I think may be the most valuable study of the year,  Caine Thompson of O'Neill Vintners shared valuable data on resilient farming with peers and the public.

• Economics of Organic, Part 2: Deep Dive on Organic Vineyard Costs from High End Vineyard Management Company

Turns out crimping is cheaper than mowing, according to Sonoma's leading organic vineyard management company, Enterprise Vineyards. Plus, more tips in their full presentation (link in story). 

• Do Organically Grown Wines Need to be Labeled? Safeway's MW Says Consumers Want That | Yet 71 Percent of U.S. Wines from Organic Vines Do Not Label Organic on the Bottle (When They Legally Could)

My own data, compiled but not published for Vivino several years ago, showed that only 71 out of 1,654 qualifying wines labeled their bottles "ingredients: organic grapes," though they legally could. The label can appear on the back of the bottle.