Shannon Ridge Vineyards & Winery Retains Balzac Communications

Napa Agency to Provide Public Relations and Marketing Services

Napa, CA – Shannon Ridge Vineyards and Winery, a family-owned wine company based in Lake County, California, has retained Balzac Communications & Marketing, the leading wine public relations and marketing agency, as their agency of record. As the acting agency, Balzac will be responsible for promoting the wine and the story of Shannon Ridge to wine industry trade, media, and consumers.

“Our wines are really taking off, and the company is seeing tremendous growth,” says Clay Shannon. “It’s about time that we told the whole story of who we are, and what we are doing with our family ranches and vineyards. These days Americans want to know where the products they purchase come from, and who makes them. And Balzac is going to help us tell our story.”

“Lake County is ideally positioned for the future of the US wine market, with delicious wines at very competitive prices,” says Paul Wagner of Balzac. “Clay Shannon is the clear leader of Lake County, and we are really excited about working with him and his family to make these brands into household names. And the sheep, too!”

The portfolio of Shannon Ridge wine includes the Single Vineyard Collection and Ranch Collection, of which the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon won DOUBLE GOLD at this week’s San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. The 2009 Sauvignon Blanc won the GOLD MEDAL at the 2011 Dallas Morning News and TexSom Wine Competition, the Riverside International Wine Competition, and the Critics Challenge Wine Competition.

Shannon Ridge’s vineyards are certified sustainable, and are known for their wooly compost machines – a flock of 1,000 sheep, complete with shepherds and a team of highly trained sheepdogs. The sheep do an excellent job of canopy management and leaf removal, and pick the vineyard clean after harvest. They also manage the cover crop in the spring and work hard to reduce fire danger in the surrounding hills the remainder of the year.

About Shannon Ridge Vineyards & Winery

The Shannons are committed to preserving their land, not only for the great vineyard sites but also for the bear, elk, mountain lions, eagles and other creatures which live there. Of the approximately 1,400 acres on the ranch, only about 35% have been converted to vineyards. The balance of the land has been preserved for the wildlife which wanders through the property from the expansive wilderness area to the north and east. The vineyards were carefully planned out, leaving corridors open to migrating animals and protecting sensitive nesting areas.

About Balzac Communications & Marketing

Balzac Communications & Marketing is a marketing communications agency with a no-nonsense approach to combining the strategies and tactics of marketing, public relations, advertising and graphic design to achieve the marketing goals of its clients. The experience, creativity and determination of the staff distinguish Balzac from their competition. They use these assets to develop and execute cost-effective campaigns, which have won international communications awards. The results speak for themselves. The agency is located in Napa, California, and provides services to national, regional, and local companies based in Northern California and throughout the world.

Wine producers from Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti Classico, Nobile di Montepulciano and Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore featured in 2012 American tour

 More than 100 Italian wine producers from four pre-eminent DOCG regions of Italy will be represented at the Italian Wine Masters events, which will be held in early February of 2012. The Italian Wine Masters will tour New York on February 7 at the Metropolitan Pavilion, andSan Francisco on February 9 at the San Francisco Terra Gallery.

 “We will be featuring wines from among the leading wine regions of Italy, and the tastings really offer a superb overview of the world of Italian wines as it continues to evolve to meet the demands of the global market,” say representatives from the Italian Wine Masters.

The events, which will be organized by Balzac Communications & Marketing, will include both seminars and trade tastings. Trade tasting participants will experience a rare opportunity to preview and taste the finest selections from Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti Classico, Nobile di Montepulciano, and Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore.

The seminars, held earlier in the day, will focus on Prosecco and the great appellations of Tuscany. The New York seminars will be taught by wine educator Tracy Ellen Kamens, CWE, DWS, and the San Francisco seminars will be taught by Tim Gaiser, MS, and Education Chair for the Master Sommeliers.

For more information, or to register for either of these events, contact Tiffany van Gorderat tvangorder@balzac.com.

From the Forbes.com-The Good Grape Blog

Stereotypes exist for a reason. Mainly, they are rooted in some level of truthiness: However, here’s a bit of stereotypical truthiness that is no longer valid.  Box wines don’t suck.

In fact, these days, depending on where you look in the wine aisle, much of the box wine in the U.S. is quite good. Yet, like most wine matters, this truth isn’t always obvious when fighting against perception. And, popular perception holds that Franzia’s ubiquitous boxed wine, long the top-selling wine in the U.S. based on volume, is rot gut swill.  While I’ll abstain from giving my own Franzia opinion, I will note that wine enthusiasts are missing an opportunity to find drinking value and enjoyment across a number of other box wine offerings if they let one box spoil the pallet, as it may be.

With that in mind, as a summer public service, driving to the essential truth between “perception” and “reality,” here is my short course on box wine:  The least you need to know to navigate the box wine options at the grocery store.

First things first: A proof point

Let’s get this out of the way immediately: Few people cop to following wine scores, but they are a qualitative measure for the wine business and a guiding force in consumer purchases. So, when Wine Spectator magazine reviewed 39 box wines in the fall of 2009 and 37 of them received a score higher than their “Good” score of 80 points, it’s validation for the whole box wine category. If the critics believe, generally speaking, so too should the skeptics.

Read the rest.

From The Wall Street Journal-

The Napa Valley has been a little short on legends lately. Not legendary wines- there are still plenty of those- but legendary figures. It’s almost three years since the last legendary man, Robert Mondavi, passed away and much longer since he was the one man most synonymous with this great California wine region.

According to Napa grape grower Andy Beckstoffer, the time of legendary men may be over. “The vineyards are the next Robert Mondavi. The vineyards are what matters,” he said.

One could argue that this position was either born of great knowledge or was rather self-serving, since Mr. Beckstoffer owns 1,000 acres of vineyard land in Napa.

Unlike many growers, Mr. Beckstoffer only sells grapes to other wineries; he doesn’t make wine himself. “That’s an entirely different business,” he said. It simplifies matters and reduces expenses and also answers the inevitable question about growers who also make wine from their grapes: Don’t they keep the best fruit for themselves?

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Article by Michael Wangbickler.

From the St. Helena Star:

While vintners in Napa Valley have been growing grapes and making wine for century and a half, the last 10 years have seen an incredible amount of change and growth. The year 2000 marked the beginning of the first post-Phylloxera decade in the modern era. By 2000, most growers had pulled out all their diseased vines and replanted with heartier rootstock and more appropriate varieties of grapes. In essence, it was a “do-over” and gave most wineries and growers an incredible opportunity to leverage new knowledge and technologies to better their wines.

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From the St. Helena Star:

As cabernet is the king of reds, so chardonnay is the queen of whites in Napa Valley. Compared to cabernet which has roots in Napa well before the 20th century, chardonnay is a relative newcomer, introduced in the 1930s but only finding real popularity in the 1970s. And popular it became, rising with meteoric speed to the number one planted and drunk white wine in California.”

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From Oklahoma’s KTEN:

It’s generating billions of dollars and it’s right here in Texoma. The Texas wine industry is having a huge impact on the state and it is only expected to grow.

Texas wine is generating more than 1.3 billion dollars a year in Texas and employing thousands.

Read the rest.