Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 02/25/2026 8:31:18 AM PST by thegagline
Winemakers are pulling the cork on California.
Another giant in the world-famous wine growing region is shutting down and slashing staff, making it the fourth since the start of 2026.
Jackson Family Wines has stopped production at its Carneros Hill facility in Sonoma’s Carneros region, laying off more than a dozen employees, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice filed with California authorities on Feb. 12. ***
Jackson Family Wines is known as one of the top US wine producers, the sixth-largest wine company in the country.
*** It owns the Kendall-Jackson label and about 40 other brands, producing around 6 million cases a year, according to an industry review. More than 25 of those wineries are in the Golden State.
Last week, major winemaker Gallo announced the closure of a large production facility and the elimination of nearly 100 jobs across the wine growing region of Napa and Sonoma counties.
*** In January, Constellation Brands notified more than 200 people at the Mission Bell Winery in Madera that they would be out of work. ***
According to a recent report from Wine Business Monthly, there were 4,727 wineries in California in 2025. As of February 2026, there are 4,646. The number of American adults who say they consume alcohol has fallen to 54%, according to an August 2025 Gallup poll.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
1-edibles
2-less socializing, more staring at screens ( phones, tablets)
3-“Son, never trust a man who doesn’t drink because he’s probably a self-righteous sort, a man who thinks he knows right from wrong all the time. Some of them are good men, but in the name of goodness, they cause most of the suffering in the world. They’re the judges, the meddlers.
And, son, never trust a man who drinks but refuses to get drunk. They’re usually afraid of something deep down inside, either that they’re a coward or a fool or mean and violent. You can’t trust a man who’s afraid of himself.
But sometimes, son, you can trust a man who occasionally kneels before a toilet. The chances are that he is learning something about humility and his natural human foolishness, about how to survive himself. It’s damned hard for a man to take himself too seriously when he’s heaving his guts into a dirty toilet bowl.” James Crumley
Really? That wasn't very nice and it is not true. Alcohol ruined my biological parents. Get lost.
Bs
“Son, never trust a man who doesn’t drink”
If were my dad were not dead, I would think he wrote that. He was a man who drank very sparingly but still uttered that comment.
You do realize that that was a quote, right? Sorry about your parents, but “get lost” is a bit harsh.
I suspect the body of analytical chemistry involved toward improving blends has reduced the value of that expensive real estate and the consequent price of the labor pool as abetted by California’s famous regulatory gulag.
Can’t say I much agree with Mr. Crumley’s take: anyone who thinks there’s nothing to fear from losing all inhibition due to alcohol (”those who drink but refuse to get drunk”) is foolish.
“The heart is perverse above all things, and unsearchable, who can know it?” - Jeremiah 17:9
1 and 2 sound about right. 3, and the following 2 paragraphs sound like a drunk addict, or a pre-drunk addict in denial, trying to explain away why they are addicted. But can’t help killing their liver, brain, relationships, stomach, and heart, cause being drunk feels so good.
IMHO
Never trust a man that judges others.
Anecdotes aren’t evidence. Point 3 is a generalization. A rule of thumb. It isn’t meant to apply to every single person.
If the for-profit California vineyards are going under, imagine what is happening to the thousands of vanity vineyards that dot the Napa Valley landscape. They survived by having just enough sales so that the owners didn’t have to contribute too much capital to keep them afloat. Now the owners are in the position Bezos is in with the Washington Post - how much do you want to pay in operating deficits to keep a vanity project alive?
And son never trust a man who drinks but refuses to get drunk.
And son never trust a man who gets stoned but refuses to get stoned.
Always a cruthch to lean on for the weak of mind.
Labor, regulatory, and taxes.
One thing to put in the mix: There are a lot more wineries in other parts of country now, their cost to produce is lower than California’s and their quality is competitive.
Another piece: A lot of very rich people buy wineries as playthings. They don’t always do well at it. I know one case personally. Nothing wrong with the winery they bought but they didn’t make it.
The good life meets reality check.
You might add
4) the rise of so much good health and medical content on YouTube.
Lots of very competent docs have discovered they can monetize their knowledge by providing it to hundreds of millions of people across the globe instead of a thousand patients they might see over a decade. The sheer volume and quantity of content blows me away.
Last July I decided to lose weight. I did it by reducing calories and exercising more. But then around November I started watching these YouTube docs discussing metabolic and cardiac health and I then decided to take the next steps — no alcohol, no sugar, even lower carbs, no snacks, intermittent fasting. I’ve had maybe two drinks since taking that step, and that was even over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
See, we must make judgements.
We must.
What's important is the kind of judgement you make and upon what it is based.
Don’t mess with my Carlo Rossi, Paisano.
relax, it’s an opinion and a humorous quote.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.