For the first time this year, the proposed U.S. Farm Bill being debated in Congress features substantial benefits for specialty farmers, including winegrape growers, instead of just paying big commodity farmers.

Ask five winemakers the color of the sky, and you will get six answers. Ask them how or why they filter wine, and you will get similar results. It is soon obvious the "book of filtration" will never be written; and some brave souls do not filter at all. That said, filtration is for arresting fermentation, clarification, fining agent removal, bio-reduction, polishing and bottling preparation. For small- to mid-sized wineries that filter, the best way to prepare wine for the bottle is still dependable depth filtration. [read more]

Wineries are planning to make substantial investments in all areas of production this year, according to the year-end WBM Winery Equipment Survey. With wineries setting aside capital for everything from tanks to bottling, almost no one seems to be slowing down. Wine is selling, and despite the three-year, runaway Euro exchange rate and rising cost of stainless steel, wineries must buy more equipment to grow. Wineries of all sizes are optimistic leading into the 2008 season. This continued growth is part of a trend that WBM has been tracking since 2004. On the other hand, serious issues exist in regard to fabrication and availability of certain types of equipment. [read more]