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The Echo Chamber
- aliyemelton
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
The headline isn't your story. Your records are.
In my last post, I talked about various viewpoints on the future of wineries in California and a lively online discussion. My favorite comment from that discussion was:
It sounds like a rumor that gets passed around and repeated as fact.
Take, for instance, the current industry chatter about the 2026 harvest: that it has been the earliest harvest in California history and a clear demonstration of the implications of climate change.
And for some, that is true. One of my clients processed his last pick on August 27th. The end of his earliest harvest in almost 40 years of winemaking.
Another told me that, for the first time in 30 years, Chardonnay was picked before Sauvignon Blanc.
But I recently heard Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Head Winemaker Marcus Notaro speak about the 2026 harvest. He admitted his own curiosity was piqued. This vintage marks the earliest harvest of his tenure with the estate, but he was curious about the estate’s 50-plus-year history. Thankfully, he has access to detailed records. So, he went digging. Only to find that the 1980 harvest began a few days earlier in August.
None of these details make the trend less real. Harvests are starting earlier; my client’s calendars are proof. But “the earliest since 1980” is a vastly different story than “the earliest ever.” For Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, only one is true.
In the echo chamber that is the wine industry, sensational headlines garner attention, and a winemaker’s curiosity, and sometimes the truth itself, gets lost in the noise.
So do your own digging. Pull pick dates. Find your version of 1980 or Chardonnay before Sauvignon Blanc.
As marketers and brand representatives, it is our job to help tell that story accurately and to keep the records that help each brand tell its own.
And as a self-professed wine nerd, I love what curious winemakers find when they go looking.
What is your 2026 vintage story?
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One thing worth saying plainly: I write every word of these posts myself. No AI, no ghostwriter, no shortcuts. Just me, an opinion, and too much wine.
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