Whether it's relaxing at home, dining out at a restaurant or celebrating with friends and family, American consumers are enjoying wine in a wider variety of occasions. A recent report titled “The 2015 Gallo Consumer Wine Trends Survey,” commissioned by Modesto-Calif.-based E. & J. Gallo Winery, found that 85 percent of frequent wine drinkers now consider wine as an appropriate beverage for casual and formal settings alike. One-thousand frequent wine drinkers between the ages of 21 and 64 were surveyed as a follow-up to the 2014 survey of the same name, which aims to capture the current state of American wine-drinking attitudes and behaviors, the company says. 

Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits’ Josh Cellars brand added a new varietal to its portfolio: Lodi Zinfandel. 

Wine and gourmet producers from Spain to showcase products creating an alliance between Europe and the Americas.

Sixty-six wine professionals from around the world judged the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition and later visited award-winning Finger Lakes wineries and attended a lunch at Waterloo Container in Waterloo, N.Y. The lunch-and-learn event featured three of the top beverage packaging manufacturers in the U.S. introducing new packaging innovations. These are innovations that can be expected on the shelves next to wines – or maybe holding wines – in the very near future.

Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards, a brand of Brown-Forman Corp., Louisville Ky., and Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area announced that the annual Wishes in Wine Country event collectively raised more than $936,000 to benefit children suffering from life-threatening illnesses this year. The event, which curates the best food and wine produced in Sonoma County, hosted 800 guests on the croquet lawns of Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards on May 16, as part of the ongoing partnership, the companies say. This year, fundraising efforts were able to support a total of 24 wishes to children of the Greater Bay Area.

In anticipation of the return of the PBS series “Downton Abbey” in January, Wines That Rock launched the Downton Abbey Wine Collection.

Union Wine Co. unveiled new packaging for its line of wines to appeal to a younger audience, it says.

Wine on tap began to catch on in the late 2000s in major metropolitan areas like New York City and San Francisco as a way for cost-conscious consumers to sample premium wines without having to purchase an entire bottle. In recent years, the popularity of wine on tap has spread inland.

Beam Inc. added Prosecco, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Cabernet Sauvignon wines to its Skinnygirl Wine Collection.

Admix introduced Rotosolver II, an energy-saving high-shear mixer. This next-generation equipment is designed to offer a 30 percent reduction in energy consumption and a 10 percent improvement on dispersion when compared with the original model, the company says.