AT THE START OF AUGUST, Wines & Vines announced some transformative changes that I'm going to explain here in a little more detail.

Since 2004, this publication and Wine Business Monthly have been owned by Wine Communications Group. The rapidly changing publishing world and the realities of a business model supported by print advertising ultimately made it clear around the start of the year that it no longer made sense to continue to publish two wine industry trade publications that were essentially competing with each other.

The December edition of Wines & Vines magazine will be its last as it is being merged into the pages of Wine Business Monthly. The practical and informative content that has filled our magazine will be moving to that publication, which, undoubtedly, will become the industry's leading trade magazine. This is similar to how Wines & Vines absorbed Wine East and Practical Vineyard & Winery magazines. Linda Jones McKee will continue to cover the industry in the East, and Don Neel will coordinate the same kind of content we've published in our Practical section for Wine Business Monthly. Our annual Directory/Buyer's Guide will continue to be published in print and online as well.

It may be the end for Wines & Vines as a print magazine, but as part of an ongoing evolution, the publication will transition into Wines Vines Analytics; a new company focused on providing the industry's best data and analysis. I will be heading up a new digital publication called the Wine Analytics Report that we plan to release in January. We're also hiring additional staff to support this publication and other enhanced database services.

I have been working with our Wine Industry Metrics since I joined the magazine in 2011 and have watched it become some of our most popular and sought-after content. These metrics include off-premise wine sales, direct-to-consumer shipments, winery hiring and total U.S. wine sales. The new analytics report will take all of this information and package it with more industry news, expert commentary and other analytical insights.
In addition to the report, Wines Vines Analytics is bolstering our other data services that include the Online Marketing System (OMS), brewer and distributor databases and the Distributor Market Service (DMS). The DMS is what we used to produce our second special report on the wholesale market including the top 10 largest U.S. wine distributors that you'll find in this issue.

We'll also be incorporating the industry's best wholesale data from Gomberg, Fredrikson & Associates, and all of our services will support the many events produced by Wine Communications Group including the Wine Industry Technology Symposium, Innovation + Quality and others.

It has not - and won't be - easy to say goodbye to a publication with as long of a history as Wines & Vines. But these changes are part of a larger, strategic transition of our company into one that provides a wider range of services based on what we do best.

Many of you are likely in the midst of the hectic, early days of harvest, but be assured that the team of Wines & Vines and all our colleagues at Wine Communications Group are eager to continue to provide you the best news, data analytics and events and these changes will help us do that.

-Andrew Adams