Silicon Valley Bank was closed Friday by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation after a bank run by its venture capital customers. For nearly 30 years, the bank has been the go-to financial institution for the California wine industry. But now, an estimated thousands of wineries are locked out of their Silicon Valley Bank accounts — and they don’t know if, or when, they’ll get access to their money. 

In their ongoing battle to make sure they get a 30 percent cut of every bottle of wine, wholesalers like to publicize stings staged to demonstrate that underage people can order wine online. But an extensive study by one of the most widely used platforms to ship wine shows that real underage kids almost never actually try to order wine – and when they do, they're usually stopped right away.

“We are incredibly grateful to have secured retail partners such as Target, Walmart & Total Wine. Vinoshipper has been a huge part in opening those doors for us”, stated Alex Lightman, Chief Operating Officer at Spade & Sparrows.