Why it's Difficult to Get Wine Shipped to You

  About 15 years ago the Supreme Court said if you let local state alcohol companies ship to consumers, you have to let out-of-state do the same. This started a trend of more and more states allowing wine shipping, with some caveats.

Next Big Thing in Wine - Michigan. Huh?

The better wine regions in the country are growing in acres of vineyards planted, but none quicker than Michigan. Though that state produces less than one-half of one percent of all American wine now they have big plans. They expect to be at 10,000 acres of wine grapes in a short time (Sonoma County has 62,000 acres). 

Wine Tasting Fee Sticker Shock

With the pandemic rules, most wineries, in the Napa / Sonoma region anyway, have gone to seated tastings by reservation. This controls the size of the crowd and the spacing of groups. 

Since the end of the Great Recession wine prices and tasting fees have increased. Now with the added changes for the pandemic, it's officially sticker shock for anyone who hasn't been wine tasting in a while.

Sonoma County Harvest Fair 2021

Every year the Sonoma County Harvest Fair celebrates the best wines from Sonoma County grapes. This year, as last, there isn't a public celebration as the weekend wine tasting is again cancelled due to the pandemic. 

The list of winners is available for you to peruse and maybe purchase a few favorites (that's what I'll be doing).

Results by winery

Results by wine variety

Italian Style in Sonoma County

Sonoma County has a rich history with Italian immigrants in the local wine industry. Just look at many of the winery names like Fappiano, Martinelli, Pedroncelli, Rochioli, and Seghesio. You can find the Italian spirit at tasting rooms throughout the county, some pretty genuine, some a bit less authentic, but these are great places for Barbera, Sangiovese, Zinfandel and maybe some obscure Italian varietals.

Lower Alcohol Wines

If you remember the "old days" California wines usually had an alcohol content of 13.x%. That has crept up over the past two or three decades to averaging closer to 15% for many varieties. If you still prefer the more subtle approach to winemaking, there are a few places you can find this style. Or maybe you're just curious about a different method of making wine. 

Wines You Could be Drinking

If you're a bit tired of Chardonnay, Malbec, Cabernet, or whatever you've binged on for a while, then I've got a few other choices for you! Maybe wines you don't see too often in the store, or just don't know much about. Actually, it could even be because you don't know how to pronounce them. These all make excellent food wines.

Mega Purple in Your Wine

 Wine, it's just grapes, right? Okay, some know water can be added along with things like tannins, acids, and sugar. And, of course, there's  the influence of oak barrels. Other additives are used, usually to fix a flaw, but not all of it is there to make your wine taste better.

Introducing a wine juice concentrate called Mega Purple.

U.S Wine Exports

American consumers have a nice selection of imported wines from around the world available. Other countries, to a varying degree, have some choices of American wines, What they probably don't have is a huge variety of what this country has to offer.