Mother Nature controls much of what happens in agriculture, and wine grapes are especially finicky. Harvest timelines and fruit quality vary based on weather and peoples' decisions. The 2026 spring weather was most unusual and that's going to have an impact.
Artificial Intelligence is everywhere on the Internet. Perhaps, you could say it's being shoved down our throats. Regardless, we all probably use it, more so with the youngest among us. Millennials and Gen Z of drinking age. Yes, some of the Gen Z (1997 to 2012) are of drinking age!
Following is some help in using AI to actually give you useful suggestions.
Organic wines have received a lot of media attention. But who is drinking organic wine? The previous blog post defines what organic wine is.
Part of the personal health trend means consuming healthy food and drink. For many this means it's organically grown or raised. Organic wines have gotten lots of media buzz, but what exactly is organic wine?
Tasting room fees have doubled since 2012. Tasting room traffic is way down. Coincidence?
Wine in cans started with a sweet, fruity, fizzy beverage in a can with a cute, colorful label on the outside. It's growing up and becoming a beverage for adults rather than for college kids at the beach or maybe sneaking them into movie theaters and concerts.
Silicon Valley Bank's yearly report is a benchmark on the current state of the American wine industry. They put out two major annual reports, The State of the U.S. Wine Industry, and this one, the Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) Wine Report. Direct-to-consumer and wholesale are the channels for a winery to sell product. DTC means they get to keep all the profit, wholesale means it's shared with the wholesalers and retailers.
By overripe, I mean the soft, lush, blockbuster fruity wines of California. By questioning if they are finished as a style, I mean they aren't going away anytime soon, but are they losing popularity. We are seeing a return by some winemakers to what I consider more balanced and structured wines.
If you're flying into Northern California to visit Sonoma County or Napa Valley, rather than landing in San Francisco or Sacramento, consider flying directly into wine country. There are plenty of flights into the Sonoma County Airport (STS).
Here's the current list from the Petaluma Argus-Courier. This information is also at the airport's site.
Approximate drive times from STS:
Healdsburg 13 minutes
Sonoma 50 minutes
Calistoga 32 minutes
Napa 65 minutes
Wine same customs have been around for many generations, and it seems almost impossible to change any of them. It's not all necessarily bad, but some things make you wonder.
California's wine industry experienced explosive growth in the 2010-2020 timeframe, adding roughly 1,500 wineries between 2010 and 2020 alone. Since the mid-1990s the number of wineries in America has been on a steep climb.
