If a Cork and a Screw Cap had a Baby

In the battle between Big Cork and screw cap lovers a cork manufacturer has decided to fill a niche that maybe you didn't know needed filling.

Meet the screwcork. It's a cork, it's not aluminum, and it's threaded. The screwcork requires a specially made bottle with a matching thread. Then you can unscrew and reseal the bottle all without a corkscrew.

Chardonnay, The Secret Love

A whole lot of wine drinkers will tell you they don't like Chardonnay. It even has a name, ABC, Anything But Chardonnay. At the very least they'll tell you they don't like buttery Chardonnay. Why? Because they've been told to hate Chard. So how do you explain the fact that it's still the top selling wine in America?

Organic Wine -- Will it Ever be a Thing?

The market for organic food is a $50 billion business in the U.S. Wine, not so much. Part of the problem has to do with market confusion as there are organic grapes, organic wine, biodynamic, sustainable and natural wines. 

Growing grapes organically is more difficult meaning more expensive and a bit risky. The real risk is when you try to produce an organic wine as this is much more difficult. Organic wine doesn't mean better wine.

This article from the Press Democrat explores the issues. 

Sonoma is Better Than Napa for Your Visit

Hey, I didn't say it, she did. She can't spell Guerneville but we'll let that by.

Why Sonoma is so much better

Who Spends the Most on Alcohol?

The Journal of the American Medical Association did a study showing that overall the percentage of American adults drinking is on the rise. They also looked at the spending in various cities. Here are the top five.

Tidbits for Enjoying Wine

   Wines come in thousands of variations based on variety, region, winemaker, etc. On top of that there are many things you do that will change a wine. Some of those might be more obvious like storage conditions, wine temperature, and the wine glass used. Others are less obvious.

When Marketing of Wine and Cannabis Collide

Sorry, I'm a little too buzzed to be speaking
to you all right now

  Francis Ford Coppola, owner of the Coppola Winery here in Sonoma County, recently got into the marijuana business. Now that it's lawful to grow and sell in California there are lots of entrepreneurs trying to figure out how to make money legally.

  As any self-respecting vintner-type would he has teamed up with a grower to do a "limited edition" of special strains calling it the Grower Series. And he'll charge a lot for it since his name is on the packaging. Sorry, no nickel bags. One report called it the luxury marijuana business.

  For better or worse it got me to thinking now that California is in the cannabis biz maybe they should copy some of the verbiage from the wine biz just like ol' Francis did.

Sonoma County for Distilled Beverages

You know there's wine. You may know there's craft beer. There's cider. And, yup, there are distilled spirits, too. You can taste at several small distilleries.

Article from Sonoma Magazine

2018, a Great Vintage for Sonoma County?

It doesn't take perfect weather to make great wine, but it sure helps. Jordan Winery thinks this recent year's will be one of the best and their winemaker tells you why. BTW Jordan has a great wine blog and is worth bookmarking and reading.

An incredible vintage

Who Are Wine Tourists

Wine tourism is big business. Here in Sonoma and Napa counties we count on it to keep our economies healthy. There are, of course, studies and surveys of the visitors and why they come. I think you can break them down like this.

Why People Don't Drink Wine

Americans preference of alcohol breaks down to something like a bit over 40% prefer beer, 20% spirits and about a third prefer wine (no, it doesn't add up to 100% -- numbers are approximate). For those 60+% that prefer something other than wine why do they pick a different beverage? The main reasons aren't taste or cost as I might have guessed. It's something that producers and marketing folks should pay attention to.

Best of Sonoma County 2018

The Santa Rosa newspaper does annual "best of" awards as voted on by locals. It spans many categories. Here are a few that may be of interest to the visitor. All are in Santa Rosa unless otherwise noted.