The Stock Exchange -- No Place for a Winery

Sonoma County's medium-sized Truett-Hurst Winery lost its battle with the Nasdaq stock exchange after a five year journey. Until 2013 it was like a lot of other Dry Creek Valley wineries and chugged along on its own with probably some private investors. I don't know what happened, but a guess might be they came out of the recession out of cash and decided to raise it by offering stock.

Sonoma County's Gracianna Winery

   You probably heard about the flooding along the Russian River earlier this month. Like any disaster once the news crews are gone there is still a lot of work and anguish. The small, family run Gracianna Winery got hit hard by the floods. They lost wine and will have other damage to contend with.
   If you should see their wines at a local store or while shopping online they could use your support.

   News article from March 9th

Goofy Things We Do in Sonoma County

Stuff happens here in Sonoma County wine country (and probably Napa, too) that you might find weird if you're from other parts of the country or even farther away.

Roundup in Your Wine?

Roundup's active ingredient, glyphosate, is in the food chain. Exactly how dangerous this is to us hasn't been determined, but the fear is certainly helping the drive towards organic products. It's been in the news that even your wine contains glyphosate. As with most headlines a closer look is needed.

Napa in the "Old Days"

An interesting look at the roots of Napa Valley as one of the premier wine regions in the world. Tim Gaiser looks at some of the pioneers and the problems they grappled with--some are still not solved. His belief that different root stocks are behind wines going from lower alcohol and leaner styles to the big, bold, fruitier wines of today is interesting though I don't completely agree.

Then and now