Reading Wine Labels With a Jaded Eye

This isn't another piece about how to read everything on an American wine label -- producers, growing area, vintage, etc. This is about items you may want to give a cautious eye to. Why? Because everything may not be as it seems.

Economic Impact on Sonoma County

It has been reported here and other places about the impact on wineries from the pandemic. With no visitors there's almost no tasting room sales. With no restaurant dining there's no wines sales there either. Luckily, online wine orders are way up.

Rosé Alternatives for the Summer

If you're not a huge fan of rosé wines and maybe a little tired of the "rosé all day" phrase know that there are alternatives! There are many chilled wines with decent acidity that work great in warm weather. Why acidity? That's what makes a wine refreshing. So flabby Chardonnay and even Viognier are out.

You want to think of crisp (there's that acid again), fairly dry (not much, if any sugar), whites that don't have high alcohol because you don't want to be sipping on a 15% alcohol wine on the patio in the heat. I'm thinking of New World versions of these wines. Yes, I know there are plenty of European wines that fill the bill, too, especially since many tend to be drier and lower in alcohol.

An Alternative to the 750 ml Glass Bottle

The glass wine bottle has been around and pretty much unchanged for a couple hundred years. That's pretty amazing when you think of it. Where else do you find this longevity in a consumer product? Problem is it's heavy, it breaks easily, it lets in light and heat easily, and isn't very environmentally friendly.

Wineries: The Next Year

I'm assuming it takes at least a year to get a vaccine and get retail and travel back to some kind of normal. It might be longer, especially for air travel. So what is the outlook for wineries for this time? The key thing here is that one prediction doesn't fit all.

Sonoma County Wine Deals

Currently many wineries are offering something to get you to buy wine from them and have it shipped to your home. Following are some of the web sites listing Sonoma County winery deals. Some offer free delivery if you live in the area. Many offers have expiration dates. Some wineries will show up on multiple sites.

The Wine Road Association covers most wineries in northern Sonoma County (Russian River, Dry Creek, Alexander Valley, Healdsburg).
Winery offers and deals

Sonoma.com is a site for all things Sonoma. Here's their list of winery deals
Winery offers

From the Sonoma County vintners' web site, Sonomawine.com
Sip from home

From SonomaValleyWine.com
Special offers 

Happy shopping!

Where to Buy Wine Online

Online wine sales are way up during the shelter in place. I expect a lot of it is people who haven't bought online before. Actually, I'm one on them because when you live in a place surrounded by hundreds of wineries there's usually no reason to get wine via the Internet. A little advice and opinion follows.

50 Ways to Get Your Wine Now

The question everybody is asking: How do I get my wine fix?

The video put on by Sonoma County is here to help. Just load up the truck, Chuck.

Following is the link mentioned in the video for the wine and shipping specials, listed by winery.

Wine Specials

Wine & Climate Change

  Below is a link to an article on what a warming planet will do to the wines we drink. The thing is, good wines are very particular about the climate the grapes are grown in. That's why, for instance, you find most of California's premium grape growing in a narrow coastal strip running from Mendocino County in the north to Santa Barbara County in the south.

Sattui Returns Stimulus Money

Or the headline could read, "Dario Sattui Does the Right Thing!" That would be funny to anyone that knows about him.

What to Expect When Winery Tasting Rooms Reopen

As I write this in late April we don't yet know when tasting rooms will be allowed to reopen or exactly what the rules will be for wine tasting. So some of this is guesswork. What you can expect is for things to be different.

Comparison: Buying Wine and Buying a Car

A car is your second greatest expense after mortgage/rent. Wine can be expensive, but doesn't require a loan (I hope). What the automakers call an entry-level luxury car costs $40k. More of a standard lux vehicle is in the $55k range. The wine industry says premium wine starts at $20 and it becomes a luxury good at $50 a bottle.

So how are the purchases similar?