Are There Too Many Appellations?

Per the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, or TTB, there are 269 Appellations, American Viticultural Areas/AVAs, official wine growing regions, or whatever you want to call them. About half are in California, where close to 90% of the country's wine comes from. How many AVAs are too many? 300? 400? 150?

You have to wonder who all of these small, mostly unknown growing areas are for? Sometimes I think they're more for the grape growers and winemakers who probably believe they can charge more for something that seems exclusive.

Grapes Trellising and Climate Change

   Concern about climate change is a real thing with grape growers and winemakers. Wine grape varieties are very susceptible to year-to-year weather changes. This means they will have problems with warmer growing seasons.

   Growers and winemakers are looking at ways to lessen the impact of hotter weather. One way is with trellising of grape vines in the vineyards. Climate change problems can be mitigated with the grape clusters' sun exposure.

First time? In a winery, I mean

If you've never been to a winery for tasting, it might seem a little scary or intimidating, especially if you don't know much about wine. Relax. The winery's staff is used to seeing people with varying degrees of knowledge and experience.

Here are some helpful tips to make it go well, for your enjoyment and the enjoyment of others in the tasting room.

Disneyland comes to Napa, Maybe

Per the Napa Valley Register, a Margaritaville Resort is under consideration by the local county government. The location would be in the hills east of NV on Lake Berryessa. It's a "family camping resort" per the Camp Margaritaville Resorts people. Other similar resorts contain lodging like villas, hotel rooms, cottages, and RV sites plus groceries, restaurants, and, of course, bars. They want to push this as some kind of kid-friendly campground because everybody will want to take their kids to Margaritaville in Napa (said with sarcasm). Decide for yourself.




Current marina on Lake Berryessa




Current camping at Lake Berryessa





Margaritaville Resort Orlando. Yikes!




Margaritaville Resort Lanier Islands, Georgia



As you can see, the resorts come in different shapes and sizes. Either way there would be lots of traffic heading up the narrow, curvy two-lane to Lake Berryessa. Many of the guests in RVs.



The roads to the lake

Sparkling Wine from Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino

The holidays are coming, get ready!

Sparkling wine is the generic term for still wines with added carbonation via a second fermentation.  In France there is Champagne and Cremant, in Spain Cava, and in Italy Prosecco and Spumante, plus other regional names. There are wineries in California that specialize in sparkling wine and quite a few others that may make one or two. Often those that just "dabble" in bubbles use their own grapes, but the extra steps to make a sparkling wine are done by someone that specializes in this, such as Rack & Riddle in Sonoma County.

Roundup in Your Wine

Roundup (glyphosate) has been in the news for many years. The World Health Organization called it a probable carcinogen in 2015. How much is too much? Any? The 700 ppb the EPA says is fine? A quick Internet search shows various U.S. nonprofit and government groups saying the limit is anywhere from 160 ppb to 1,000 ppb. It seems nobody really understands the long-term effects, or maybe they don't want to disrupt farming by outlawing it.

Glyphosate has been found in your drinking water. Heck, it's been found in rainwater. 

Oh yeah, alcohol is also a known carcinogen.

Napa Valley's Unrealistic Assumptions

Visitation is down in the California wine regions. Napa being the "star" means the focus is on them and what happens in Napa often spills over to other wine regions, especially next door in Sonoma. Some still think the low visitor count is a temporary issue with the post-Pandemic economic reset. Others are making unrealistic assumptions of how they are going to pull out of the downturn.

Will There Be a Cool AI Tool to Help You Choose a Wine?

Artificial Intelligence/AI is the current buzzword in the tech field. It can be used for good, it can be used for bad, according to the people writing about AI. How might this fit in with the wine consumer's biggest problem -- finding a bottle of wine on the retail store shelf.

The Beer Biz is Having the Same Problems as the Wine Biz

Wine consumption is down, as is winery visitation here in California. Lots of people are trying to figure out why and what to do about it. People are drinking less craft beer, too, and the Brewers Association thinks they know why. What they say closely mirrors what the wine industry is saying.

Lodi's Zinfandel Problem

 Zinfandel has its ancestral home in southern Italy as Primitivo and before than in Croatia as Crljenak Kaštelanski (good luck pronouncing that one). Still, Zinfandel is called California's grape. It doesn't have the cachet of Cabernet, Pinot, or Chardonnay, but it's a favorite for many of us.

Lodi's fame for Zinfandel and its dependence on the grape is causing problems.

The Early 1970s and California Wine

The current state of the American wine industry has its roots in the early 1970s in Napa and Sonoma Counties. At this time, the first modern era boom time for the wine business has its roots. The first growth spurt was in the mid-to late 19th Century before phylloxera, Prohibition, the Great Depression and WWII stifled growth.

Buying 2020 California Wines

Oh no, fires, smoke! Some people say they won't buy a 2020 California wine because of wildfires and smoke damage to wine grapes that year. 

Yes, grapes can get smoke taint that you can actually taste in the wine. No, not all of California caught on fire in 2020, or any other wildfire season. Not even all of Sonoma and Napa County grapes got smoke taint that year!  I know, many think differently.

Article from Wine Enthusiast on the 2020 vintage in Sonoma and Napa.