I have in the past defended and lauded the wine critic and wine criticism, be it in the form of reviews or prose. Like most other forms of professional criticism, wine criticism I think is an act of reverence. When...

A week from today, upwards of 300 wine blogger will converge on Portland, Oregon for the Wine Bloggers Conference. They will come from across the country and in some cases around the world to examine their chosen avocation, to commune...

The "Annual Alcohol Law Symposium" sounds pretty important. Alcohol law is pretty serious stuff, impacts just about everyone in the land, and is an important field in the area of law. So it should be that an "Annual Alcohol Law...

A recent court decision is causing something of stir within the insular circles of beverage alcohol law and among Kentuckians, who as a result may one day find they a bottle of Pinot in the same store they purchase their...

A holiday in Northern California's wine country usually means heading to Napa Valley, Sonoma County or a little of both. In realty and for most people, it means choosing between one or the other. Choosing between Napa and Sonoma isn't...

Recently released amazing survey findings concerning American's understanding of alcohol were announced today by the beer wholesaler-controlled Center For Alcohol Policy. In a survey of over 1000 adults it is learned that 79% of American adults can distinguish between toilet...

In every state where long-standing bans on sales of alcohol on Sunday have been lifted, consumers express their approval after having experienced the new convenience. This, predictably, appears to be the case in Connecticut where the long-standing ban on picking...

What set of regulatory circumstances "results in the best situation for a state's wine consumers"? This is the underlying question in a Memphis Commercial Appeal article written by Fredric Koeppel that considers the impact of locally-owned alcohol wholesalers that are...

Great wine content doesn't die. It just gets re-platformed. This is the case with much of the important reference content on AppellationAmerica.com. Today, the recently launched Appellation America App (for the iPhone), provides mobile users with one of the best...

There is a symbiotic relationship between the publisher, the advertisers and the readers. While that church/state line must always separate what gets printed and what gets advertised, it's an important fact of publishing life that the publisher, readers and advertisers...

There are a number of good things about summer. The days are longer and warmer. My SF Giants are playing almost every day. Golfing in the early morning is delightful. But the best thing about summer, in my view, is...

Would you rather be the primary beneficiary in the will of a successful small winery owner from Sonoma or the primary beneficiary in the will of one of the greatest wine collectors in the world? Would you rather be a...

The odds are very good that the state of Massachusetts will end its annual legislative session without passing a direct shipping bill. The end of the 2012 MA legislative session is at 11:59pm on Tuesday July 31. Currently, H 1029,...

We enlightened souls here in California often like to mock and disparage other states for their strange, weird, anti-consumer and downright dumb alcohol-related laws. We here in CA seem to believe that our relatively liberal and rational alcohol laws are...

It takes equally large doses of humility and confidence to successfully participate as a judge in a wine competition. But perhaps more important, it requires an all too often lacking appreciation of the enormous diversity of wines that make up...

The finalists in 9 categories of the 2012 Wine Blog Awards were announced today. If you examine them all, it's hard to not to be impressed with the quality. And it's hard not conclude that the blog publishing platform has...

I only have inconsequential anecdotal evidence for the idea that as dedicated wine lovers age, they tend to gravitate to wines that are less obvious, more nuanced, more delicate and less enthusiastic in their size. If my anecdotal evidence for...

It's just not very consequential when a new wine blog launches. But sometimes you take close notice of a newly launched wine blog because of who is behind it. You ought to take notice of SVB ON WINE. Rob McMillen,...

I along with many upon many thousands of readers were looking forward to yesterday when Deborah Harkness, Wine Blog Awards double winner for Good Wines Under $20, saw the release of her second in the All Souls Trilogy, "Shadow of...

While it seems to me a bit over the top that Italian officials would raid a famed Roman wine store for promoting "Natural" wines in violation of Italian consumer fraud laws, the episode reported by Jeramy Parzan at his respected...

It's certainly clear to me and it ought to be clear to anyone else considering the issue that human beings are positively inclined to share the details of their lives as broadly and widely as possible. Interestingly, we didn't know...

It has been among the singlular achievements of the wine blogging world since it first got off the ground in the mid 2000s that its members have consistently and regularly supported one another. This more than anything else makes me...

Bar none, the most important skill to possess if you want to advance your career in the wine industry is communicating well. And within this large category called "communications", I think is fair to say that speaking well in public...

Reading this story of Jim McCormick's private museum of wine antiques and ephemera in Petaluma, California, I am reminded of the dismay I hold for the fact that California has never made an effort to memorialize and celebrate its second...

I suspect that to many readers of this blog, the now instituted California ban on Foie Gras seems pretty stupid; perhaps even unintelligible. But there's a nice, easy way to understand how California could pass this kind of law: No...

Noob: So when these wine experts taste wines, it's not just a matter of whether they just like it I see. It looks like there are 100 different levels of quality. Me: You mean the 100 Point system? Yes. Well,...

Tomorrow the United States Supreme Court will hand down the anxiously anticipated ruling on the Federal Affordable Healthcare law. And if, as many expect, the decision comes on a 5-4 vote of the justices down party lines, I greatly fear...

The winery or wine related business that adopts social media as part of its marketing strategy, but doesn't include a blog in that strategy, is probably wasting a good deal of time and, down the road, will likely be disappointed...

"If a country were starting alcohol regulation from scratch, what regulatory framework would you advise it to create and why?" This is the question that forms the basis of an essay contest now underway at The Center For Alcohol Policy...

One thing you learn after watching an election campaign being carried out is that in this country the media will jump on any inadvertant "misspeak". It doesn't matter what the intent was, if a candidate misspeaks it will be used...

This wine blog is old. That is, in terms of the history of wine blogging, it is old. It sits on a "Typepad" platform, without its own, proprietary domain name. Its appearance is dictated largely by what an unaccomplished coder...

Yesterday's ShipCompliant DIRECT Conference provided a number of highlights. Among the highlights at a conference that focuses on the task of complying with direct shipping regulations and how to sell more wine direct was the announcement that Winery-To-Consumer shipments of...

Biodynamics is about as intellectually coherent a philosophy for grapegrowing as Alchemy is a coherent source of precious metals. If you disagree, then read this formerly active, yet highly coherent, set of posts on the issue of biodynamic farming. One...

The Wine Industry is hiring. If you don't believe me, look at Wines & Vines Magazine's Winery Job Index. (It should be called the "Wine Industry Job Index" as far more than just wineries are covered by the job listing...

The demise of the Mendocino County Winegrape and Wine Commission by a no confidence vote of its members is bad news for that region's industry. It also points to a perennial gulf that exists between the two fundamental elements of...

It appears that Canadians are set to solve their wine shipping dilemma in one fell swoop: legislation is likely to pass that will finally allow Canadian wine lovers to have wines shipped to them across provinces, a simple thing that...

Something happened on the way to the the 2nd Annual "West of the West Wine Festival": Fort Ross-Seaview, a new American Viticultural Area, was approved by the Federal Government and further refined the meaning of the region celebrated and promoted...

Napa Valley and Sonoma County are neighbors, separated largely by a mountain. From southern Napa Valley, from its mid point in Saint Helena and from Calistoga, you can get to the major cities in Sonoma County in half an hour...

It's been said by some that a large majority of my articles here over the past 8 years have been derogatory or critical in nature. Maybe they have. But the fact is, I get my greatest pleasure when I can...