Well, the Great Wine Case has been argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. I’ve been waiting for this day for many years. It’s frustrating because it is very difficult at this hour to get much information on how the arguments went and what the reaction of the justices were. However, some reports have been filed. To this point we can report the following: -Clint bloc’s, an attorney from D.C representing those challenging the laws made the case that the laws…

What will those arguing before the Supreme Court tomorrow in the Direct Shipping case have to say? Get a glass of wine and read the various briefs filed in the case here .

Tomorrow is the day many of us who champion the cause of small, quality-minded winemakers have been waiting nearly a decade for: The Supreme Court of the United States will weigh in on the issue of direct shipping. My reading of the issues at hand convinces me that those state statutes under consideration that allow in-state wineries to ship direct but prohibit out of state wineries to do so will be struck down as unconstitutional. However, this ruling will not…

Due to working with a number of different wineries over the past year that have their vineyards in lesser known areas, I’ve had the chance to think about California’s system of identifying viticultural regions or, as they are formally known, American Viticultural Areas. This work has led me to ask some questions. What the hell does the “Sonoma Coast” American Viticultural Area mean?I think it pretty much has the same meaning as “Russian River Valley”, “Carneros”, “North Coast” and “Napa…

With the money I’ve spent on clipping services over the years trying to track where our clients’ names show up in print I could have bought a small home. Yes, that home would be located in a small Mississippi backwater and need some fixing up. Nonetheless…. These days a huge percentage of the wine writing that originally appears in print will show up on the Internet somewhere. And today we have a vast amount of influential wine writing that only…