It’s very difficult for this writer to watch the scenes of destruction and mayhem that are the most recent riots in France. I have a long and personal association with that country. If I did not live where I do, it most likely would be somewhere in France. Yet, now we read that the current upheaval just isn’t enough to deter the winemakers in the South of France from igniting more protests that, if history is any guide, will lead…

The beer industry, lead apparently by Anheuser Busch, seems to be struggling with ways to combat a slow migration away from beer and to wine and spirits. Over the past few years beer has lost market share to wine and spirits, for a number of reasons. Beer’s latest attempt to win back drinkers is a form of Co-op advertising, getting the entire beer industry to back a single message, sans brand expression, that promote The only thing I’ve ever seen…

I’m not sure it’s "revolutionary" as they describe it, but it sure is encouraging. Madeline Triffon is the beverage director for the Matt Prentice Restaurant Group in Michigan. She’s instituted a new wine pricing policy: Wines are priced at 50% above wholesale (the price at which the restaurant buys the wine. This is pretty unusual and a fantastic value for restaurant wine. Oftentimes you can expect to pay at least 100%, quite often 200% and even 300% above wholesale for…

Boy, you’ve got to give it to Jess Jackson. Most of the media has focused on Francis For Coppola’s purchase of Sonoma’s Chateau Souverain from Fosters. But I think Jackson got the real prize when he picked up La Jota Vineyard Company the other day from Markham Vineyards. This purchase is good news to wine lovers. Jackson has a history of purchasing or founding small estate wineries that put or have great vineyards at their center. La Jota is one…

Think about it…Do you buy wine with the idea of keeping it and letting it age and mature into something different, something delicious? Better yet, do you drink much wine older than ten years? It’s highly likely you answered "No" to both these questions. But don’t feel bad. You’re in good company. It turns out that most CA vintners don’t give much consideration to aging wine either. This is one of the issues I’ve been thinking about as I’ve had…