Archive for the ‘Wine Places’ Category
If putting the words "Sonoma County" on a wine label would help their wine sell faster or for higher prices, don't you think wineries would have already done so? I do. In fact, I know they would. But clearly many wineries that produce wines from grapes grown in the Russian River Valley, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma Valley, Alexander Valley, Sonoma Coast and elsewhere inside Sonoma County don't feel a need to place these fairly meaningless words on their labels. Yet…
It may come as a surprise to many of you, but if you come to the town of Sonoma there is no law against getting a cocktail instead of a glass of wine. In fact, lo and behold, there are actually a number of fine drinking establishments located on or around the famed Sonoma Plaza where you can belly up to the bar. And yet I could find no reference on where one might go in Sonoma to get a…
If you enjoy watching good old fashioned democracy in action, then watch the Napa Valley Board of Supervisors meeting today. Today a public hearing is on the agenda to discuss the modification of the "Winery Definition Ordinance". This is the public document that defines what kind of events a Napa Valley Winery may engage in and even discusses how a winery might market itself. What everyone is in a tizzy over is this: "Marketing of wine” means any activity of…
Is Napa Valley very much like the classic "Mill Towns" of England and early New England? Or is it more like the Antebellum South? I've been thinking about the differences between Napa Valley and Sonoma County of late as I've been spending more time in Napa Valley. There has always been something of a rivalry between these two regions, some of it real, some of it a creation of the media. The difference I see? Napa Valley is a one-trick…
My great Washington Wine Epiphany came a few years ago when I attended Wine & Spirits Magazine's Top 100 tasting in San Francisco. The tasting of top wineries W&S had encountered over the past year was set up by region—Germans over here, Italians over there, Australians in that corner, etc. The Washington wineries were on the top floor of the venue and I got to them last. Last is not where you want to be at a tasting. And yet,…
