Archive for the ‘Wine Places’ Category

Oct 9, 2007

The Map Is Green…Way Too Green

This is a radar map of Napa and Sonoma Counties at 10pm this evening. That green is rain. And it’s been pouring pretty hard here in Glen Ellen for about an hour. The rain looks as though it should pass in about an hour or two. Unfortunately more rain is forecast for Friday. What we are looking for here tomorrow is some good breezes and some sun. There’s probably a good 20% of the grapes still hanging. I hate this…

Oct 2, 2007

Babies Like Wine Too

Doesn’t it seem like their is an attitude of zero tolerance for the idea of placing minors even in the very proximity of alcohol? Many schools will send a child home or make them wear a school sweatshirt if they come to class with wearing winery schwag. We are constantly told that if any amount of alcohol hits the lips of a person under 21 they will die a terrible death and take others with them. Hell, the very idea…

Sep 25, 2007

A Crack Addict in the Crack Factory

The idea of putting 30 roses on your wine list is really quite absurd…unless you are ready to promote the hell out of rose to your patrons. I assume that’s exactly what Campanile does. For this kind of courage and this kind of contribution to the wine industry they should be given some sort of an award. I flew down to Los Angeles on Sunday for a meeting on Monday. I’m not an LA kinda-guy. I have friends and a…

Sep 4, 2007

Gimme MORE, MORE, MORE Appellations in America

I love American Viticultural Areas (AVAs). They help make a PR Guy like me busy. That’s why my heart was wounded when the Tax & Trade Bureau (TTB) of the U.S. Treasury Department, the agency that approves and regulates AVAs, announced a few weeks ago that they were suspending all new approvals or consideration of new AVAs…pending some sort of review of the process I’ve been wanting to write about this wound to my heart for some time but have…

Aug 29, 2007

Not a Bad Place for a Wine Film

My little little corner of the world appears to have been transformed into Hollywood North. The cast and crew of the film "Bottle Shock" have invaded Glen Ellen. The ubiquitous movie trailers are here, the cranes, the porto potties and the minor traffic jams caused by rubberneckers have all found there way in to my little unincorporated town in the middle of Sonoma Valley. The filming today appears to be focused on what we in Glen Ellen refer to as…