Following The Path of One’s Passions ~ Segueing from Grape Grower into a Winemaker Role, Too
David Mounts grew up in Dry Creek Valley. Following in his father’s footsteps, he also felt the need to expand into becoming a winemaker and winery owner. And so, after lots of study and hard work, Mounts Family Winery was created. I can image why David wanted to be making wine… I’ve now seen so [...]
Cruvee’s done it again, and wins the 2010 Diaz Communications Innovator of the Year Award
The 2009 Diaz Communications Innovator of the Year Award went to Paul Mabray of VinTank, for revolutionizing the way wine purchases can be made; i.e., over the Internet. Remember the days of faxing in orders? Now, Cruvee has just upped the ante with its Application for sales within the realm of social media, by launching [...]
Everybody’s got a Petite Sirah, and why not?
When I began keeping records on Petite Sirah, there were slightly over 60 growers and producers of Petite Sirah in California – combined. That was in 2002. Today, only eight years later, there are now 126 growers + 723 producers. That’s 849 companies, 90 percent of them in California with a Petite Sirah. I see [...]
Weighing in on the Tanzer Wine Blog “About” Page Debacle
If you don’t know, Stephen Tanzer ~ one of the world’s most well respected wine writers ~ just launched a wine blog called Winophilia. Unfortunately, he unwittingly did it with his boxing gloves on. I say unwittingly, because he hadn’t yet jumped into the wine blogging pool, so he didn’t know who the swimmers of [...]
Suisun Valley Grape Growers Association (SVGGA) Experiences a Metamorphosis in Name
Suisun Valley Grape Growers Association (SVGGA) Experiences a Metamorphosis in Name…to… Suisun Valley Vintners & Growers Association (SVVGA) When the Suisun Valley Grape Growers Association (SVGGA) was formed in 2003 as a wine grape coalition, it had two main goals: To advance awareness of the Suisun Valley American Viticultural Area, established in 1982. To send [...]
Images of Dark & Delicious with Comments From the Crew: Praise and Suggestions
There is no particular order and no captions for the following images. They’re just the best of the best that I shot. It’s the suggestions that make Dark & Delicious each subsequent year, so you’ll see them here as positive feedback. This is a blog entry to let others do the talking. I’m going to [...]
From Vine to Shelf ~ Forget From Vine to Wine
This past week, I went though a therapy session with my colleague/on-line friend Michael (Mike) E. Duffy of the Winery Web Site Report. A title story, “Most Winery Web Sites Suck” really caught my eye and sensibilities. “Wow,” I thought, “someone finally said for me what I’ve been thinking for so long.” So, I commented [...]
