California Wine Month! Did you know that? Some do, some don’t (we in the Golden State need to work on that reality). In its 6^th year now, the month was designated by Arnold (The Terminator) Schwarzenegger as a way to celebrate and bring attention to the very important domestic wine business that provides so much to California.

Grapes and wine are a major source of agricultural pride and muscle locally. Betcha’ that you weren’t aware that wine is the number one finished agricultural product in retail value in the US. It is. And given the reality that California wines are over 90% of American production and represent more than two of every three bottles sold in the US, California wine, by default, is the source of this same formidable impact. Continue reading »

The International Pinot Noir Celebration is an annual midsummer event taking place in the Pinot centric hamlet of McMinnville, Oregon (in the heart of the Willamette Valley). I attended three years consecutively in the wee early years of this now, 24 year running, celebration of all things Pinot Noir, aka the IPNC, and hadn’t been back in about sixteen or so years since. It was like old home week connecting with producers and friends I hadn’t seen in over a decade, sharing in our mutual Miles-like passion (think Sideways) for this mesmerizing and seductively sensual grape with dozens of delish wines, lots of great and educational activities, and the gorgeous surroundings of McMinnville’s Linfield College campus where the event is home based. Continue reading »