Hey, Everybody, Let's Talk About Dust!

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    Getting together with people to talk about dust sounds almost as exciting as watching paint dry.

     But in this case, we're not talking about just any dust. This is special dust.

     This is Rutherford dust, the special soil in a certain sector of the Napa Valley that helps vintners produce some of the most distinctive wines to be found anywhere.

     So special is this dust that it has its own society. And last month, more than 50 members of the Rutherford Dust Society gathered at the elegant Auberge du Soleil resort for...

Protecting the Heritage of 'Wines of a Place'

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    The concept of truth in advertising should extend to wine labels.

     That's why the Napa Ridge brand of wines caused such a stir at the dawning of the new millennium. There is no geographic place known as "Napa Ridge," and there wasn't even a Napa Ridge Winery.

     Vintners in real parts of the Napa Valley took umbrage with the Napa name being hijacked (as they put it), and a lengthy court battle ensued.

     The very public debate over the use of the Napa name in a non-Napa wine helped fuel interest in protecting wine region names around the world. In 2005, representatives of seven regions signed...

What's in a Name? In Sonoma County, a Lot

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     Vintners who make Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley grapes... or Zinfandel from Dry Creek Valley grapes... are rightfully proud of their bottlings.

     Russian River Pinot and Dry Creek Zin are sought-after by wine drinkers in the know, men and women who understand that certain varieties thrive in specific microclimates.

     But if a campaign being undertaken by the Sonoma County Vintners trade organization is successful, wineries will be required to include two additional words on their...

A Taste of the San Joaquin Valley

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     Seventy percent of all California winegrapes are grown in the San Joaquin Valley.

     That may come as a shock to those who assume virtually all of the state's wines come from Napa Valley or Sonoma County.

     To help raise the profile of the San Joaquin Valley, a unique tasting room and visitors' center has opened in the town of Madera. It's called...

Marlborough: A 'Wineland' Like No Other

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     All wine drinkers experience it at some point: boredom with the same-old same-old.

     The cure for this affliction: a glass of wine with a ton of personality. And nothing fits that description better than Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region of New Zealand.

     Marlborough is New Zealand's largest and best known winegrowing region. It's located in the northeast sector of the South Island, with the...

Appellation Abbreviation Confusion

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     The official name of the Santa Rita Hills growing area is "Sta. Rita Hills."

     The Grinch who stole Christmas must have come up with that idea, since "Sta." looks much more like an abbreviation for "Station" than "Santa." But we're not here to argue about abbreviations; we're here to tell you about this eight-year-old appellation in California's Santa Barbara County.

     The flavor, intensity and complexity of Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir and Chardonnay come from a combination of unique east-west coastal valleys, passionate winegrower...

America's Burgundy

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     If there is one winegrowing area in California that most closely emulates the Burgundy region of France, it's the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County.

     Just as in Burgundy, the two varieties that reign supreme in the Russian River are Pinot Noir among reds and Chardonnay among whites. So many wineries - most still family-owned and relatively small - are congregated in the area today that an organization has been formed to help visitors plan their excursions and navigate the terrain: the Russian River Wine Road.

     From a humble beginning with nine member wineries, the Wine Road now encompasses more than a...

Microclimates Aplenty in El Dorado

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    Established in 1983, the American Viticultural Area in Northern California known as El Dorado includes those portions of El Dorado County located between 1,200 and 3,500 feet in elevation, bounded on the north by the middle fork of the American River and on the south by the south fork of the Cosumnes River.

     El Dorado is a sub-appellation of the 2.6-million-acre Sierra Foothills AVA - one of the largest appellations in California - which includes portions of the counties of Yuba, Nevada, Placer, El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, Tuolomne and Mariposa.

     The El Dorado appellation is unique due to its high elevation and complex topography. Its mountain vineyards are perched at...

Expect Good Pinot from 2009 Santa Lucia Harvest

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    The 2009 Pinot Noir harvest has wrapped up in Monterey County's Santa Lucia Highlands appellation, with winegrowers reporting potentially very high quality and normal yields.

     Some of California's finest vineyards call the SLH home, with more than 30 winegrowers cultivating more than 2,500 acres of Pinot Noir there.   
 
     At the Pisoni Vineyard, Gary Pisoni is very happy with the quality of his Pinot Noir harvest.

     "The eventual '09 vintage looks very promising," Pisoni says. "It was the third consecutive dry winter, which limited...

Happy News: A New AVA for Santa Barbara County

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     By this time next week, California will have a new American Viticultural Area -- a fancy name for an area of land with unique and/or unusual climatic and/or environmental qualities for the growing of winegrapes.

     As is the case with many AVAs, this new one will be defined within an existing, larger AVA.

     In fact, it will be within the boundaries of several AVAs. Ranging from largest to smallest, the existing AVAs are California's...

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