This seminar will be appeal to those interested in learning more about the winemaking process. Upcoming seminars in Napa, CA, Paso Robles, CA, and Santa Rosa, CA

2018 Event to Take Place on Friday, September 7th & Saturday, September 8th on the Mendocino Coast of Northern CA

Smith Story Wine Cellars, a small family producer of highly rated old-world inspired wines made from California and German vineyards, welcomes their first full-time employee Andy Bartee as their first National Sales Ambassador. Andy will take over daily management responsibilities from Co-Founder Alison Smith Story. Andy brings well over a decade of wine sales management experience to Smith Story Wine Cellars.

Central California is slowly collapsing under its own weight as farmers suck out groundwater, emptying vast subterranean aquifers and disrupting one of the state's key water-delivery networks. ... One of the casualties is the Friant-Kern Canal, a gravity-operated concrete waterway that stretches 152 miles down the valley's eastern side, supplying Fresno and smaller cities as well as thousands of farmers.

Critical permits and legal challenges are still pending, and some farming groups still haven't committed to paying for part of Gov. Jerry Brown's controversial $17 billion Delta tunnels project. But even with the uncertainty, backers of the project are poised to ask the Trump administration for a $1.6 billion federal loan that millions of Californians ultimately would have to repay through increases in their water bills.

Saying the state water board appears to have ignored or discounted the significant impacts on people from its plan for stream flows in the San Joaquin River watershed, water agencies, farm organizations and other groups organized opposition to the plan in advance of its potential adoption next month.

The headlines about a huge new regulatory proposal for the upper San Joaquin River have me thinking about all of California's rivers, the water rights Farm Bureau members hold and use on those rivers, and a concept called "reasonable use."

The mountainside winery Burgess Cellars breaks its "elevation" norms for the 2014 Topography Red Wine. The 46-year family owned winery heads to both hillside and benchland vineyards in crafting this topographical red blend.

Mostly from Bordeaux and Burgundy, but also from Alsace, Champagne, Languedoc and Provence, the renowned properties and negociants have decided to take Health Minister Agnès Buzyn to task, suspecting her of wanting to display "lugubrious and morbid information on labels" of French wines.

Having received little to no water from the federal Central Valley Project in recent drought years, farmers in a western Stanislaus County irrigation district have partnered with cities to purchase tertiary-treated recycled water, to help secure a more certain water supply.

The VDP. Sekt classification mirrors the VDP.Origin pyramid for wine classification in Germany. Traditional bottle fermentation is compulsory for all four VDP origin categories for Sekt. Two of these - VDP. Gutsekt and VDP. Ortsekt must remain at least 15 months on the lees.

Heilongjiang, the northernmost province along China's rust belt, has been tipped to become China's high altitude ice wine production base, the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has announced.

A book on winemaking and viticulture written by Sally Easton MW for the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) has won the Viticulture and Oenology category at the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) Awards 2018.

Abundant precipitation, recharge efforts and reduced water use boosted the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer

The county Planning Commission last week wasted little time in increasing the wine production cap for the Rutherford-area winery. ZD Wines can now produce 120,000 gallons annually instead of 70,000 gallons

It's unclear whether an agricultural labor bill, promised a vote by House Speaker Paul Ryan, will get that vote or not. Some agricultural groups support it and some oppose it.

The meat and potatoes of Canadian meals look more like chicken and rice

It became one of the iconic images of October's Wine Country fires: Signorello Estate, a stately building perched on a Napa hill, with wild flames escaping through the terraces and windows - soon to be entirely consumed. Below the orange glow is the silhouette of a lone figure, in retreat.

The ambitious pact signed in Tokyo runs counter to President Donald Trump's moves to hike tariffs on imports from many U.S. trading partners. It covers a third of the global economy and markets of more than 600 million people.

Food trucks have become a common sight around the Des Moines metro. Now local wine lovers are seeing a similar concept

Greg Boeger almost always is in motion - powering a D2 Caterpillar through a vineyard, joining a blending session in the winery, restoring vintage vehicles or rebuilding classic bamboo fly-fishing rods - but he set aside some time recently to play 10 questions in his office ...

Emergency regulations, in place since legalization of recreational pot on Jan. 1, will remain in effect until the nonemergency rulemaking process is complete, according to the announcement by the Bureau of Cannabis Control.

An expert explains the challenges, the rewards, and what you should know before dedicating part of your portfolio to the age-old en premeur system

Carolyn Harris, an officer with the Ramona Valley Winery Association, said people in the farming industry learn to roll with the punches ...

As Amazon is close to celebrating its full first-year of Whole Foods ownership, the Seattle chain has made some clever inroads to the wine sales market in several major Texas cities. As of June, the chain rolled out one-day wine delivery in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Houston and San Antonio. One- and two-hour delivery windows are available as well.

" ... pick a pét-nat from the Loire Valley, which is ground zero of the movement to bring these types of wines back into mainstream wine-drinking culture. Specifically, we should look for wine based on the grape Chenin Blanc, which is naturally high in acidity ... "

So out-of-control is the pink marketing shtick that some fans of the blush stuff fear the party may soon be over ...