Franzia is a roaring success when it comes to sales, particularly in this economic downturn, with a recent tally of 440 million bottles of Two Buck Chuck sold in the U.S. But the man rankles many in Wine Country, particularly when he chides Napa vintners, calling their inflated prices "fantasyland." [...]

It's hard to keep up with the swift pace of communication these days, but at least one company is trying to figure out the answer to this monumental question: How well does social media pair with wine?Paul Mabray, a co-founder of Vintank, says he doesn't offer a service per se, [...]

Katey Bacigalupi recently made that analogy after going to the Crushpad 2.0 Tasting in San Francisco where she met some of her twittering crowd for the first time. Twitter is the technology that allows people to chat in real time. "I had seen their profile photo and I had some [...]

There's a Bohemian Grove of sorts, a place where the powerful converge, the influential amass, the prestigious reign. But they don't discuss heady ideas like the Manhattan Project. No, here they talk about cult cabernets and silky pinots, supple textures, complex layering. This "grove" is the Mayacamas Country Club in [...]

The black hole of the Net offers people an endless opportunity to chatter, to banter, to pontificate.Here are some websites that will likely pique the interest of the wine-lovers:Winetwo.com - This social networking site, which features wine events, focuses on millennials, the offspring of the baby boomers. It has forums, [...]

Is Wine Country the canary in the coal mine when it comes to global warming? There seem to be two camps, one that spots actual proof of global warming, while the other doesn't see a trace. What camp are you in? Remember, you're only a click away from having your [...]

Before you read our point counterpoint, check out this video about biodynamics. Here's the link: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid11892244001?bctid=18117378001For a clash of views points on biodynamics, we have Stuart Smith, vintner of St. Helena's Smith-Madrone Winery and Mike Benziger, winemaker of Imagery wines, a brand produced by Glen Ellen's Benziger Family Winery, on [...]

In The Tipping Point, author Malcolm Gladwell refers to "the level at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable." There are signs pointing to a paradigm shift, with restaurateurs more intent than ever on courting wine-lovers in this economic downturn. #1 A new survey of restaurants in 10 major regions [...]

We pay exorbitant real estate prices to live among the vines, but what exactly is this place we call Wine Country? What gives it its uncanny sense of place? I decided to go on an architectural dig of sorts to see what artifacts would turn up in our wine culture. [...]

Morgan Twain-Peterson was a precocious child. At age 5 he could distinguish between a merlot and a zinfandel. Today the 28-year old co-founder of Bedrock Wine Co. in Sonoma can distinguish between more than varietals. Try fact and fiction. Peterson says he's no different from his fellow Millennials, the offspring [...]