Land of Wine and Food Promotion

Building on California's allure as America's "Capital of Culinary Travel," the California Wine Institute and the California Travel and Tourism Commission have entered into an historic partnership to promote the state's wine and cuisine offerings to the fast-growing travel segment of culinary connoisseurs -- and those who aspire to be.

The heart of the campaign focuses on a new LandofWineandFood.com Web site which will debut at wine and food and travel media events in New York. Also to be unveiled at the New York events will be an exciting new national TV campaign featuring Governor Schwarzenegger, First Lady Maria Shriver and wine and culinary celebrities promoting California's rich bounty of wine and food, followed by a call to visit the new LandofWineandFood.com for more details.

Playhouse International Wine Festival impresses with age

The event was originally called the California Wine Festival, and one winery kicked it all off—Robert Mondavi. In recent years, they’ve thrown the doors open to all comers, except that there’s a lot of politics that goes on backstage as to who gets in—and which wine region gets proclaimed as the theme. Italy got lucky for number 30, and someone with a crotchety Italian-English dictionary came up with the slogan Innovation by Tradition, whatever that means.

Nor is that enough of a fine-tuner; there’s also the “global focus”, which this year is sparkling wines. If you’re a lover of all things bright and bubbly, there’s more of what you crave in this year’s festival.

Jamie Davies dies at 73

“Jamie was without exaggeration one of the most profound contributors to the California wine world,” said close friend and Napa Valley public relations executive Pam Hunter. “With her palate, which was very acute, she was very responsible for setting the style at Schramsberg. Those wines now are among the best in the country, and the reserves can hold their own against the French.”

Both Davieses gave up burgeoning careers to try their hand at a new life in wine. Jack Davies had been a successful corporate executive in Southern California when he suggested to his wife that together they create something new.

Peter Newton, 81; Napa Valley vintner

Newton became interested in the wine business after buying a weekend home in Napa in the 1960s. He and a partner established Sterling Vineyards in Calistoga and released the first vintage in 1969. At the time, there were about 25 wineries in the area. There now are about 325, according to the Napa Valley Vintners Assn.

"Peter Newton was at the forefront of the California wine industry," wine merchant Paul Smith of Woodland Hills Wine Co. said this week. "He was very intelligent, he knew what he wanted and had a great vision."

The California wine grape harvest up slightly for 2007

The California wine harvest came in at normal levels for a second year in a row in 2007.

Brokers say the industry is heading back into balance after the curve thrown by 2005's bumper crop.

Preliminary figures released by state agriculture officials today show the overall grape crop, including table grapes and raisins, totaled nearly three-point-seven million tons in 2007, up five percent from the year before.

Wine industry launches ‘buy California’ campaign

A new campaign touting California’s wine industry is being launched by the Wine Institute and the California Association of Winegrape Growers.

The "California First" 2008 campaign is designed to educate policy leaders, the media and consumers about the state's diverse winegrowing regions, wide array of wines and the industry's efforts in sustainability, the two industry groups say.

Getting juiced at wine tastings

The latest buzz in the industry comes from the Temecula Valley, where 21 winery owners have imposed stiff new rules requiring that transportation companies police the hordes of customers they bring to the valley on a typical weekend.

Before the rules took effect in November, the scene was becoming increasingly raucous, officials said. Bachelorette parties and birthday celebrations would devolve into loud, obnoxious group binges.