Yountville, Calif. -- Robert Gerald Mondavi, the entrepreneur and winemaker who helped put Napa Valley on the map, died today at his home in Yountville, Calif., at the age of 94. Mondavi stressed the importance of both science and style in making fine wine, showed competitors how to sell and promote California wines as equals to the then-better known wines of Europe, trained two generations of enologists and viticulturists, and left a legacy of philanthropy for the wine industry and his community.

 

Carneros, Calif. -- This North Coast AVA, which encompasses parts of southern Sonoma and Napa counties, will hold its third annual Heritage Fest on Saturday, May 31. Sponsored by the Carneros Wine Alliance (CWA), this year's event will feature a novel concept in wine tasting: in the Growers-Vintners pavilion, member grapegrowers will pair up to pour with the Carneros wineries that purchase their fruit.

 

Many Consumers 'Overwhelmed' Scan data further defines 'Project Genome' consumer segments READ »

By now, everyone who follows wine closely has at least a superficial acquaintance with Biodynamic viticulture--whatever they may think about it. I would guess that in the last five years there have been more articles mentioning the idea of burying a cow horn full of dung than articles about many standard vineyard practices. But after the grapes are harvested, and once they're in the cellar, what is the Biodynamic way? Is there such a thing as Biodynamic winemaking, or is it just Biodynamic grapegrowing?

It had been too long since I visited wine country in the central part of the continent, so I welcomed the opportunity to attend the "License to Steal" wine marketing conference on Lake Erie in early April(see Faces & Forums). We coastal dwellers tend to spend too much time talking among ourselves and not enough time discovering what's happening in between the coasts.

In my July 2005 Wines & Vines column, I reported on the formation of a nonprofit organization, the National Grape and Wine Initiative (NGWI), which has the potential to significantly improve support for research, extension and outreach in all sectors of the grape and wine industry in the United States. It is a critical time in our industry in terms of funding for research and extension, and it's a good time to update readers on NGWI's progress to date.

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