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The black Italian grape sangiovese, the backbone of the remarkably agile wines of Chianti Classico, is having a difficult time getting a firm grip in California's soils. more ...

Two surprises emerged from the Amador County Fair commercial wine competition this year, and just one of them was a wine. more ...

You can almost miss seeing the vines at Helwig Vineyards & Winery in Amador County's Shenandoah Valley. more ...

Difficult as it may be to imagine today, chenin blanc not so long ago was one of California's more popular wine grapes. more ...

I should have seen this coming, but nonetheless was surprised. It wasn't like I was in a blind curve. more ...

From deep in Portugal's shadows, the black grape touriga is emerging into the California sunshine, finding a tentative yet encouraging new home. more ...

I'm getting pretty excited about the first Barbera Festival coming up June 11 in Amador County's Shenandoah Valley. Fittingly, it will be on Dick Cooper's ranch, the source of so much highly acclaimed barbera. more ...

When the modern California wine trade began to gain momentum about four decades ago, one of the more instrumental players to establish Amador County as a fine-wine region was Montevina Winery. more ...

There's lots of chatter these days about how the draft horses of the wine trade - big, heavy, lumbering zinfandels, cabernets, syrahs and the like - are going the way of the, well, draft horse. more ...

Neither Hank Cooper nor his son Dick Cooper was the first to cultivate barbera in Amador County's Shenandoah Valley. more ...