media kit | about us | feedback 

Little Black Dress Wines is expanding its award-winning line with the addition of a 2006 Pinot Noir sourced from France, and will introduce Chardonnay in a traditional Burgundy package with the 2007 vintage release.

Forestry Tasmania has struck an agreement with the state's wine industry on regeneration burns.

My chat with Broadbent falls at cocktail hour in the office of his son Bartholomew, who runs a San Francisco wine import business.

In three Napa Valley Register articles published last week, the genetically modified yeasts and genetically engineered grapevines that are being developed at universities around the country-or insinuating themselves into the winemaking industry in California and elsewhere.

Never had so many of the mysterious and little understood Charbonos been collected under a single roof. And now Vermeil, who had taken the Rams and Eagles to the Super Bowl, was down to his last shot, the 2005 vintage, Frediani Vineyard, from his Calistoga winery, On the Edge.

Off the Shelf" debuts today. Each week we'll feature a bottle that retails for $15 or less in Bay Area stores. Got a favorite for your dinner table? Let us know at wine@sfchronicle.com.

Given what they do, it's almost surprising that David Stevens and Karen Williams would trade out their signless back office in a St. Helena building for a proper retail shop. In-the-know wine lovers call the two partners in Acme Fine Wines to help them find the next big thing in cult Napa Valley bottles.

Rule No. 1 of interview etiquette: When offered a glass of Madeira, accept.

Anyone serious about wine has to make the pilgrimage to Stag's Leap Wine Cellars at some point. Founder Warren Winiarski is credited with being one of the first to understand Napa Valley's potential as a world-class winemaking region. His 1973 Stag's Leap Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon won the 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting, forever changing the reputation of California wine

Fifty-four wines were tasted in this category, which is about the same number as last week's single-vineyard wines. Similar numbers were recommended for both - 16 this week and 19 last week - though there were higher overall rankings for the single-vineyard bottlings, as might be expected.

Domaine Carneros will release the 2004 Ella Fitzgerald Brut Rosé at a special event at the winery May 16 "Ella" will be served along with other Domaine Carneros wines while the "Black Olive Jazz" quartet performs a repertoire of Ella Fitzgerald songs.

Australia is facing major problems. A drought is now in its seventh year, and many areas of the country were hit by severe frost problems last winter, devastating the crop.