Andrew K's Page

"At issue was the federal government's appellation system, overseen by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, a tiny agency within the Treasury Department. The agency has established more than 190 American Viticultural Areas, or AVAs, since 1978. The Napa Valley has 14 AVAs, but Calistoga had yet to earn the distinction despite its local regard as one of the most viticulturally significant areas in the valley.

The bureau decided to grant Calistoga its own AVA last week. The formal notice… Continue

"Wine lovers are planning an all-out lobbying offensive in the General Assembly next year for passage of a law that would allow merchants and wineries to ship directly to Maryland consumers.

The issue has fermented for years in the legislature where a bill has been bottled up in committee, but wine producers and connoisseurs see an opportunity in the next session that begins in January. They say they have more funding and support, and they hope to draw votes by casting the bill as a pro-consume… Continue

".....while the online world has clearly changed the way in which wine information is disseminated, the notion that it might fundamentally alter the critic-consumer dynamic was, until recently, mostly a matter of prognostication—everyone agreed it was bound to happen, but at some indeterminate point in the future."

http://www.slate.com/id/2229518/pagenum/all/