#beer--wine

#beer--wine

"We've spent the last six years building a farm and homestead from scratch here, which has become home to a restaurant, guesthouse, and brewery, chickens, ducks, two donkeys, and a small flock of dairy sheep."

"We're a new distiller - we don't have the luxury of waiting to know if our whisky is going to be great. It has to be great from the outset."

The minerality is off the charts, exuberantly defining the wine after a barrel fermentation of nine months on the lees in 85% American and 15% French oak. This unicorn wine demonstrates exceptional quality and craftsmanship in its production and flavor profile.

"I think wine at its best is something that brings people together. It's part of a meal. I like the idea of our wines being part of that."

Former consort braved the newly reincarnated Absolute Bagels & bailed when he found 45 people in line, in the cold. One of our oldest friends, who retreated to the Bay Area long ago, always used to say: "The more New Yorkers get fucked, the more they like it." Now with more Instagram...

the Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE) rules, set by the USDA, declared that importers-that's right, the firms that typically handle sales and logistics, not just the winemakers- also need to be certified organic in order for the wines to retain the label. According to a spokesperson from the USDA, the regulations are an effort to "better protect organic businesses and consumers" and "keep fraud out of the market."

"airlines have really stepped up their game. I've spotted bottles on beverage carts that I'd have to hunt for on the ground, which tells me they're working with people who actually know wine. They have a captive audience at 35,000 feet, and they could easily rely on subpar offerings. So when an airline chooses to stock something genuinely good, it says a lot."

In 2025, legacy Oregon craft brewery Rogue Ales & Spirits filed for bankruptcy and shuttered operations, California uprooted 38,134 acres of wine grapes (in order to cope with overproduction and stymie future excess crops), and Jim Beam announced it would cease production of bourbon at its main distillery for the duration of 2026. An increasing push toward sobriety has flooded the market with nonalcoholic alternatives to traditional tipples.

"Five to ten years ago, sustainability was often limited to buzzwords or isolated practices," he says. "Today, it is holistic, intentional, and deeply embedded into every aspect of the visitor experience."

Romance and renewal are on the menu now and through February. It's a time to recharge and get moving on shaping a successful 2026. But that doesn't mean you can't slow down and enjoy an evening sip after a long day, or crack open a bottle with a loved one and celebrate the moment. These unique California reds offer an opportunity to relax and toast to finding joy in the new year.

The Brain Science Here's where neuropsychology enters the vineyard. The human brain's relationship with wine is deeply emotional and multisensory. When we taste wine, our orbitofrontal cortex integrates sensory information with memory and emotion; it's why a particular bottle might remind us of our grandmother's kitchen or that study-abroad summer in Tuscany. This neural complexity is what makes wine special, and it's also what makes AI's role in the industry controversial.

For wine collectors, the art of cellar management has always been as much about precision as it is indulgence. Temperature, humidity, and provenance all dictate whether a vintage will flourish or falter, and even the most meticulous collectors know that storage mistakes can be costly. Now, a new wave of technology promises to take out the guesswork. AI wine cellars, as futuristic as they sounds, are systems that use artificial intelligence to track bottles, catalogue vintages, and anticipate optimal conditions.

Jesse Hall can't remember a time he wasn't inseparable from the sea. Born and raised in Sonoma County, Hall spent his youth surfing the Marin coast and sailing San Francisco Bay. By his early 20s, he was shaping surfboards in San Diego, where he rode the mellow waves of Pacific Beach. Winemaking is similar to surfing in that you're living moment by moment, said Hall, founder of Seawolf Wines in Mendocino County's Yorkville Highlands.

Two pillars of the Santa Cruz Mountains wine region passed away late last year, taking their stories with them: Robert (Bob) Mullen, who founded Woodside Vineyards in 1963, and Dr. Thomas Fogarty, renowned inventor of the balloon catheter, who also founded Thomas Fogarty Winery in 1981. Mullen died on Nov. 24, 2025, after celebrating his 99th birthday in February. He wanted to make it to 100, says his wife, Marsha Campbell. But his body just gave out.

Founded in 1992 by Miguel Torres and Robert Drouhin to promote the exchange of ideas, its members include Domaine Clarence Dillon (Château Haut-Brion), Famille Perrin (Chateau de Beaucastel) and Alsace's Famille Hugel, as well as Sassicaia makers Tenuta San Guido, the Douro's Symington family, Riesling specialists Egon Müller and Tuscany's 26 th-generation winemakers Marchesi Antinori. Earlier this week, all 12 descended on the Paris's Grand Palais for the launch of the PFV Generations Case, an ultra-limited-edition case of 12 wines - one from each family. Treats in the coffret include a 2016 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, a 2004 Vega Sicilia Unico, and a Champagne Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill 2002 (which the house's 6 th-generation ambassador Bastien Collard de Billy was pouring on the night, and I can report tasted absolutely stellar). To sweeten the deal, each case also includes a VIP visit to every estate, some of which aren't open to the public. The case is priced at €32,000 and only a dozen have been created.

As an editor and writer who regularly covers the world of nonalcoholic drinks, I have tasted more than my fair share of booze-free wines. Much like with regular wine, the results have been mixed some are bitter or super sour, or even worse, smell like nothing. But I've also had the pleasure of drinking alcohol-free wines that scratched the same itch as a top-notch riesling or champagne.

Only eight miles long by three miles wide, the small wine region established its AVA (American Viticultural Area) in 1982, just one year after Napa Valley. It's only one-tenth the size of its famous neighbor, yet the diversity in tasting rooms is impressive. You can travel from a blue Victorian house to gorgeous gardens, a vintage gas station-turned-tasting room, and even an award-winning modern architectural masterpiece all within minutes.

Last August, on a hurried stretch of East 18th Street in Antioch, 20 acres of ancient grapevines seemed to vanish overnight. Once part of the historic Evangelho Vineyard, the parcel was sold off in the 1950s, changing hands several times before Rockefeller Construction acquired it last year. Morgan Twain-Peterson of Sonoma's Bedrock Wine Co. was crushed, but not surprised. In Contra Costa County, where rows of centuries-old grapevines are often sandwiched between gas stations and convenience stores, the sense of impending loss is palpable.