The Silicon Valley Bank released their annual report on the California wine industry. The trading-down trend will end this year.” SPIT: extortion. In what seems to be a caper ripped from the pages of a Peter Mayle novel, a bumbling criminal tried to extort Domaine de la Romainée Conti for about $1.5 Telegraph ]. SIPPED: good times?!? MORE >>

DLW also commissions articles about some of the biggest trends in regional wine. That's the other 47 wine producing States, excluding California, Washington and Oregon. DLW) During Regional Wine Week, writers across the U.S. Over the past three years, writers from across the country have covered most of the other 47. You Betcha! MORE >>

Now, a growing number of critics and consumers, including those in California, are openly wondering if the Napa Cabernet train has come off the rails: commentator Dan Berger, for one, last week dismissed California Cabernet as “little more than a parody of itself.”. Today we have his thoughts. By Evan Dawson. Whither Napa Cabernet? MORE >>

For the short answer is that some of these trends are really very good for the overall quality of the wines, while with others, either the jury is still out or the early returns are not especially positive in my opinion. John Gilman, author of the newsletter The View from the Cellar , joins us again for a Q&A. think not. am not hopeful. MORE >>

Young Roberto Ijalba Pérez’s passion for oenological innovation and cutting-edge trends are beginning to make their mark on the bodega’s wines. Among the innovative trends is the production of organic wines such as the Mutuo 100% Tempranillo and the Mutuo Crianza, a blend of 85% Tempranillo, 10% Mazuelo and 5% Garnacha. Great Buy! MORE >>