Evan Dawson, who writes about Finger Lakes wines for the New York Cork Report (and who we last saw here ), recently tweeted that he was in Napa. Tomorrow, John Gilman offers his tasting notes on several decades’ of Mayacamas wines. Whither Napa Cabernet? Maybe Napa has changed over the years. By Evan Dawson. MORE >>

you might think to yourself, walking into a room and sitting down in front of six rose colored wines, all to be tasted blind. Yet the sixth is an “imposter&# – not a Champagne from the named region in Northern France, but a Napa Valley sparkler. Next time you are in Napa you should visit! Schram and J. schramsberg. MORE >>

It's become my practice to taste and blend our wines in June of the year following harvest. Tasting for blending is consuming; a labor-intensive labor of love. Crosby Roamann USA blending 2010 Napa ValleyBefore that, the nascent wines are too young to be focused enough for me to make the best of them. Roughly 75% new wood; 13.6% MORE >>

The top selling lot of the day was from Shafer Vineyards, a five-case offering of Sunspot Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon sold to Napa-based Winebid.com for $37,000. This year you will be happy to know that the auction raised almost a million more than last year (nearly two million dollars) and had been bested only twice in its 14 year history. MORE >>

So says renowned Napa winemaker, Mike Grigich, age 87, in a story in today’s NYT dining section. The story elaborates on the difficult times of selling expensive wines from Napa and how wineries are struggling to adopt new sales techniques, including social media. “Try the Red: Napa Learns to Sell&# by Katrina Heron. MORE >>