What? Locals Overwhelmingly LIKE the Wine Industry

      Doesn't Everyone Hate The Wine Business?

While Napa is the current poster child for the debate, whether Sonoma, Santa Barbara, Oregon, Virginia, Paso Robles, or the San Joaquin Valley - the wine business has received it's share of public scrutiny the past few years in local press. While "wine country" is viewed by many as an idyllic place to live or retire .... certainly so if you read listings from local real estate agents, that view isn't shared by a non-homogenous mix of anti-winery folks in what is now being labeled in an on-going story of the greedy and detached winery owners and growers versus their communities.

How Important Are Tasting Rooms to Success?

Federales posing during the 1910 Mexican Revolution

I am a closet genealogist so when I began dating my wife, I started kicking cans in her ancestors. It turned out that one of her ancestors was a minor player at the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence and a Federale. I think the system was a little less formal than what we experience today.    

But there is a bit of a standoff taking place in parts of wine country. No, the battle isn't with the Federales - not with the ABC, CDFA, BOE, TTB, or FDA each of whom has a regulatory role in the wine business. The battle is over events, tourism, and tasting rooms.