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Ask Wines is a free site where working wine professionals type answers to the public’s wine questions, one at a time, in the order they come in. SI stands for Somm Intelligence.
69 pros have signed up to answer so far, including 23 winemakers and winery staff, 23 WSET grads (three with the Diploma), 11 sommeliers (two of them Master Sommeliers) and 4 wine directors.
It opens at noon Pacific on Wednesday, November 25, the day before Thanksgiving.
Every year I run a present drive for the kids of farmworker families. Last year one Instagram post raised more than $20,000, which bought presents for more than 300 kids.
The goal this year is 350 kids.
The donation link isn’t set up yet. Follow me on Instagram for updates.
The Micro-Winery Guild launched in May. Since then it has gained recognition in the industry and has been coordinating research projects. It’s about to launch the first industry survey of wineries making fewer than 5,000 cases a year.
I’m on the Guild’s board. If you run a micro-winery, please watch for the survey and fill it out.
I made Crushing It!, a browser game about running a wine business: you manage vineyards, a winery and markets, one month at a time. It launched on October 29, and more than 1,000 people played it in the first 48 hours.
The Micro-Winery Guild is for family wineries in Napa and Sonoma that make fewer than 5,000 cases a year. It works on advocacy, agritourism and shared marketing, and it has a designation for member tastings called the T.A.S.T.E. Verified Experience.
Coverage: Wine Industry Advisor · microwineryguild.com
To make the case for hillside vineyards, I hiked up Spring Mountain in August in a rain jacket with skis on my back, stopping at vineyards on the way to meet owners, winemakers and crews. The film, Bacchus Amat Colles (Bacchus Loves the Hills), took second place in Wine Spectator’s 2025 video contest.