W. Blake Gray

Oct 11, 2024 | news.wine.co.za | W. Blake Gray

Trucks full of wine grapes clogged roads all over northern California wine country this week as wineries raced to get their precious cargo into tanks before a brutal heatwave shriveled them to raisins. "This heat spell has been longer without any mercy period than any other I've seen during crush period," said Jon Dodge, who owns a vineyard on Howell Mountain in Napa Valley and was vineyard manager at Burgess Cellars for 20 years.

Oct 11, 2024 | blog.wblakegray.com | W. Blake Gray

see prop 36, which would fix one of our worst mistakes.) It's also why we keep re-electing incumbents even if they're incompetent or corrupt, or, like the mayors of San Francisco and Oakland, both. Sorry, but we voters have to work harder. We have to fix this city. It's not just crime, homelessness and the open-air fentanyl markets. Sales tax revenue in the city is down 34% compared to pre-pandemic because visitors aren't coming.

Oct 10, 2024 | blog.wblakegray.com | W. Blake Gray

Plenty of people can make a case to vote against Donald Trump; I'll let them do it. As a San Francisco resident, I have seen Kamala Harris' entire political career. So let me tell you why you should vote for her. First, San Francisco progressives don't like her and never have. This is a good thing. Our lefties are left of your lefties. They are the ones who defunded our police department, horribly mismanaged the city's budget, and enabled a culture of corruption in City Hall.

Oct 1, 2024 | news.wine.co.za | W. Blake Gray

Your favorite imported organic wine might not be available in the US soon thanks to a bureaucratic boondoggle. Or, it might no longer be organic – either in name, or possibly in practice. For no good reason whatsoever, the US Department of Agriculture decided last year that for a bottle of wine to be sold in the US as organic, not only must the vineyard and winery be certified organic – the importer must also be certified organic.

Sep 12, 2024 | news.wine.co.za | W. Blake Gray

With the wine grape harvest in California well underway, Mother Nature's forbearance is the biggest outstanding issue. But if the state can avoid rain, punishing heat or wildfires, the marketplace poses its own question: How many grapes will be left on the vine? Let's put it this way: This is a great year to be a home winemaker, because if you are willing to pick the grapes yourself, the available options might be the best ever.