California wine and winery guide with wine country tours, industry news and resources. Special wine events abound during harvest time, from winery lunches, tastings, crush events, seminars, food and wine festivals, winery concerts and vintage wine auctions. Local restaurants feature seasonal cuisine; balloon rides offer spectacular aerial views of the vineyards; bocce ball courts invite cheerful recreation; and winery museums and gardens provide artistic diversions.
Paso Robles Wine Country is centrally located between San Francisco and Los Angeles along California's Central Coast. As California's fastest growing wine region and largest geographic appellation, the 24 square mile territory encompasses more than 26,000 vineyard acres and nearly 200 wineries.
California has nearly 8,000 wine type acres that are certified organic, and much of the fruit is used by wineries that label their wines “organic” or “made with organically grown grapes.” Both are made with grapes grown without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides or fungicides for a period of at least three years with third-party inspection. The key difference between the two is that wines labeled “organic” do not have added sulfites to sustain prolonged shelf life and must have laboratory certification that the wine contains 10 parts per million or less sulfites. Labels for “Organic” and “made with organically grown grapes” are approved both by the U.S. Tax and Trade Bureau and FDA’s National Organic Program.
More than a dozen California wineries practice biodynamic agriculture. The methods are based on principles developed by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner in the 1920’s. Find out more about Australian wine.
Biodynamic agriculture is a holistic system where soil is nurtured through natural remedies, and planting, harvesting and bottling take place according to the positions of the planets and lunar phases. Natural animal and vegetable matter is applied to soil to strengthen it, and various homeopathic herbal and mineral preparations are added to help the soil maximize light and heat for photosynthesis.
There are currently only thirteen (14) states that allow some form of interstate wine sales with California. These states are as follows: California, Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico, Hawaii, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Illinois, West Virginia, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Missouri.
Limited interstate wine sales are allowed with Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.
Interstate wine sales are simply prohibited with Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennesse, Utah and Vermont.
Visit California Wine Info for a complete list of all California wineries by name, region and growers associations.
The California Wine Institute is the public policy advocacy association of California wineries. The Wine Institute brings together the resources of 624 wineries and affiliated businesses to support legislative and regulatory advocacy, international market development, media relations, scientific research, and education programs that benefit the entire California wine industry.
California Wine Industry Background & Statistics
Harvest & Winegrowing
Directory of Wine Institute Resources
California Wine Events Calender
Wine Law From The Wine Institute
Vintner Links
Society for Enology & Viticulture: www.asev.org
American Vineyard Foundation: www.avf.org
California Association of Winegrape Growers: www.cawg.org
California Dept. of Pesticide Regulation: www.cdpr.ca.gov
UC Coop Extension-Nevada/Placer: ceplacernevada.ucdavis.edu
UC Dept. of Viticulture & Enology: wineserver.ucdavis.edu
UC Integrated Pest Management Project: www.ipm.ucdavis.edu
UC Sustainable Agriculture Research: www.sarep.ucdavis.edu
US Dept. of Agriculture: www.usda.gov
Pesticide Information by Chemical: www.ace.orst.edu/info/extoxnet/ghindex.html
Other Wine Industry Information Links
UC Davis Dept. of Viticulture & Enology
American Society for Enology & Viticulture (ASEV)
Cornell University/New York Agricultural Experiment Station
California State University Fresno
Northwest Berry & Grape InfoNet
UCD Fruit & Nut Research and Information Center
UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management: Grapes
Washington State University Wine and Grape Program
Texas Tech University Wine Marketing Research Institute
Australian Wine Research Institute
Charles Sturt University, Australia
National Wine & Grape Industry Centre, Australia
Cooperative Research Center for Viticulture, Australia
Viticultural Decision Support System, Australia
Dept. of Viticulture & Oenology, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
Forschungsanstalt Geisenheim, Germany
Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute, Canada
Institut Jules Guyot, Universite de Bourgogne, France
Faculte d'Oenologie, Universite de Bordeaux 2, France
Faculte d'Pharmacie, Universite de Montpellier 1, France
Laboratory for Wine Microbiology, Food Science Deprtament, University of Guelph, Canada
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