May, 29, 2015 Napa Valley: Grand jury wants more winery audits

(NVR) - Napa County’s policy of choosing 20 wineries at random each year to see if they are complying with county rules doesn’t go far enough for the grand jury. Not when Napa County has about 350 wineries actively producing wine, raising the possibility that a winery could go a ...

May, 29, 2015 California’s largest lake is slipping away amid an epic drought

(WP) - The bone-dry lake bed burned crystalline and white in the midday sun. Ecologist Bruce Wilcox hopped out of his truck and bent down to scoop up a handful of the gleaming, crusty soil. Wilcox squeezed, then opened his fist. The desert wind scattered the lake bed like talcum powder. &l...

May, 29, 2015 Russia's Largest Wine Producer Expanded Its Territory by 40%

(TheMoscowTimes) - Russian winemaker Ariant has expanded its domestic vineyards holdings from 6,000 to 8,500 hectares, newspaper RBC reported Wednesday, as Russia seeks to revitalize its long-neglected wine industry. Ariant's extra 2,500 hectares is located in the Krasnoda...

May, 29, 2015 Sonoma County: Wine Empire Replaces Redwood Empire

(Truth-Out) - Northern California's Sonoma County has been known historically as part of the natural Redwood Empire. Wineindustry lobbyists re-branded it "Wine Country." Its economy has been so colonized by outside investors who extract water and resources from the environment and export their prod...

May, 29, 2015 Buena Vista Winery officially unsheaths its Tool Museum

(SonomaNews) - It’s not many a Sonoma man who can claim to have been devoured by hungry alligators – and that’s not what he’s best remembered for. But such is the case of Agoston Haraszthy or, rather, the self-proclaimed “Count” of Buena Vista Winery, the 158-ye...

May, 29, 2015 West Australia's peak wine body demands the state government delay a move to cut millions of dollars of industry subsidies

(ABC) - Wines of Western Australia is demanding the State Government reverse a decision to cut an $11 million industry subsidy. In the 2015 budget, released earlier this month, the Government committed to abolish a cellar door subsidy for wine producers from July 1 this year. The rebate is only a...

May, 29, 2015 Napa Valley: Vineyard worker on trial for 2011 killing

(NVR) - Opening statements were delivered Thursday in the murder trial of a vineyard worker accused of shooting to death an acquaintance in a south Napa vineyard to avoid paying a $1,000 debt. Daniel Flores, 26, is charged with shooting 33-year-old Juvenal Gallegos with a .22-caliber rifle f...

May, 28, 2015 Under new EPA rule, Clean Water Act protections will cover all active tributaries

(LATimes) - The Obama administration finalized new regulations Wednesday that it says will protect streams, rivers and wetlands that provide drinking water to more than 117 million Americans. The Clean Water Rule, drafted by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers,...