(HuffingtonPost) - It's an exciting time to be following the wine industry in California. Things are changing. The dominance of big, fruit-forward, super-ripe wines is starting to fade. The diversity of wine styles available to the consumer is growing. There will still be plenty of ripe, intense, fruit-forward wines, I'm sure, for those that prefer that style. There will still be oaky, buttery Chardonnays too. Other styles, however, are coming to the fore. This includes lower alcohol, higher acid, more minerally wines that winemakers are striving for by picking earlier, growing in cooler locations, and using less new oak, among other things.