Here’s a bottle I purchased many years ago, for a steal (about $20.00). I had been saving it, and saving it for a special occasion.  And truthfully, I purchased it already past it’s prime.  So I finally took the plunge tonight and popped the cork. I am usually not sentimental about keeping wine past it’s time…  if you over-age your wine, you have defeated it’s purpose.  It looses all of the beautiful...

The “Gloria Fire” is one of the most recent, and started just east of Soledad, in Salinas Valley.  Seems like fingers are pointing at Estancia Winery (owned by Constellation) as the cause.  Wineries often use “bird bombs” to scare off hungry birds that eat the ripening grapes.  Unlike the safer “bird cannons,” these bombs are fired by a hand held gun, and explode in the air.  While the cannons give...