California Wine: The Basics

California Home | The Story | Producers | Regions | World of Wine

California is without doubt the unofficial home of US winemaking. While several states can boast a longer history, California is far and away the leader in the number of wineries, sheer volume, and wine related tourism. Enter any fashionable Bay Area bar and you would be hard pressed to swing a Chardonnay vine without striking a lawyer, medical professional, or tech sector whiz that doesn’t own a piece of a local winery (or possibly their name adorns the bottle). A simply amazing number of bottles, styles, and price-points of wine come flowing from this state each year. While some decry the homogenization and unabashed price escalation of California wine, few can argue with their success. California wine producers have taken France’s top varietals and crafted them into wines that reflect their own image. In a time when US wine consumption is rivaling and surpassing that of beer, many new, young, and eager consumers are trying their first glass of California wine today. The Cal wine business is on firm ground even while the vineyards themselves may not be able to make such a claim! (insert earthquake humor here)