Move over, Champagne. A new wave of California sparkling wines is changing the bubbly game California's new wave of sparkling wines is hitting its stride. These bubbles are rising to the top not because they taste like Champagne — but precisely because they don't.

Just in time for New Year's, a round up of some of the more exciting sparkling wines coming out of California right now:

www.latimes.com/food/story/2...

Napa’s 2023 Vintage: A Turning Point For The Valley? 2023 isn’t just a great vintage in Napa. It’s also a different kind of great vintage.

A meditation on vintages in general, and 2023 in particular, in Napa. It's being called one for the ages, in a region where cool vintages typically aren't cause for superlatives: www.newwinereview.com/what-to-drin...

People increasingly take in news by incidental encounter—they are 'rubbed by the news,' rather than by seeking it out, much less digesting it. --outtake from Nathan Heller's NYer piece on the Ambience of Information.

News from California, across the nation and world - Los Angeles Times The L.A. Times is a leading source of breaking news, entertainment, sports, politics, and more for Southern California and the world.

New story up on latimes.com on the Trump's tariff policies and how it's likely to disrupt the wine industry (not just imports)...
www.latimes.com/food/story/2...