W. Blake Gray
Best Online Wine Columnist in the World! 2013 Roederer Award in that category, and they stopped giving out that award immediately afterward. In perpetuity!
- The only type of alcohol that's growing in sales is Ready To Drink cocktails (RTDs) -- and they're growing a lot. So much so that, for the first time, Americans spent more money last year on spirits than beer. www.wine-searcher.com/m/2026/02/rt...
- If you canceled your Washington Post subscription in the past, please don't complain today about its layoffs. Newspapers are a business. I know. I worked for several that no longer exist. If you want a newspaper to continue publishing, pay for a subscription.
- Only in America: People are paying $20 for a 3D-printed plastic tray so they can eat a cheap hot dog and Coke while standing up. www.sfgate.com/food/article...
- This fast-growing group is focused on one issue only: reducing emissions. "We're having a hard enough time selling wine right now," Frog's Leap's Tori Williams said. "Our industry feels a little battered and bruised. This work makes you feel better." www.wine-searcher.com/m/2026/02/wi...
- This is a beautiful song to begin with, and his version is the best. RIP Chuck Negron. One is the loneliest number after all. www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrD1...
- A real estate agent just sent me a winery listing. I don't need to embarrass the sellers, but I can see why this business failed: they're selling mixed-vintage wines blending grapes from their home state, in the US Southeast, with California and Washington, for $55 a bottle!
- Good coyote story here: A lone coyote swam from San Francisco to Alcatraz to feast on birds. Rangers want to trap it and <del>kill</del> "relocate" it. Turns out coyotes colonized nearby Angel Island when one coyote made the swim and howled for friends. www.sfgate.com/local/articl...
- An M&A expert predicts the total value of US wineries and vineyards sold this year to be less than half of 2021. The problem is simple: thousands of properties are for sale, but there aren't many buyers ... ESPECIALLY from the wine industry itself. www.wine-searcher.com/m/2026/02/wi...
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- Lately I think often about how Sonoma County used to be known for apples.
- I see a lot of horror movies, but this is real: she had an apartment in Nigeria's capital city, and apparently a cobra entered and bit her while she slept. She went to a clinic, then a hospital, and neither had the needed two doses of antivenom. nypost.com/2026/02/02/e...
