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Sour grapes and mud BY DAVE BARRY This classic Dave Barry column was originally published Aug. 24, 1997. Recently, I spent several days touring the California wine country, and I must say that it was a wonderful experience that I will remember until long after I get this mud out of my ears. I'll explain the mud in a moment, but first I should explain that the wine country is an area near San Francisco that is abundantly blessed with the crucial natural ingredient that you need to have a successful wine country: tourists. There are thousands and thousands of...

New World wins again in a vintage rematch By Sally Pook (Filed: 25/05/2006) At the time it was unthinkable. French wine, surely the finest in the world, was put to a blind taste test against the best California could offer. It was 1976, the tasting was in Paris, and wine from the New World was considered no better than cheap Retsina. Imagine the heart-stopping moment, then, when nine experts, all French, ruled that Californian wine was superior. Steven Spurrier at the London tasting yesterday "You cannot underestimate how much the 1976 tasting shocked, and then revolutionised, the wine industry," said...