March 9th, 2012

Is California Being Faced with a Grape Shortage?

Grape growers in California finally have something to cheer about—grape prices are going up. But what do those higher prices mean for consumers? Winery owners are trying to cut costs so they can keep prices low at a time when drinkers still want value. After nearly three years of sluggish sales and an oversupply of wine, vintners have cleared their cellars of older vintages and are looking to increase their grape purchases. But two small…

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Ladies and Gentlemen, Put Your Hands Together for SLO Down Wines, and Sexual Chocolate!

They essentially started as bootleggers that were barely old enough to drink. Brandon Allen, now 27, was working in construction and attending an occasional college class in San Luis Obispo. Bo Silliman, now 25, was studying premed at the University of Louisville in Kentucky in between throwing keggers. And 27-year-old Chip Forsythe, who didn’t have a whole lot to recommend him other than he was a decent wrestler, had somehow managed to get into Cal…

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