Livermore Valley Kicks Off Sauvignon Blanc Month - July

Celebrate Sauvignon Blanc! It's July and that's what you do in wine country.

The Livermore Valley, historically known for the grape, is  home to several wineries that produce Sauvignon Blanc.  Here are a few:
3 Steves Winery
Bent Creek Winery
Charles R. Vineyard
Chouinard Vineyard & Winery
Concannon Vineyard
Crooked Vine

Cuda Ridge Winery

Dante Robere Vineyards

Darcie Kent Vineyards

El Sol

Garré Winery

McGrail Vineyards

Murrieta's Well

Occasio Winery

Page Mill Winery

Retzlaff Vineyards

Ruby Hill Winery

Steven Kent Winery

Wente Vineyards

Westover Winery

White Crane Winery

A Little on the history of the Livermore Valley Wine Country.

Unbeknownst to many, the first international, (read French) Gold Medals (read Grand Prix) awarded to a California wine were from the Livermore Valley. The event was the 1889 International Paris Exposition (about 113 years before the well known judgment at Paris) when Cresta Blanca Winery, owned by Wetmore, submitted a 'dry white wine' for the competition. The wine was composed of Sauvignon Blanc, grown on cuttings, that, ironically, originated at Château d'Yquem in southern Bordeaux. Cresta Blanca Winery was designated a California historical landmark in 1957 and is owned by the Wente family. 

Read more about that here. The Forgotten Grand Prize Award.

Europe And US Battle Over .Wine And .Vin Top Level Domain Creation

This week Europe and the US wine industry is in an uproar.  In London this week is an ICANN, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, meeting to decide on new Top Level Domain names (TLD).  French minister Axelle Lemaire  sent a letter to ICANN stating that the new TLDs would cause confusion and be misused. Lemaire claimed that the new domain names could weaken identity of beverages such as Champagne which can only be called Champagne if produced in the Champagne region of France.  There are also claims that ICANN is doing this to make money as it will cause a burden on companies as they will be compelled to buy up the related TLDs to protect their brands. More than 80 companies petitioned the US Department of Commerce, saying that the plans would cause "excessive cost and harm to brand owners". Stay tuned for the results of this meeting.
Associated meeting documents:
LONDON – GAC Meeting: New gTLDs - Board Responses to ...
http://london50.icann.org/en/schedule/sat-gac-safeguard-new-gtld/transcript-gac-safeguard-new-gtld-21jun14-en.pdf