Before Retirement, Vance Petrunoff Was Selling Bulgarian Wines from Sonoma, CA

June 25, 2009 Sophie Kevany A US-based conservation organisation has called for a Boycott of South African wine, following the shooting of over 40 beached whales near Cape Town. Paul Watson, head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Captain of its eponymous 'eco-warrior' ship, has posted a demand on the Society's website exhorting the global public not to buy wine from South Africa. He further demands that winemakers step in and force the departure of Mike Meyer, director of South Africa's Marine Coastal Management (MCM), who reportedly authorised the shooting. South African wine producers have expressed outrage at the ban and questioned what it has to do with the shooting. 'I suppose it shows we are one of the most visible South African exports,' said winemaker Ross Sleet of Kleine Zalze winery in Stellenbosch. 'Touch wood it hasn't hurt sales; conservation is a priority for us.' He added it was a warning to the industry that it could be at ...

and next to it, in Mill Valley again

cool cafe in Mill Valley

Miro Cellars (Miro Tcholakov) 2006 Petite Sirah won Gold and Best of Class at the California State Fair 2009 Commercial Wine Competition (and no, Miro was not a judge in this category :) За тези които не знаят, Миро Чолаков от Троян е в листата на 20 най-добри винари в Калифорния

World refugee day

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE55F05420090616?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0 Water is becoming scarcer, raising a fear that so-far manageable price increases could spike and leading drink companies to take action to maintain access to water and fight their image as water hogs. "Water is the new oil," said Steve Dixon, who manages the Global Beverage Fund at Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder, repeating what has become a mantra as climate change and population growth tax water supplies. "As an investor, I'm not concerned about the reality," Dixon said, guessing there will always be enough water overall. "But I'm aware of the perceptions ... and you can't totally shrug it off because perceptions are important." About a third of the world's people now live in areas of water stress, said Brooke Barton, manager of corporate accountability for Ceres, a network of environmental groups and investors seeking to address sustainability...

Cal Dennison likes a nice cold glass of Chardonnay. And he's man enough to admit it. That's hardly surprising since Dennison is winemaker at Modesto's Redwood Creek winery, but is he an exception? Judging by some marketing campaigns, you might think so. Take the Super Bowl ad that ran a couple years back in which men invited to a wine and cheese party sneaked into the kitchen to unpack beer hidden in a fake wheel of cheese. It was a stereotype played for laughs - in real life, lots of men like wine - but maybe one with a crumb of cultural truth. The designator for "average dude" in political campaigning last fall was Joe Six-Pack, not Peter Pinot Noir. It's hard to say for sure exactly who's drinking what, but a Gallup Poll from July found that among women who drink, 43 percent say wine is what they drink most often and 28 percent say beer. Among men who drink, 58 percent say beer is what they drink most often and 17 percent say wine. "As a general r...

My oldest son, Troyan, named after my Dad, graduated Justin Siena High School in Napa. I am so happy and he is such a nice boy, so I am sharing this with you. After all Troy had packed so many boxes of fine Bulgarian wines and he is the one that did most of the Internet orders in the last 1-2 years. I am so proud of you Troy, go have fun and be happy and prosper. He is going to Sacramento State University.