Napa Valley winery Sterling Vineyards has donated $30,000 to the Land Trust of Napa County through the sale of its premium 2004 Napa Valley Wildlake Ranch Merlot.

Everyone has his or her pet peeves. Mine is that dreadful American social rite — The Cocktail Party.

The California Exposition and State Fair has awarded lifetime achievement awards to  Mike Grgich, Warren Winiarski and Mary Ann Graf for their outstanding contributions to the California wine industry.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed legislation authored by Assemblymember Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) to help nonprofit organizations organize fundraising events with wine donated from California's wine industry. Co-author of the legislation was Senator Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa).

 John DeLuca, former president and CEO of the Wine Institute, is joining the E. & J. Gallo Winery as  senior advisor to the board of directors.

Master Sommelier Chris Blanchard has been named as educational director for Chappellet Vineyard & Winery. One of only 158 master sommeliers worldwide and 87 in North America, Blanchard will be responsible for educating key distributor, retail and restaurant partners about Chappellet and its portfolio of wines.

The fourth-annual Lake County Wine Adventure, a two-day passport event, is July 26-27, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A Dozen Vintners is planning a harvest celebration with gourmet food and wine. "Fall into Harvest 2008" is Sept. 6, noon to 5 p.m. All proceeds will benefit the American Cancer Society.

Steve Leveque will head its winemaking operations at Hall Wines  where he joins assistant winemaker Megan Gunderson and consulting winemaker David Ramey. Born and raised in Napa Valley, Leveque worked at Robert Mondavi Winery for 11 years before moving to Chalk Hill Estate Winery in Sonoma where he hand-crafted a portfolio of small-lot Bordeaux varietals.  

The Napa Valley Grapegrowers host an authentic harvest celebration Sept. 6, 5 to 9 p.m. at the Round Pond Estate in Rutherford. Many of the Napa Valley's most notable grapegrowers will be pouring wines made from grapes grown in their vineyards at the event, which also includes dancing, an instant cellar raffle and a live auction.

Have some extra cash plaguing you?  The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, has introduced "the ultimate California wine-lover's dream package" priced at $250,000 for two.

As it becomes increasingly difficult to build a winery building in unincorporated parts of Napa Valley — notably in the Ag Preserve and watershed — wine companies are opting for making their wine in industrial parks and custom crush facilities. And they’re setting up tasting rooms inside Napa County’s cities and business parks.

Pairing wine with food is a mystical process, and I use the word “process” because there are no fixed rules. It’s possible to argue that a wide variety of wines would work just fine with most dishes.