Since brothers Phillip and Eric Titus launched their wine brand in the mid-’90s, zinfandel and cabernet sauvignon have been their stock in trade.

During the  27-year Mexican period in California, 1821-1848, the few and rugged arrivals from the U.S. and the rest of the world were usually hunters or traders not necessarily planning to stay. Some, however, did stay; among them, in the Napa Valley, George Yount, Edward Bale and William Wolfskill, now recognized as pioneers of the California wine industry.

Although the dust has barely settled on the 2009 Auction Napa Valley charity wine auction, work is already underway for the 2010 event. To rousing applause at the recent general membership meeting, Beth Novak Milliken, president of Spottswoode Estate Vineyard & Winery accepted the chairmanship on behalf of herself, her family and the winery team for the 30th anniversary of the renowned fundraiser.

Barrel Blasting, a Napa firm that uses dry ice to clean and rejuvenate barrels, is offering a summer special. The company is dropping its minimum requirements for a “house call” to 40 barrels, totaling about $2,000, equal to the cost of two new French barrels. For wineries out of the area, the same minimum applies, but a travel charge is added. The normal minimum is 50 barrels. For information, call 539-1311, or go to www.barrelblasting.com.

Erica Valentine, a wine industry veteran, has joined Scion Advisers, a Napa-based firm that specializes in working with family-owned and closely-held businesses and aiding them in improving performance and profitability. Valentine will be a senior associate.

Ron Johnson is joining St. Supery Vineyards & Winery  as senior vice president of sales starting June 1. Johnson brings more than three decades of wine industry sales and marketing experience to this position including work with Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery, Allied Domecq Spirits, the Wine Alliance, and Southern Wine and Spirits. He lives in Chicago.

Spanish chef Ferran Adrià and his team have announced they’ve created a beer brewed for food pairings. Estrella Damm Inedit, a blend of barley malt and wheat with spices, “provides an intense and complex aroma to complement challenging foods like salads, vinegar-based sauces, and bitter notes such as asparagus and artichokes, fatty and oily fish and citrus.”

Pre-sale of the third vintage of the Brother Timothy Mont La Salle Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, crafted by the Hess Collection Winery began Thursday. For the first time, this wine was made from a small, single vineyard — entirely from Mont La Salle Vineyard estate grapes grown at the site of the original Christian Brothers winery where Brother Timothy worked as cellar master for more than 50 years.

The Napa Valley Grapegrowers recently celebrated its 34th year and elected Dawnine Dyer of Dyer Vineyard to the board of directors.

We exited the freeway at Rancho California Road, and drove east through pasture, scrub bush and rolling, featureless hills. In three miles. We reached the first building, Joe Hart’s winery.