Not since the millennium folly in 1999 have I seen so much frenzy in the wine market.

Back then, with stock markets booming, auction houses setting records for wines and Champagne producers warning there wouldn't be enough fizz for the celebration, producers were enthusiastic and bottles were getting pricier by the month.

What a difference a decade makes. With high unemployment, pared-down expense accounts and a glut of wine, it's the consumer's turn to make merry, with lower prices, more choice and less pretension. Those 99-point ratings don't seem quite so requisite any more to buying good wine. Read more...

Believe it or not, there are some thirsty souls in this world who take in the strings of colored lights, the dangling snowflakes and overdressed fir trees and do not think of Christmas morning. They hear the strains of "Good King Wenceslas" or "The Wassail Song" and are not filled with good cheer.

Instead, they are overcome by Pavlovian symptoms -- dilated pupils, wetted lips, excessive Homer-like salivation. They gather snack bowls. They frost steins. They stand in the kitchen gazing expectantly at refrigerators, fondling bottle openers with a discreet lasciviousness.

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WARNING: You may assume that what you are about to read is the usual dutiful holiday roundup of Champagnes and sparkling wines. But you would be wrong. Ignore this at your own peril.

Hmm. Wrong tone. Too grim. Not at all the light, exuberant note I’m seeking. Let me try again.

Ah, Champagne! Ah, bubbly! Ah, the corks popping anew as we joyously stride forth into the new year!

No, even worse. What, play it straight? Well, why not? Maybe this year the news on Champagne is too good to gussy up. Read more...

Wine nerds have three priorities in life: drinking wine, talking about wine and reading about wine. So don't forget to visit the bookstore when you're hunting for wine-lover gifts this holiday season. Here are my literary picks:

-- "Been Doon So Long," by Randall Grahm (University of California Press, $35). This "vinthology" collects the scribblings of the mad man of California wine, the Dr. Gonzo of grapes, the original Rhone Ranger and President for Life of Bonny Doon Vineyard in Santa Cruz, Calif. Grahm is well versed in literature's classics and afflicted with an ability to see three sides of a coin; he does not shy away from poking fun at himself even as he lampoons the wine industry and those of us who take it so seriously.  Read more...

As a gift, the standard bottle of wine just doesn’t cut it anymore. Sure, a stately red or white is a nice gesture, but let’s be honest: these days, it’s little more.

Yet, as a gift, wine has undeniable advantages. Compact and portable, it’s also fun, offering more immediate pleasure than, say, a set of drill bits. And unlike a box of chocolates, it’s fat free.

So how can you give a wine that’s imbued with intention and significance? My suggestion: old wine. When it has been cellared, a wine becomes not just what’s with dinner, but an artifact, a slender bridge to the past. Read more...

Market research group Mintel predicts wine sales will have risen by 2.1 percent to $27.6 billion dollars in 2009, up from $27 billion last year.

In 2008, sales declined 3.2 percent, after years of constant growth.

"In 2008, the recession was at its peak," said Garima Goel Lal, an analyst at Mintel, adding that people drank less wine in restaurants and in bars.

Consumers ditched luxury and imported wines priced at over $16 dollars a bottle in favor of bargains such as boxed and domestic value-priced wine, according to the report. 

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After holding their breath for six years, Napa Valley winemakers can now put the name "Calistoga" on wines made from grapes grown in that historic town, federal regulators have ruled.

The decision ends a long slog through regulatory red tape, and completes a crucial piece of the valley's intricate system for labeling its wines - one that stands to make bottles from the area even more valuable.

"We're all fired up," said James "Bo" Barrett, proprietor of the Chateau Montelena winery, who began petitioning the Treasury Department in 2003.  Read more...

Dear Thanksgiving Wine Worrier:

That fateful time is upon us again. We're sorting through seas of vague and contradictory advice about what wine to put on the table with your feast.

I know you want answers. So for once I'm going to make it easy.

Let's face it: Unless you're selling DIY foreclosure kits, it's been a tough year. My advice, then? Don't worry. Drink what you like. No one's going to put you in wine jail. It's going to be OK. 

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This year, the nominations from our 33-member panel of top sommeliers and retailers read like a Who’s Who of American wineries and winemaking talent. By the end of our final blind tasting, Food & Wine’s 12th annual American Wine Awards included winners in 20 categories (new this year: Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio and Rhône-Style White). The value wines were particularly strong and diverse—and the average price of our above-$20 winners was substantially lower than last year’s, too. Sheer chance? Sea change? You decide.

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After wrestling for a spot on the gourmet drink list, beer is trying to push deeper into wine territory: right by the cheese platter.

"Some cheeses are considered to be jewels. And for now wine is a more prestigious partner," says Leonardo Di Vincenzo, owner of Birra del Borgo, a young Italian artisanal brewery that has recently begun exporting to the U.S. But once they try beer with cheese, he says, "People are struck by how easily the two go together."

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