Question. What is a beverage that has enjoyed an image of romance, sophistication, nobility, pleasure, and ocassionally snobery? It is drank in both ceremony and in times of relaxation. The answer. Wine of course! It almost seems as if wine has existed just a long as humans have. In fact, there is evidence that ancient Egyptians produced wine for ceremony, though probably not of the high quality that Californian vintners are producing today. As I enjoy a good glass of wine, and spent four years living in wine country, I chose to examine five of California's smaller wineries web pages. What I found is much like what one can find wile observing wine drinkers, the technical drinker concerned with boquet and the brix countl, all the way to smiley and silly drinker. All five web pages are esentially informational and commercial. Each winery stresses their dedication to producing top quality wines by way of careful vinting practices. I ranked each page with 1 being what I think is the best. I envite you to enjoy.
1. http://www.ravenswood-wine.com
Ravenswood Winery, Inc. was founded in 1976 by winemaker and president Joel Peterson and partner W. Reed Foster. Ravenswood is a specialized winery in Sonoma County that produces 300,000 cases a year. Three quarters of their production is Zinfandel. In 1990 they adopted their sogan, "NO WIMPY WINES". The homepage has a relaxed appeal to it with great photos. It is very informative and provides technical winemaking jargon but not to the point that you need a winemaking dictionary. It has links to an introduction, what's new, visiting, winemaking, and of course, a how to buy section. They do welcome comments or questions and provide a link for that also. It does not have an author but does give the last updated date.
2.http://www.frogsleap.com
Frog's Leap is situated in Napa County in the Rutherford Appellation. The winery founded in 1994, is surrounded by forty acres of organically farmed estate vineyard. They also present a relaxed approach and their slogan is, "Time's Fun When You're Having Flies". This web page is very cleverly animated vineyard with a big red barn as home. They do provide the web design information and the last season updated. If you click your way around you can find a detailed explanation of the organic growing process, the result of each vintage, as well as e-mail, FAQs, a calendar of events, and a virtual tour. The only draw back to this virtual wonder is that loading takes a while.
3.http://www.chalkhill.com
Chalk Hill Vineyards and Winery, owned by Fred and Peggy Furth, is a twelve hundred acre wine estate in Sonoma County's Chalk Hill appellation. The web page has bios on the owners and provides quite a bit of technical data, it has a link to reveiw articles, and a tour and tasting (which is by appointment only) information link. the page has a very fomal feel to it with several lovely photos of grapes and vines on sunny days. If you are a wine know it all, thn you will be pleased to find brix counts, natural yeast percentages, and barrel types and fermentation times. The date it was last updated is not provided nor is a comments or questions link, only a phone number.
4.http://www.sonomacutrer.com
Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards was founded in 1973 by Brice Cutrer Jones. His winery is dedicated exclusively to Estate Bottled Chardonnay from its own vineyards in the sonoma Coast Viticulture Apellation. This web page is not too anything, although it is woordy. It is plain and basic with a few photos of the property and links to its history, general information, and distribution. It is not too technical but does provide information on their wines and vineyards. Also interesting, they hold the annual World Croquet Championship and provide detailed information on the event. An e-mail link is provided for comments or questions but no author or last updated date.
5. http://www.prestonvineyards.com
Preston of Dry Creek is a family founded vineyard in the Dry Creek Appellation. It is a 120 acre and pesticide free property with a commercial bakery and olive and veggie crops also. They produce 5,000 cases each year. This page is very "plain jane". It consists of the winery logo, short overview, and a statement from owners Lou and Susan Preston, and an order list of available wines. There are five photos of the property, no production description, outhor, nor last updated date. They claim to practice "minimalist winemaking" and I say a minimalist web page too.