Long-time readers may remember that I am a partner in Sunset Cellars, a boutique winery that literally began in a garage (in the Sunset District of San Francisco). Ten years after we bought our first commercial fruit, we are finally able to open a wine tasting room, and the news has been noticed in the wine industry media (more on that below).The location of our new establishment is the comparatively unknown-yet-accessible Suisun Valley [pronounce it "sue soon"] in Solano County, California, roughly 25 miles east of Berkeley. We are very much at home there. A growing share of our production is coming from Suisun Valley, and our friend Roger King is a leading grower of grapes there.The Suisun Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA) produces extremely high quality grapes, but most of the harvest formerly was blended into wines (up to 25% of the total) labeled as coming from elsewhere (including much blended into Napa Valley labels). Napa wineries have bought up some...(Read Full Post)