Sideways had a huge impact on many aspects of the American wine business, and there were spill-over effects in other industries as well. For the past decade, there’s been a tourist boom in parts of the Santa Barbara region, as Pinot Noir devotees flock to the area to retrace the steps of Miles and Jack. The Santa Rita Hills and Santa Maria Valley are less well-known, but there are some stellar wineries there as well. First among equals is Dierberg. The Dierberg family came to the region several decades ago, in search of prime cool-climate sites for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. With their new winemaker, Tyler Thomas, they’re turning out wines that are “hedonistically and intellectually compelling.”

In Glass Half Full, our roundup of the most interesting food, wine and spirits stories on the web, we looked at these phenomena: wine prices are slated to go up next year; snakes are biting diners in steak houses; researchers find that the sound of a popping cork makes wine taste better, and Facebook is testing an app that will enable blocking of alcohol ads (if only they could do that with political commentary).

NOTE: Next week I will be traveling with limited access to an internet connection, so there probably won’t be too many posts (or a newsletter, for that matter).

Here are last week’s posts:

Dierberg: Jewel of the Santa Rita Hills

Glass Half Full: 10/4/2017