For over a quarter century, California Wine Tours has provided the finest in wine country transportation and wine tours of Napa Valley, Sonoma Valley and Sonoma County.

Our knowlegable guides and drivers, combined with our luxurious, high quality vehicles have made us the leader in Northern California. As a full service transportation company, we can accomodate groups of any size. California Wine Tours operates New Lincoln Town Cars, Corporate Suburbans, Stretch Limousines, Custom Vans, Mini Buses and Full Size Motor Coaches and Specialty Vehicles.

We offer private, customized tours of Napa Valley, Sonoma Valley, and Sonoma County, as well as tours of historic sites and wineries, educational tours and even tours devoted to champagne! Sit back and relax while sipping complimentary sparkling wine in one of our latest luxury vehicles and allow our knowledgeable chauffeurs/tour guides to take you to the wineries of your choice or you may want to opt for one of our prearranged itineraries - the choice is yours!

Requirements for shipping wine with FedEx
Thank you for choosing FedEx for your shipping. As you are aware, the transport of alcohol is carefully regulated by the authorities to ensure responsible, safe and proper delivery. FedEx provides solutions to help you comply with government regulations and services that make shipping easy so that you can focus on making great wine.

Use of electronic shipping solution requirement
You must process the shipment with any FedEx Ship Manager® electronic shipping solution or approved third-party system. The use of a FedEx® US Airbill is not permitted for shipments of wine by FedEx Express® and FedEx Ground® services.

Wine Shippers Agreement requirement
You must complete a Wine Shippers Agreement prior to shipping wine with FedEx. Contact your account executive for complete details.

These instructions concern the labelling of grape wines; the main focus is the mandatory in-formation required when labelling table wines, table wines with geographical indication and quality wines psr. The requirements for the labelling of other wine products (liqueur wines, semi-sparkling wines, sparkling wines, aerated semi-sparkling wines, grape must, grape must in fermentation, concentrated grape must, new wines still in fermentation and wines from over-ripened grapes) can be found in the regulations mentioned below. These instructions are ap-plied to the labelling of both wines produced in the Community and those imported from third countries.

These instructions overrule the previous instructions on labelling (Nr 58/43/03 and 22/43/05) given by the National Product Control Agency for Welfare and Health (National Product Control Agency, STTV).

The following regulations and their changes concern the wine labelling:

• Council Regulation No 1493/1999 on the common organisation of the market in wine (the basic Regulation)

The Sacramento District formed the Wine Industry Study (WIS) as part of the implementation of the Market Segment Specialization Program (MSSP). The wine industry was selected because of its relative uniqueness to, and overall economic impact on that district.

The wine industry, for purposes of the study, was defined as the wine making operations in Northern California. While the study focused on wineries, some vineyard operations were included. The information contained in this package represents information developed and issues raised during examinations within this industry.

The goals of the study were:

1. To determine the nature and extent of noncompliance within the industry
2. To develop an audit techniques guide for the industry
3. To promote voluntary compliance within the industry through consistent treatment of issues and taxpayer education.

The Civilisation of Wine

As the diplomat and writer Paul Claudel was fond of remarking, “a great wine is not the work of man, but the culmination of a consistent and sophisticated tradition. More than a thousand years of history goes into the making of an old bottle of wine”. Few parts of the world express this notion of “wine civilisation” as well as Burgundy. Here, wine is a founding influence, responsible for shaping many a landscape, building, tradition and mentality. So many beautiful things have been patiently built up around, by and for wine.

You have been making wine in your base ment for several years and routinely receive accolades on how good your homemade wine tastes. Now you are trying to decide if you should start your own vineyard and build a commercial winery. What are the factors that you should consider in starting a winery and a vine yard?

There are many aspects to consider in starting a winery. One of the fi rst considerations should be where to get grapes and what kind of wine to make. You also need to familiarize yourself with the various regulations and governing bodies that regulate the industry.

If you are a novice in the art and science of growing grapes, we suggest contacting your county Extension agent, who can direct you to the appropriate specialist at The Uni ver si ty of Tennessee. This specialist can advise you on site se lec tion, recommended varieties, trellising systems, spray programs and other information to help you grow high-quality grapes. The publication “So You Want to Grow Grapes in Tennessee…” details the production of a high-quality vineyard.