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The 2010 Sonoma Valley Crush celebration will take place Sept. 15 to 19, with lots of hands-on harvest activities at 17 wineries throughout the Sonoma Valley. The wineries will offer grape sampling in the vineyards, crush-pad tours, fermentation demonstrations, winemaker meals and a mozzarella-making class. The five-day festival will culminate from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 18 and 19 with a Weekend Harvest Tasting. The weekend pass costs $45 and includes harvest activities, wine tastings and a souvenir wine glass. Heather de Savoye, left, and Amy Hall sample wine following a tour at the Rubicon Estate Winery in Rutherford, Calif. NAPA, Calif. — No doubt about it, the Napa Valley can be expensive. Hundred-dollar bottle of wine? They've got it. Thousand-a-night hotel suite? Right this way. But there are vine values to be found if you know where to look. Want to glide up a mountain by gondola? See avant-garde art in a garden setting? Sip sparkling wine on a verandah with a view? You can — and all for about what you'd pay for an appetizer at a temple of haute cuisine. Lee Hi-Sang , a South Koreanbusinessman who owns Napa Valley’s Dana Estates, didn’t take hisfirst sip of wine until he was in his mid-30s. Since then, he’ssought to ensure other Koreans don’t wait that long. Lee, who built his fortune in the flour-mill industry, tookto wine immediately and made it his mission to boost thepopularity of Napa vintages in his home country. He begandistributing California wine more than a decade ago andpurchased Dana Estates in 2005. Robert Parker . “Ithought I would introduce this good drink to Korea.” That’s no easy task: Most of the alcohol consumed in SouthKorea is still either beer or soju, a spirit typically distilledfrom rice. While Lee has increased his wine sales to $28 millionin 2008 from less than $500,000 in the 1990s, the economic slumphas shuttered wine bars and restaurants in Korea, and promptedconsumers to shy away from pricey brands, Lee said. The countryalso slaps a 65 percent tariff on imported wine. September 4, 2010 04:00 AM Copyright Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Lee Hi-Sang, a South Korean businessman who owns Napa Valley's Dana Estates, didn't take his first sip of wine until he was in his mid-30s. Since then, he's sought to ensure other Koreans don't wait that long. Lee, who built his fortune in the flour-mill industry, took to wine immediately and made it his mission to boost the popularity of Napa vintages in his home country. He began distributing California wine more than a decade ago and purchased Dana Estates in 2005. DOWD staff photographer John Colaruotolo, vineyard manager at Casa Larga, says the excellent growing season for grapes means they can remain on the vine longer, allowing them to ripen and be used for Chardonnay and Pino Noir. The grape harvest, like just about every other crop this year, has arrived two to three weeks early because of an unusually warm spring that kicked off an especially pleasant growing season. Some Finger Lakes vineyards were picking grapes on Monday, the second-to-last day of August, which Fox Run Vineyards pronounced the earliest harvest in its history. Typically, the harvest begins in mid-September.
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