The California Report

Guidlines and Objectives
Setting the scene
While I can comfortably call Barolo in Piedmont and the German wine landscape my home away from home, California has long felt like threading unchartered territory. Simply because it's not close to my home turf, geographically speaking. With a time zone difference of 9 hours from Stockholm, it's almost on the opposite side of the planet. It creates all sorts of different limitations, time being one of them but also expenses. I simply cannot afford travelling there so often and pay for the classic, necessary trio of gas-food-lodging. However, during the many years of visiting twice annually, I have come to better know and appreciate the Californian landscape and while not in the position to call it my home away from home, I have come to love the different personalities of both wine regions and winemakers. Everything from the cool, coastal northern Sonoma, to the lovely and relaxed Russian River Valley, the upscale Napa, the thrilling Santa Cruz Mountains, the laidback Paso Robles where anything goes, the emerging Santa Rita Hills and Santa Barbara and so many different sub-zones scattered all around. According to this humble wine aficionado's opinion, some of the best and most delicious wines on Planet Earth are from California. Period.
NOT regular visits - Since neither time, nor money allow regular trips to the region, The California Report is NOT meant to compete with the established wine publications who either visit the region each year or have sample bottles sent do distant air-conditioned offices where the "wine critic" is tasting the wines and writing reviews. Hence, it's not an attempt to cover the region on a regular basis. Instead, I will publish a new issue whenever I happen to visit an estate and whenever I happen to have time off from my full-time work as a teacher. Please have patience... I will try to do my best within the boundaries I need to navigate.
Only personal visits to wineries - The very core principle of my project is that I will share impressions only from personal visits to the wineries, sitting there with the winemaker in front of me (or the people working at the tasting rooms) and tasting wines while asking about the latest development at the estate. If being a professional wine publication today, means that you simply set up an office and then have wine estates sending you what amounts to pallets of sample bottles, then basically anyone can become a wine critic and set up a "publication". I feel that the honest way is to actually show up at the winery in person and taste the wines on site.
No samples accepted - This one is easy and sets me apart from many professional wine publications. I don't accept samples since I actually make the effort to visit every estate in person. In fact, I hope to set an example with this practice and I welcome any wine publication that feels like being a copycat by discontinuing the self-imposed laziness and actually put boots on the ground by making an effort of visiting the wineries. And I mean each and every one of them. It ain't cheap, it does take time but if subscribers are actually paying them money, then... I hope this will offer some serious food for thought.

Important notice!

Is and isn't, the limiting factors of my project - What this little hobby project isn't, is an attempt to cover all estates from all Californian wine regions and from every new vintage on a regular basis. Obviously, I have neither the financial resources, nor even a fraction of the time needed to cover everything. Let me be perfectly clear about my limitations.
I work full-time as a teacher and simultaneosuly study half-time at the university. Time is thus a major limiting factor. All efforts to visit the region are done in my spare time. I will simply report on the wineries I happen to visit, whenever I happen to have time making a trip. Money is another serious limitation (what else is new?). Let me be frank and clearly state that I need to accept some sacrifices to afford the visits. I have to cover the expenses from my income as a teacher and I do. Airfare, rental car, fuel, lodging and an occasional restaurant visit. But in the long run, I simply cannot afford the comfort of staying at hotels every night or indulge in the luxury of eating at restaurants on a regular basis.
Foodwise, it means a lot of visits to fast food joints (where Panda Express is a favourite with decent food and reasonable prices) and occasionally I splurge at places like Hana in Rohnert Park (great sushi) and Ad Hoc in Yountville. Lodging is a MAJOR headache! Whatever happened to the time when staying in Californian motels were inexpensive? I checked what the rock bottom cheapest motel room in Napa valley would cost me today when writing this, a weekday. USD 150. And next weekend? About USD 450. For ONE night! Count me out on those prices. It doesn't help much to drive all the way to Santa Rosa or Rohnert Park, prices are still ridiculously expensive compared to Europe. I have no chance whatsoever to afford expenses like that each and every single day, so I mix it up by driving 1½ hours each evening to places like Ukiah, Sacramento or San Francisco, if I can find cheaper accomodation there. Hostel International in San Francisco is a favourite, as well as the branch in San Luis Obispo whenever I'm visiting Paso Robles and surroundings. Another option is of course sleeping in the car, while I know it's not recommended. At least Starbucks open early for breakfast at many places and the coffee is good...
As you will unerstand, it takes commitment, determination and sheer will, not much different from that of John Wick, to endure these minor obstacles to be able to afford visiting the region on a regular basis, despite limited funds. And a bit of passion... Simply put, if I don't have time or money to make a trip - no report. In other words, I'm under no pressure to constantly deliver reports on a regular basis. I do it when I have time and when I can afford a visit. 
What this project is, however, is a fun effort of adding but a tiny fraction of additional impressions from the Californian wine landscape, to complement all the other great sources of information already out there. I'm not interested in just shallow tasting notes and then onwards to the next winery. Given time and possibility, I would like to further explore and share with you the winemaker's stories. Who ARE the people behind a winery? What are they saying? What are they thinking? What are they doing? What's their history? What's in their future? With each visit, my objective is to capture as much as possible of the very soul of the winery. I will by no means succeed every time. Not even close. But I will certainly do my best.
What I also hope to achieve with this project of mine, is showing the extraordinary people working with wine in California, the respect they deserve. By making the effort to visit in person and not just having them send me cases of free bottles to a location where I taste them in a setting they have no control over. No more questions if their wine will be number 94 on the table in a lineup with hundreds of wines or any concerns that palate fatigue will basically render my impressions useless. And finally, by taking many photos, I hope to spread a more up close and personal feeling of the winery and the people working with wine, than just a few tasting notes.
Lots of limitations, lots of opportunities and lots of passion. I hope you will have patience with me and appreciate whatever small contribution I can offer to spread knowledge about Californian wine.
Photos and interviews - Photos. Lots of photos will accompany every report. And every now and then, a more in-depth (than is currently being offered by most publications) interview and report on the background of the estate as well as the current state of affairs, will be offered.
Taking requests - Every now and then I read comments from people who are asking about particular estates that might not be covered in the usual reports. I'm free to do whatever I want so if there are any requests out there to visit a particular producer, by all means, make a suggestion and given the opportunity, I'll gravitate over there and check them out.
Technical details - The California Report will be possible to download from the internet as a pdf file.
A cautious reminder - Before you get too excited, and have too high expectations, please note that ALL reports will not be long, comprehensive, epic accounts of ALL wines produced by a winery. Sometimes a report is limited to simply the wines I had the pleasure to taste while visiting a tasting room. At some places they waive the tasting fee because they notice I write serious tasting notes, while others charge me for the tasting, which sometimes means I can't afford to taste all the wines I would have wished for. Please have that in mind if you sometimes feel my report is short. On other occasions, a report WILL be comprehensive, with a long interview with the winemaker, including photos and tasting notes, but still limited to the few wines that were opened on my visit. Therefore, I cannot compete with the possibilities offered to professional wine critics, when an estate opens every wine produced from the latest vintage and even several back vintages. While this might come as a disappointment to some readers, I hope you will bare with me and enjoy my reports anyway. Those derived from just visiting a tasting room will obviously be incomplete and not to many people's liking, while - I promise - the reports where I get to sit down with a winemaker, will be substantial and hopefully offer a more comprehensive content and personal angle than most professional publications.
Subscription - As with the other reports, there is no subscription or any way to register of any kind. I don't want your personal details, e-mails, etc., and I will not be able to see how my wine reports are being read or spread among readers. Be my guest, knock yourself out and share the report among others as much as you like.
Price of admission - It's very easy. Since there is no subscription, subsequently there is no price of admission. I am paying for the homepage, internet traffic, lodging, rental cars and air fares from my own private pocket. If you feel sorry for me, don't. This is exactly what I have been doing for 20+ years, so nothing is new under the stars (save the additional cost of a homepage). I'll be doing exactly the same as always. The only difference with this tiny, insignificant hobby project is that I will be able to offer my impressions to others, instead of sitting on thousands of tasting notes, photos and hours of taped interviews all by myself. I guess a typical question is what I will get out of this? While not giving it so much thought, my spontaneous answer is that life is too short not to indulge in a passion and see where the path takes you. For anyone who sincerely feels that what I write is all crap, I hope you could please just move on and not invest too much time and effort on the negatives. After all, it's just fermented grape juice we are talking about. And for those who appreciate whatever insignificant role I play in spreading my passion for Californian wine to you, please let me know. That alone would make the whole adventure worth it.