(Source: Visit Napa Valley)

“By Napa Valley standards, Green Island Vineyard is an ordinary, under-the-radar plot for grape-growing…The vineyard’s owners say it is “blighted,” no longer viable for grape growing. They want to rip out their vines and redevelop the land for industrial use, such as wine warehouses used for fulfillment or storage. Rezoning the land to allow that is a logical solution, they say, because the vineyard is already located next to an industrial park,” reports Jess Lander in the San Francisco Chronicle. “But Napa Valley preservationists, including wine and agriculture groups like the Napa County Farm Bureau and Napa Valley Vintners, are worried that could set a dangerous precedent of converting protected land and kick-start urban sprawl.”

In Wine Enthusiast, Ani Duzdabanyan explores how Armenian women in wine are shaking up a once male-dominated industry.

In the Washington Post, Craig Stoltz writes about what it was like to taste wine under hypnosis.

Growers in Crete who saw old, pre-phylloxera vines severely damaged by wildfire are determined to rebuild and have been offered support from an international winemaker group created to champion ungrafted vines, reports Chris Mercer in Decanter.

In the New York Times, Eric Asimov on the evolution of California Chardonnays, and how there’s much to love about them.

Elsewhere in the Times, Florence Fabricant highlights Alice Feiring’s new book, To Fall in Love, Drink This.

In the Drop, Janice Williams highlights the cool-climate wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains.