Bottoms Up

It is a truly sad day when one of the liveliest and most creative online  sources for regional wine diversity announces it can no longer pay for new editorial content in this economy.

As a newspaper, we understand.

Appellation America, the site that personifies grape varieties, won’t be giving any new assignments to Dan Berger, Courtney Cochran or the other prolific folks writing on North America’s 300-plus American Viticultural Areas.

But the good news is that despite low advertising revenue, they are sticking around and asking folks for a $4.95 monthly membership. This will help them continue as an archive site and database for who produces what winegrape varieties and where.

I think it’s a nominal fee to pay for the breadth of information and reporting they’ve done over the years.