Wine Country Gazette™ – Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Lake Counties

Skip to stories

Wine & Ag · WINE · 26.08.28

At Brassfield, a Lake County estate pushes its chips in while the market pulls back

While much of the California wine business pulls vines and trims payroll, Brassfield Estate Winery has spent the downturn buying land and hiring salespeople, betting on an estate model almost nobody else still runs.

By Roger Coryell / Aug 28 / Read the story →

Clear Lake with Mount Konocti in the distance, seen from a tule-lined shoreline

Water Clearlake Oaks water, sewer bills head 61% higher by 2031 Aug 5

Clear Lake seen from a vineyard-covered hillside near Glenhaven in Lake County

Water Clearlake weighs a Clear Lake pact that gained a seventh tribe Aug 4

The Upper Lake arch over Main Street in Upper Lake, Lake County

Water Upper Lake wells still pumping past a 2022 state deadline Aug 3

Dry hillside western Sonoma County

Fire & Safety North Bay fuel dryness is headed past the 97th percentile Bay Area forecasters project Energy Release Component values past the 97th percentile in the North Bay this weekend. No Red Flag Warning… Aug 1

Clear Lake seen from a vineyard-covered hillside near Glenhaven in Lake County

Governance Clearlake recruits for a sewer board seat not yet created Jul 29

Rows of vines in a Napa Valley vineyard at sunset

Business Napa’s tourism economy broke even last year. Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake lost ground Jul 28

Empty courtroom with United States and California flags beside the judge bench

Crime Santa Rosa man gets 25 to life in wife’s stabbing death Tunoa Meo got 25 years to life Friday for stabbing his wife to death in Santa Rosa. The district attorney’s office says… Jul 24

Vineyard workers hand-picking wine grapes in a vineyard row at first light

Wine & Ag Sonoma County’s earliest harvest in decades begins Jul 24

A tall plume of water sprays from a broken fire hydrant over Main Street in St. Helena, with a bus at left and firefighters at the base.

Water Grand jury flagged the pipes in St. Helena. Then a bus hit a hydrant Jul 21

Charred standing dead trees rise above green regrowth in the Valley Fire burn area near Middletown, Lake County.

Housing Lake County lost more than a thousand homes to fire. Nobody will say how many came back. Jul 21

A dog looks out through the chain-link gate of a kennel run at an animal shelter.

Governance Petaluma to vote on rejecting all eight grand jury findings A Sonoma County Civil Grand Jury report says Petaluma let years of animal services failures slide. The city says the jury misread… Jul 16

The Sonoma Developmental Center campus in Glen Ellen, Sonoma County

Fire & Safety Sonoma Developmental Center still out of fire-code compliance Jul 15

Shorebirds on a tidal marsh at the Napa-Sonoma Marshes near American Canyon, with a levee and hills behind

Water San Pablo Bay floods tonight, and no storm is behind it Jul 14

Still water of Nicasio Reservoir in West Marin County, with bare hills reflected under an overcast sky

Water Sonoma keeps saying yes to Marin’s Russian River pipeline Sonoma County's supervisors approved a 15-year water contract with Marin on the consent calendar, with no discussion. The number that mattered —… Jul 14

$Empty wood-paneled courtroom with judge\x27s bench$ Legal Sonoma County’s sheriff watchdog keeps its subpoena power Jul 9

Coils of razor wire top a security fence, silhouetted against a cloudy sky

Mental Health Sonoma County jail death follows vote to scrap mental health wing Jul 9

Cardboard archive boxes of documents on wooden shelves

Water Who is going to watch the Russian River? Jul 5

Room in a skilled nursing facility

Legal Napa nursing home sold for $6.25M, fentanyl suit pending Piner's Nursing Home in Napa sold for $6.25 million and rebranded as Napa Community Health Center, even as a civil elder-abuse lawsuit… Jun 18

A Northern California reservoir that supplies drinking water

Water St. Helena: where the town’s water comes from Jun 17

The French Laundry restaurant in Yountville, California

Legal Yountville’s French Laundry faces three labor lawsuits Jun 14

The Sonoma County Hall of Justice in Santa Rosa

Governance Sonoma County drops plan to put Measure P update on ballot Jun 12

PhotoshopExtension Image (1)

Community Grand jury gives Sonoma’s open-space agency a clean review — and flags a 2031 cliff The civil grand jury gives Sonoma County's open-space agency a clean review — and flags the 2031 expiration of the tax that… May 10

Dumpratesscam

Business Opinion: A quiet scam at the dumps voters own — and pay twice to clean up after May 5

Business Sonoma’s first Mexican American family winery is in bankruptcy court May 2

Fog drifts over redwoods and dormant vineyard rows in Sonoma County

Governance Yountville’s town manager walked into a performance review. He walked out resigned. Apr 30

Screenshot 2026 04 26 at 9.39.48 AM

Wine & Ag Cloverdale’s own water plan says the city doesn’t need the Eel River dams its vice mayor is fighting to save Apr 26

brown and gold gavel on brown wooden table

Housing Appeals court blocks Santa Rosa mobilehome park owners from recouping wildfire-era rent increases Apr 26

A man handing an eviction notice to an elderly couple sitting outside their mobile home

Governance Petaluma mobile home residents say park owners are running a smear campaign against their advocate Apr 25

Open the full archive →

Site by North and Vine