Vintners

Re: "Two Buck Chuck Has Mondavi Over a Barrel" (Aug. 1). Competition is great, and until California vintners and restaurants decide to quit gouging for wines and champagnes, my money stays in my pocket. Roger Newell San Diego Business welcomes your letters. Write to Letters to the Business Editor, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. Submit by e-mail to bizletters@latimes.com.

James L. Barrett, a pioneering Napa Valley vintner who stepped onto the world stage in a big way in 1976 when his Chateau Montelena Chardonnay won a prestigious Paris tasting, has died. He was 86. Barrett died Thursday in San Francisco, according to family spokeswoman Kristen Reitzell. The cause was not given. An attorney and senior partner at a Torrance law firm, Barrett decided to leave his practice, move to Napa Valley and devote himself full time to Chateau Montelena, the historic estate he and a group of investors had bought in 1972.

Obviously, it was too good to be true. Alfonso Arau fought so hard to present a family of upper-class Mexicans as prestigious vintners in "A Walk in the Clouds" (Film Clips, Jan. 30), and then he cast Winona Ryder as a Latina. Way to go, Alfonso, another giant step backward for Latina talent. ROSEMARY ALDERETE CHERYL B. LEADER Los Angeles The writers are partners in Indivision, a Latina-owned film and TV production company.

Increasingly, Chardonnays, Pinots and Cabernets are sharing shelf space at your local store with some unusual names - such as Bodacious Brunette red and Buxum Blonde and Angel Food whites. Veteran wine collectors might turn up their well-trained noses. But the wineries promoting such brands aren't targeting those buyers. With many of their best customers nearing retirement age and starting to cut back, American vintners are going after younger consumers in a bid to keep their $33-billion industry growing.

LEHI, UTAH Tulip Festival When, where: Through April 30, Thanksgiving Point Gardens Highlights: More than 250,000 bulbs are abloom during this celebration. Also art, food, live music, vendors and demonstrations. Cost: $10; $8 for children Info: (801) 768-2300, http://www.utahvalleyfestivals.com OJAI, CALIF. Ojai Storytelling Festival When, where: May 5-8, Ojai Art Center and Chaparral High School Highlights: Some of America's best storytellers weave tales of comedy, myth, suspense and adventure.

Today is the third day of Passover, the eight-day Jewish festival that marks the Hebrews' exodus from Egypt and a time when observant and non-observant Jews require kosher wines for special symbolic meals and ritual sanctification. Although much of the world's supply of such wines is consumed during the holiday, a new generation of on-the-go American Jewish consumers is enjoying them year-round.

At once a punch-drunk love letter to the expressive possibilities of wine and a boozy rant against clubby wine-world politics, Jonathan Nossiter's "Mondovino" is also among the most vigorous cinematic explorations of globalization and its discontents. If formulaic fictions such as "Babel" or "Crash" harp on the paradoxical alienation of our interconnected lives, Nossiter's documentary, given its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004, portrays globalization as a homogenizing force at the service of modern capitalism.

The scene Saturday at Plaza Hall in the San Diego Concourse--concrete-floored, designed in the spirit of one-size-fits-all utilitarianism and rarely cheerful in mien--looked something like a rehearsal for a vast Valentine's Day celebration. A carnival of hearts paraded around the room in various media, from images projected on walls to balloons floating over tables to an immense, stylized construction on the stage that, while crimson and vibrant, looked a little broken.

Behind the bolted steel doors of an old brick warehouse, Big Wes meets a nutrient company scientist to see if he can increase his crop yield. Rows of hydroponic marijuana plants soak up solution flowing through plastic troughs and light blazing from high-pressure sodium lamps. Big Wes has spent more than half his life calibrating his system of growing high-grade marijuana to its utmost efficiency. At 50 years old, he harvests a crop of dozens of plants every week from five rented warehouses scattered along the rutted streets and alleys around the docks of Oakland.

The richest of the rich in America is worth $2.8 billion, while the poorest of the rich checks in at a mere $150 million. But who's counting? Forbes magazine, that's who, and its 1985 list of the nation's 400 richest people is topped by Sam Moore Walton of Bentonville, Ark., who has made $2.8 billion through his Wal-Mart discount stores. Walton, who danced a hula on Wall Street last year when profit goals were met, replaced Gordon Getty, the front-runner for the past two years.

The most popular beverage in the Temecula Valley, the picturesque wine region not far from the urban sprawl of Orange and San Diego counties, is something called "almond champagne. " It is a more or less naturally sparkling wine (the bubbles induced in pressurized tanks) with almond flavoring added. Smelling sweetly of cream soda and marzipan, the wine's thick, cloying flavor wouldn't seem out of place in an ice cream parlor if not for a modest alcohol kick and its bitter finish.

Ready for a wine quiz? Look at a label and define these terms: Barrel fermented. Bottle aged. Old vine. Vineyard. Reserve. Surprise: There's no correct answer. That might change. Evocative but ill-defined terms have proliferated on labels as wineries seek to distinguish themselves from the competition. Now regulators' proposals to sharpen wine label definitions have incited industry debate and gone global. "It's already time-consuming to get labels approved, so the more restrictions they put on, that's an issue," said Laurie Kelsey of the Kelsey See Canyon Vineyards in San Luis Obispo.

Reporting from Healdsburg, Calif. -- Billionaire vintner Jess Jackson's move to change the century-old name of Black Mountain to Alexander Mountain was the last straw for Gary Wilson, whose family has owned a significant chunk of the peak in redwood country north of San Francisco for generations. Jackson, developer of the Kendall-Jackson brand, was growing grapes on 5,400 acres on the mountain's east slope, which his company bought from Chevron in 1995. He labeled that vineyard Alexander Mountain Estate.

LEHI, UTAH Tulip Festival When, where: Through April 30, Thanksgiving Point Gardens Highlights: More than 250,000 bulbs are abloom during this celebration. Also art, food, live music, vendors and demonstrations. Cost: $10; $8 for children Info: (801) 768-2300, http://www.utahvalleyfestivals.com OJAI, CALIF. Ojai Storytelling Festival When, where: May 5-8, Ojai Art Center and Chaparral High School Highlights: Some of America's best storytellers weave tales of comedy, myth, suspense and adventure.

Like most outsiders who get into the wine business, Mark Tarlov, the guiding force behind Evening Land Vineyards, had much to learn about the ins and outs of running a winery. So he surrounded himself with smart people, learned the lessons he needed to learn and then, almost immediately, seemed to forget them. Instead of one winery, for example, Tarlov now has three, in two states (Oregon and California) and on two continents (the U.S. and France). He makes mostly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay ?

SANTA CRUZ, CALIF. Wilder Ranch Heritage Harvest Festival When, where: Oct. 23, Wilder Ranch State Park Highlights: The classic harvest celebration promises square dancing, pumpkin decorating, wagon rides, games and live music. Cost: $10 a vehicle Info: (831) 426-0505, http://www.parks.ca.gov SANTA FE, N.M. Día de Los Muertos When, where: Oct. 31, Museum of International Folk Art Highlights: Mexican and Catholic themes predominate this lively celebration, which will include food, musical performances and hands-on crafts projects.

The Ping-Pong bidding war for Golden State Vintners Inc. escalated as San Francisco-based Wine Group increased its cash offer for the bulk-wine producer to $82 million, topping the latest proposal from a group led by Golden State Chief Executive Jeffrey O'Neill. Wine Group's new offer amounted to $8.25 in cash for each Golden State share, a 3.4% premium over the company's closing stock price Monday of $7.98.

A society has been formed to help market sparkling wines made by the French methode champenoise . Based in San Francisco, the group is called CM/CV, which stands for Classic Methods/Classic Varieties. Founding member wineries are Domaine Chandon, Domaine Carneros, Mumm Napa Valley, Maison Deutz, Piper Sonoma, Roederer Estate, Scharffenberger and Culbertson. All but Culbertson are foreign-owned.

Paul Johnson Longtime L.A. traffic reporter Paul Johnson, 75, a longtime Los Angeles traffic reporter who worked at KNBC-TV Channel 4 for 22 years and was known for his signature phrase "Buckle up, be careful out there," died Tuesday at his home in Orange Park Acres, the TV station announced. Johnson had not appeared on the "Today in L.A." morning show since undergoing surgery for a brain tumor in January. Johnson's baritone voice delivered reports on traffic snarls, and the popular reporter always finished with "Buckle up, be careful out there."

At a time when recession-pinched Americans are swilling Trader Joe's Two Buck Chuck, Sun Xiao thinks nothing of entertaining his friends with $150 bottles of wine at his private club. "I like wine — very rich wine," Sun, chief executive of a real estate investment firm, said one recent evening as attendants — young women in traditional Chinese gowns — stood nearby, ready to serve up an expensive bottle at his beckon. "It's the perfect example of humanity and nature living in harmony."