Links:

The following is a list of links to websites or companies that I have found useful, interesting or entertaining;  or any combination thereof.

USEFUL

http://www.zlimen.com/- Igor Zlimen - physicist, programmer, software designer, PhD - is a clever fellow who provides information technology services  to a variety of companies. He has a special interest in the wine industry and a special talent for helping people manage and make sense of large amounts of grape and wine-related data. Past accomplishments include designing the MKF Grape Trends forecasting model, designing depletions analysis software, designing and implementing mail order and club management software, and maintaining and mining large quantities of wine-related data for sales and marketing analysis. 

http://universityextension.ucdavis.edu/winemaking/index.asp - the U.C. Davis Agricultural Extension service offers regular courses for non-students on a variety of wine-related topics.

http://wineopinions.com/ - up-and-coming research service providing data and insights into core wine consumers. A unique database of core wine consumers gives Wine Opinions swift access to hard-to-find market segments, for targeted research at reasonable prices.

http://www.wineinstitute.org/ - useful first stop for basic data and information on the California wine industry.

http://www.oregonwine.org/ - useful first stop for basic information on the Oregon wine industry.

http://www.zinfandel.org/ - ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates & Producers) is a non-profit educational organization of both producers and consumers of Zinfandel wine. An serious organization that knows how to have fun, as you would expect from people dedicated to the hedonistic flavors of this grape. 

INTERESTING

http://www.winebusiness.com/html/monthlycover.cfm - Wine Business Monthly covers a wide variety of topics from grape-growing to retail sales with well-researched articles of interest to both the casual and professional reader.

http://www.winemarketreport.com/ -Rich Cartiere makes it his job to cover breaking news in the wine industry ASAP.

http://users.rcn.com/tiverson/- This could just as easily be filed under Entertaining or Useful. It's Thor Iverson's website devoted to wine with sidetrips into dining and travel. Thor is funny and a great writer, but it's his philosophical musings on taste and wine (check out the faq link) criticism that make this site really interesting. 

ENTERTAINING

http://www.gmon.com/tech/output.shtml - absurd but hilariously effective random generation of tasting notes. Sometimes I even think I've had some of these wines. Or at least read about them.