* One the state's newest billboards offers a buccolic scene and this tagline: "Wine needs time to breathe. And so do you."

* Longtime RagApple Lassie winemaker Linda King has resigned. She will continue on in a consulting capacity at RagApple for the next year. Meanwhile, she's launched her own consulting business. You can reach her at ladyofthegrape@gmail.com

* Wine production costs are up - now between $4,000 to $6,000 per acre. Rising fuel costs drive some of this. My guess is many wineries will respond by increasing acreage yield, never a good thing for quality grapes.

* Worldwide, bulk wine inventories are way down so expect those cheap California, Australia, Chilean, Argentinian, New Zealand, and Spanish wines to creep up in price later this year.

* RayLen's famed "South Mountain Vineyard" Chardonnay label - from Larry Kehoe's Morganton-area vineyards - was initially called Silver Creek Vineyards until someone in California called and complained because Silver Creek was already trademarked. This is called a "learning moment" in the wine trade. 

* Divine Llama Vineyards in the Yadkin Valley was generous enough to share with us over lunch his Chardonnel, several Traminettes, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc- all good. We're working to get them on board as a monthly feature soon.

* Round Peak Vineyards just released its 2009 Sangiovese and as far as heft and body go, it's chunky monkey. It's all good.

* Calaboose Cellars, the state's smallest winery tucked away in western mountains, makes a killer wine from the Norton grape.

* Parker-Binns Vineyard near Mill Spring opened late last year. Their 2010 Pea Ridge White is 100 percent Chardonnay - and really, really tasty.

* For grins, I tried newly-opened Sullivan Estate's Blackberry wine. Not at all what I expected. Faintly-hued and produced in a dry-style. Quite elegant. 

* I sat with the crew from Grove Winery over dinner. There was lots of wine as I faintly recall, most from Grove, some swapped or purloined from other wineries' tables, and lots of stories - some of it perhaps even close to the truth. This correspondent is here to report that what happens at the Grove Winery dinner table stays at the Grove Winery dinner table.
 
* Somewhere in all this, I got volunteered to judge wines on May 4 before the May 5 Bud Break Festival in Mt. Airy.