Jon Bonné’s Horoscope for Wine in 2014

This is the year California will hit the big time and connoisseurship will end predicts San Francisco Chronicle’s Jon Bonné. He called it last year, and it’s coming true: “wine buyers across the country are vibing on California in a way they haven’t for years,” so be on the look out for excellent 2012 and 2013 vintages. In addition to the California love, Bonné feels as if Zinfandel and sparkling are about to take up the mantle of more serious wines with—you guessed it—California bubbly leading the charge: “a handful of small California labels, mostly focused on single-vineyard bubbles, are set to pop this year.” As for the fat-wallet, rare wine collecting folk, they’ll likely be less eager to jump into the bidding war this year thanks to the industry-toppling Rudy Kurniawan wine fraud case, meanwhile the distribution game is more open than ever to smaller, independent players. All said, it looks like 2014 will be the year of underdog.  [San Francisco Chronicle]