Prices and politics in California's 2012 harvest

Workdays start before dawn this week across Northern California, as this year's harvest gets underway with a massive sigh of relief shared by most vintners on America's west coast. After two years in which the adjectives used by many to describe the harvest ranged from 'nail-biting' to 'disastrous', California vintners are celebrating what has been a near-perfect growing season and a flawless start to harvest with the heat spikes and deluges of recent years noticeably absent.

But in the aftermath of two small, tricky vintages, a heavy, high-quality crop isn't all good news, at least not for some. Some...