Wine country reopens, cautiously

I should probably come clean at the start. I broke the law to write this story. Here in northern California, shelter-in-place orders are still in effect throughout the state, and the one covering my residence in Alameda county stipulates that I cannot travel outside the county borders except under certain limited ‘essential’ circumstances associated with food, health, and other such fundamental needs.

Wine tasting is surely not one of those.

But despite similar such orders in place throughout the most populous regions of California, wine...