This is my 240th posting here, and I have absolutely nothing to say about restaurants, food or wine, which have been the subjects of the online version of The Bee's Appetizers column since this experiment got under way in early May. (You really don't want to hear about the thin and caustic New Zealand pinot noir we had with dinner last night.)

Other than to wish readers a prosperous, entertaining and healthy new year, I just want to use this space today to alert you that this blog is going on hiatus for the next three weeks. I return to work just in time for the nation's largest gathering of winemakers and grape growers, the annual Unified Wine & Grape Symposium at the Sacramento Convention Center Jan. 23-25. If the program runs true to form, it will generate at least a few postings here. See you then.