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Wed, 30 Apr 2003
- Their goal: conquer
Quietly and with stunning speed the Australians have been invading the United States
-- with wine. Following a detailed production and marketing plan, and taking dead
aim at California's place in the wine market, Australia is about to pass Italy as
the No. 1 imported wine in America......
US:
Wine industry weathering tough times
While a shaky economy, a grape glut and increased competition mean grapegrowers and
winemakers are tightening their belts, Sonoma County's wine industry should do well
in the long term, according to a report recently released by the Sonoma County Economic
Development Board.......
British
media whines about Kiwi tipples
Criticism from wine aficionados in New Zealand's largest export market, Britain,
is raising concerns our wine producers may be resting on hard-won laurels. Scotland
on Sunday wine writer Martin Isark recently wrote a scathing report about New Zealand
reds, calling the latest batch "a mega disappointment"......
South Africa: New Wine Industry
Publication Launched
WineAds, a dedicated printed classified advertising publication, has been launched
for the wine industry. Offering highly competitive advertising rates, it will provide
a forum where wine industry players can buy and sell new or second-hand equipment
and source various products, goods and services. It will be produced monthly and
be mailed to all wine producers and other interested parties free of charge......
Brown-Forman
pulls out of Vinexpo
Major American distributor Brown-Forman will not be attending this year's Vinexpo
in Bordeaux, claiming it has 'lost a degree of relevance'......
South Africa: 'One
Of The Finest Vintages In Recent Years'
A 7,5% increase in total yield is forecast, equalling an estimated total of 1 160
715 tons with all the major wine growing regions contributing to the increase. One
of the reasons for the general improvement in yield is the young Shiraz, Cabernet
Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Pinotage plantings that have come into production.......
New Irish Corkscrew
Wins Silver Medal at Geneva Exhibition
MACCorkScrew - the New Irish Corkscrew was awarded a Silver Medal and Diploma at
the 31st International Exhibition of Inventions, New Techniques and Products in Geneva.
The prestigious exhibition held under the patronage of the Swiss Government is the
largest of its kind in the world and featured some 1,000 inventions from companies
and private individuals from 42 countries....
Germany: Kohl sprayed
with wine by protester
Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl had a glass of wine thrown in his face by an
apparent protester at an election rally in the city of Bremen, officials said Tuesday.
Kohl, who hails from the wine-growing Rhineland-Palatinate state, said his only complaint
was that wine used had been of poor quality and apparently was not been from his
region.....
Australia: Discounted
drops
Wine prices have taken a tumble as the Australian wine industry's big players jostle
for position and quaffers are winners. In the polite world of fine wine retailing,
this is nothing short of war........
Tue, 29 Apr 2003
- NZ Vintage Update:
2003 Harvest Smaller Than Expected
As Vintage 2003 comes to a close, New Zealand Winegrowers has revised downwards its
expectation for the size of the grape harvest. Current reports from most areas, with
the notable exceptions of Nelson and Central Otago, are that crops are significantly
lower than originally expected. "As a result we now expect the vintage to be
about 45% down on Vintage 2002, at around 65,000 tonnes." said Philip Gregan,
Chief Executive Officer of New Zealand Winegrowers.
Palandri push for
US wine market
West Australian group Palandri expects an anti-French backlash to drive sales of
Australian wines in the United States higher as it presses ahead with a A$33 million
capital raising for its push into the US market.......
Father of Friuli
Schiopetto dies
Mario Schiopetto, the man responsible for Friuli's fame as a white wine producing
area died last Wednesday aged 72, after a long period of illness......
Per Capita Global
Wine Consumption Declines in 2002
For the third straight year, per capita wine consumption worldwide has fallen to
a new low, down to a mere 3.5 liters per person in 2002, according to the just-released
2002 edition of The Global Drinks Market: Impact Databank Review and Forecast.......
US: Crop report
lays out bitter numbers of 2002
The fear that California's wine grape vineyards were producing more than consumers
could drink and wineries could crush, came to fruition last year. Some grapes never
made it out of the vineyard, as the price offered by wineries was less than it would
cost to harvest the crop........
Buffs and buyers
on red alert for '98 Grange
When American heavy metal rockers start slinging $71,000 for an imperial - the equivalent
of eight normal bottles - of 1998 Penfolds Grange, a wine yet to be released, you
just know this is going to be no ordinary Grange......
South Africa: Looting
(and indulging in) Bottled Treasures
Cape newspapers report that thieves made off, over the Easter weekend, with the contents
of a valuable private wine cellar belonging to the owner of a Stellenbosch wine estate.
For the perpetrators (one of whom didn't make it beyond the cellar door due to the
mellowing effects of the stolen property), the forces of law would apply......
South
Africa's wine industry is bubbly on prospects
South Africa's 2003 grape harvest appears to be meeting expectations of delivering
one of the finest vintages for wines in recent years, according to Wines of South
Africa (WOSA), the wine industry's marketing organisation.......
Sacre bleu: French
wine sales way down
Sales of French wine are down about 75 percent at an Aberdeen store that has the
area's largest selection of off-sale wine. "It's unimaginable, even in Aberdeen,
S.D., how (the sale of French wine) has just stopped," said Ron Lindner, manager
of the liquor department at Kessler's grocery store.......
'Largest
ever' Australian collection to be auctioned
A huge collection of Australian wine - billed 'the largest ever presented in America'
- comes under the hammer in Manhattan early next month.......
Jancis
Robinson: A vine romance
Figures for how much Australian wine was exported to the US last December were so
high that Australian officials could not believe them and deliberately held up their
publication....
Mon, 28 Apr 2003
- NZ: Good quality
grapes, but low yield
After one of the most challenging seasons ever, Marlborough's wine industry is reporting
a good quality, if low yield, vintage. Only a few blocks of grapes remain to be harvested,
wrapping up a season dogged by frost during flowering, rain during harvest and the
grape fungus botrytis.......
Australia's
Wineries Outsell French in U.K. and U.S. Markets
When Australian Stephen Millar became chief executive officer of the world's biggest
wine business this month, he didn't move into the corporate headquarters of parent
company Constellation Brands Inc. in Fairport, New York. Instead, he stayed put on
the other side of the world in a converted 160-year-old homestead outside Adelaide,
Australia......
NZ: Reduced vintage
impacts on volume of wine
New Zealand's Montana Wines will be taking a number of steps to mitigate the effects
of a grape harvest beset by a highly unusual sequence of weather events. These will
include a measure of substituting imported wines for New Zealand wines at the lower
end of the price spectrum, changing the district of origin for some New Zealand blends,
limiting the supply of certain wines and, quite possibly, price increases......
US:
Wine-shipping story still rolling
At first glance, the Wine Industry Direct Shipping Summit on May 9 in Napa Valley
looks like a total yawner. After all, the meeting's purpose is to update industry
insiders on an issue that's been developing very slowly -- for 70 years......
Czar's
Freak Show Helps Fight Russian Alcoholism
In the 1980s, attempts by then president Mikhail Gorbachev to curb alcoholism by
slashing vodka output and destroying vineyards only caused widespread derision and
a surge in production of moonshine......
Oregon's
Willamette Valley is a magnet for wine lovers
The view outside Erath Vineyard's tasting room is like a Thomas Cole painting, a
vision of idyllic tranquillity. Off in the distance looms snowy Mount Hood and the
rest of the Cascade Range. Stretching for 180 miles between the Cascades and the
hilltop vineyard is the Willamette Valley, a veritable Garden of Eden with its orchards,
golden fields and plantations of hazelnut trees......
Sun, 27 Apr 2003
- Australia:
EPA defends BRL Hardy decision
The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has defended its decision to drop some
charges against winery BRL Hardy. BRL Hardy was facing three charges of knowingly
causing environmental harm over the dumping of thousands of litres of waste from
its Renmark winery, in south-eastern South Australia.......
South Africa: New
Yeast Research In Stellenbosch
Fermenting with wild yeasts can produce wines of greater complexity than those made
with cultured yeasts. But for most winemakers, the risks attached make the process
too big a gamble. Is there any way of deriving the advantages without the risks?.....
NZ:
Battle of the grapes
Marlborough wine producers plan to use an international conference in Wellington
next year on wines produced from pinot grapes, to recover the region's reputation
for pinot noir production......
US:
Battle over Wine Sales
Saying it's just "an extension of the dinner table" and their business,
supermarkets want New York's permission to sell wine. That could mean a quick infusion
of $130 million to the cash-strapped state.....
California Cabernet Society
Announces New Members
From Malibu to Middletown, new wineries spanning California are joining the California
Cabernet Society. Total membership in the organization includes 82 prestigious wineries,
including 14 new members........
Vintners
combining grape varieties into intriguing blends
Agonizing was the word Bill Davies used to describe the decision as to what kind
of wine Origin-Napa's Heritage Sites would be. He and his partner, Tom Gamble, had
to choose between bottling four separate varietal wines (a wine named for a single
grape) or blending all four together into just one wine.....
Making
a first-world living off the land
There is a danger New Zealand winemakers could suffer a triple blow with this vintage:
lower production, lower selling prices and a higher New Zealand dollar. Trying to
maintain quality, prices and brand integrity will be the three critical challenges
for them......
Vintners
court young drinkers
In the wine business, age has long been considered a good thing, but now some wine
producers are seeking younger vintages -- among their customers......
Cheap
wine leads to case of sour grapes
It's a story of down-sizing, reprising and recession chic, with enough canny marketing,
sour grapes and snobbery to make it an almost-perfect tale of dotcom bust in California.....
NZ: Bad Weather
Hits Grape Crop
A poor grape crop due to bad weather will cut wine exports and probably add to imports
- particularly cheaper wines. The cheap and cheerful Kiwi stuff you quaff while standing
around the barbie next summer will probably contain more than the usual slug of Chilean
or Australian juice.......
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