Fri, 09 May 2003

Spain: Torres Makes a Break With Cork
Torres, one of Spain's oldest and largest family-owned wineries, has begun selling some of its white wine in screw-cap bottles -- making it the first Spanish bodega to try the Stelvin brand closures.....

Vinexpo 2003 in Bordeaux France June 22-26 2003
For its twelfth exhibition, Vinexpo will be host to 2,500 exhibitors from 40 countries and should, as in 2001, welcome 55,000 visitors from 140 countries as well as 1,200 journalists. Vinexpo is not only a unique showcase for wine and spirits products from all around the world, it is also an important meeting place for top professionals, who come in large numbers from all over the world to support the market and debate what is happening in the sector today...

France: Scandal among the Champagne vineyards
Scandal has hit the Champagne vineyards with senior industry figure, Pierre Martin, ex-chairman and CEO of La Financiere Martin, which owns Bricout and Delbeck Champagnes, charged with fraudulent bankruptcy, breach of trust and fraud and detained in custody......

Sth Africa's small wine exporters face crisis
Many small South African wine exporters could be forced to shut down their operations entirely if the exchange rate of the rand does not weaken within the next six months.....

Psst! Wanna Buy a $2 California Cabernet?
Suddenly, stores are full of mysterious bargains, new brands with obscure labels that don't reveal the true producer or grape source. It's a sleight of hand, allowing wineries to unload excess wine without hurting the image of their key brands.....

NZ: Big push to help find grape pruners
A huge effort is being made to avoid a feared labour and accommodation shortage in Marlborough, with more than 1250 workers needed in vineyards for the pruning season.....

Big-bucks wines don't always live up to their mystiques
Like kids peering through the window of a toy store, wine lovers who can't afford $100-plus bottles of wine look but can't touch, want but can't have. But it's wise to keep in mind that expensive wines carry the risk of letdown....

Kenya: Keroche Boss Charged Over Wine Quality
The boss of the company that makes Vienna wine was yesterday charged with manufacturing and selling substandard goods. The Kenya Bureau of Standards prosecutor, Mr Christopher Omulele, who was assisted by Chief Inspector William Kemboi, told the court he will call seven witnesses.......

Wed, 07 May 2003

NZ: A whiff of pinot success
International winemakers will join up to 700 delegates at the conference and cuisine event in Wellington next January. The last conference was in 2001......

US: Almaden Vineyards Innovates with New Bottle Packaging
Almaden, California's oldest winery at over 150 years old, has introduced new glass packaging for all bottle sizes. The new package design maintains Almaden's proprietary 'swirl' contour. A teardrop-shaped label accented with soft tones echoes the contours of the trademark swirl....

Canada: Vineyards go high-tech with tiny sensors
King will monitor his vineyard from a laptop computer inside his home. And he will instantly know a vine's micro-climate: temperature, moisture and sunlight accumulation around a specific grape cluster -- even the chemical composition of a single grape, leaf or soil.........

NZ: Nelson looks to bumper grape harvest
Nelson's winegrape crop is predicted to increase by up to 35 per cent on last year, bucking a national trend of decreased crops. The national winegrape crop is down 45 per cent down this year, double the 20 per cent drop predicted by New Zealand Winegrowers two months ago........

Italy: Wine Demand in US Increases By 16% In 2002
In 2002 the 5 year US trend concerning foreign wine continued. With about 5 million hectolitres the US increased imports by 16 percent compared to 2001, with a total cost of 2.6 billion dollars (up 19 percent).....

US: The blended red is making a splash
The next great red hope may have arrived -- that long-anticipated red wine phenom that the wine industry and consumers have been waiting for to surpass merlot and dethrone cabernet as the king of all reds........

Australia: Wine thief sentenced to five years jail
A man has been sentenced to almost five years jail over the theft of more than 100 bottles of Grange Hermitage from a Melbourne liquor store last October........

Chirac says it with wine
French President Jacques Chirac has sent six bottles of highly expensive claret as a 50th birthday present to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair........

For U.S., Bargain Wines, Not French Ones
French wines have experienced problems in the American French market before: complicated labels, unpopular wine styles, unfavorable exchange rates. But they haven't encountered difficulties as tough as the ones they are now facing since Prohibition....

Broadbent takes Beard award
Decanter consultant editor Michael Broadbent last night won the prestigious James Beard Award for his his book Vintage Wine: 50 Years of Tasting Three Centuries of Wines....

Tues, 05 May 2003

Lion Nathan forms US wine alliance
Lion Nathan has moved to fill a gap in its global wine strategy with the appointment of luxury wine brand marketer Paterno Wines International as its distributor in the United States. The deal gives Paterno exclusive rights to market and distribute Lion Nathan's premium wine brands including Petaluma, St Hallett, Wither Hills and Argyle.......

NZ: Poor harvest aided by last year's good stocks
The flow of last year's wine through the production pipeline will help to ease the effects of a big drop in the New Zealand grape harvest this year.....

Up Ten Percent, Merlot Expands Its Lead Over Cabernet
According to a report released Friday by the wine business advisory firm Motto Kryla Fisher, LLP (MKF), Merlot continued its impressive growth in 2002, extending its total volume lead over Cabernet sales. Up by 10% in volume, Merlot posted a less dramatic 6% increase in revenue as a result of a drop in the average case price wineries charge their wholesalers.....

US: Distributors changing the rules
A retail wine merchant, disgruntled with the manner in which wholesale distributors have been changing the rules regarding how they sell their merchandise, emailed to inform a reporter that a very high-end Napa Valley reserve Cabernet was being offered to a national upscale restaurant chain for about a quarter the price he's being charged.......

South Africa Backs Australia's Challenge to EU Laws
South Africa is backing an Australian challenge to new European Union (EU) food labelling laws, which could restrict the right of other countries to produce a range of food products under traditional names......

Australia: Wine heist worth $45,000
More than 100 bottles of Australia's dearest wine were stolen from a South Yarra bottle shop after an employee was trussed up at knifepoint, a court heard yesterday......

Pioneering Australian wine co. celebrates 150-year milestone
A significant milestone in the Australian wine industry will be commemorated this year with the 150th anniversary of the Hardy Wines Company. On April 12, 1853, Thomas Hardy - founder of the Thomas Hardy & Sons wine company - purchased land on the outskirts of Adelaide, South Australia, and planted his first vineyard.....

Sun, 04 May 2003

Israel: Drunk With Success
20 years ago, when Israelis knew only sacramental wine, eight communities joined to found Golan Heights Winery....

UK: Investors raise a glass to grape expectations
For most people, "English wine" conjures up images of elderflowers, bell jars and dreadful plonk. Yet in recent years English vineyards have gained credibility.....

US critics slam Aussie wines
A panel of experts from the Los Angeles Times has given Australian wines a big thumbs down, describing some popular downunder wines as "excellent lighter fluid" and tasting like "acidic water....

How To Sell Wine In 40 Seconds
In the land of shopkeepers, the consumer is king. Confronted with a choice of 750 wines from 23 countries on 5 shelves in the wine aisle of a supermarket, British buyers take an average forty seconds to decide on what bottle to buy......

US: Suddenly shorn Seven Peaks is hot
Move over "Two Buck Chuck" -- at $2.99 a bottle, Seven Peaks has pushed out Charles Shaw as the hottest selling wine at Trader Joe's....

Ireland: French face apple brandy challenge
Under a black, thunderous sky Ireland's only winegrower inspects a new crop that he hopes will break the Gallic monopoly on one of France's most famous exports - Calvados......

Australia: Penfolds a study in irony
Australia's best known wine - Penfolds Grange - has become front page news in its homeland, possibly the most hyped wine in Australian history - and a case study in irony.......

US: Beringer faces environmental damage law suit - reports
The brewing and wine group Foster's has run into trouble with an environmental organisation in the US, with allegations that its Beringer wine subsidiary has polluted a river......

Australia: Wine price hits decade low
A dry season and market uncertainty have shaved $80-million off the profits of wine grape growers in South Australia's Riverland. The Riverland Winegrape Growers Council says the average price was the lowest in a decade.......