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Fri, 13 Jun 2003
- Studies
continue to link wine, good health
Studies and news regarding the relationship between moderate consumption of wine
and one's health continue to make the news. They originate in countries far and wide,
range from very small to very large controlled studies. They are no longer directed
mainly to coronary problems, but to vascular, cancer and other major infirmities......
US:
Vintner on a mission
For Berkeley winemaker Steve Edmunds, making simple, oaky California Syrah is not
good enough. Instead, he's passionate about creating subtle, mysterious Rhone-style
wines. But in a mass-market world, is anybody listening?.....
Gallo
Tiptoes into Screwcaps
In a possibly mold-breaking move, E&J Gallo has agreed for the first time to
allow Tesco, the UK's largest supermarket and wine retailer, to sell two of their
wines closed with screwcaps during a store promotion.......
Australia: Foster's
buzz makes Southcorp pop
Southcorp shares leapt by up to 9 per cent yesterday on speculation of a $2.5 billion
takeover by rival Foster's Group - but Southcorp's biggest shareholder says it is
not selling........
Germany: Red wine
increases market share
The share of red wine on the German market rose from 32% to 36% in 2002, with output
of red wine in Germany reaching at 9.8m hectolitres in 2002, the Federal Statistics
Office has said......
French
producers protest at plans for GM trials
Hundreds of French winemakers are protesting against field trials of genetically
modified vines planned for Alsace.......
Thu, 12 Jun 2003
- Increasing Profitability
The subject of this year's Harpers Debate at the London International Wine &
Spirits Fair was, 'How can the wine trade increase its profitability?' Christian
Davis was among the packed audience looking for some answers......
Wisconsin: Wollersheim
suffers major grapevine losses
In what's described as a "major setback," the owners of Wollersheim Winery
say they have lost up to 75 percent of their grapevines. The state's largest winemaker
produced a record 178,000 gallons of wine last year, although much of it was made
with fruit grown outside the state......
Bollinger
writes off 2003 after hailstorm
Champagne Bollinger has written off the 2003 harvest following a massive hailstorm
last night which completed the damage done by the frosts of mid-April......
Australia: Winemaker
predicts industry shake-up
One of Western Australia's top winemakers says the industry is in trouble because
of gross over-production......
New World Wines
- If you can't beat 'em, join 'em
Reeling on the ropes in export markets from the onslaught by their Australian, Californian
and Chilean rivals, French winemakers and merchants are fighting back by adopting
the methods of the New World......
The
naked truth about chardonnay
It was in Burgundy in the Middle Ages that chardonnay made its leap to immortality.
Monastic orders undertook painstaking surveys to find sites where the wine did best
and developed techniques designed to let the specific character of each vineyard
site express itself fully in the finished wine -- a notion the French refer to as
terroir......
Grape cubes for
wine
Sometimes, a glass of wine is best enjoyed chilled but, if you didn't get the bottle
into the refrigerator soon enough to accomplish that, check this out....
Inhale
south of France from glass of Beckmen
The dedication of California winemakers to the grapes of France's Rhone Valley, developed
throughout the 1990s, has proved profitable to producers and consumers alike. Growing
regions and pockets of vineyards up and down the state turned out to be amenable
to the red grapes grenache, carignane, syrah and mourvedre and, perhaps to a lesser
extent, the whites viognier, marsanne and roussanne......
Wed, 11 Jun 2003
- US:
New Woodinville complex to be 'Disneyland for wine'
Silver Lake Winery will build a $20 million wine and culinary complex just north
of its Woodinville location next year. It will be the first project its kind in the
state, said Stacie Jacob, public-relations director for the Washington Wine Commission......
Sour grapes
In an exotic version of the tall poppy syndrome, Australian wine is encountering
stinging criticism in other countries. The latest assault comes from California,
where the Los Angeles Times recently published a story damning some of the most widely
sold, cheaper Australian wines in the US market........
Australia: Hits
of the '80s
Who drinks old wines these days? Well, we know winemakers do. "Just opened a
bottle of 1985 chardonnay and it was bloody stunning," said a very pleased Bob
Cartwright of Leeuwin Estate when I rang up to ask him how his Art Series chardies
from the '80s were looking these days......
Top Wine Co-op in
Austria Changes Management
In an apparent cost-cutting strategy, Freie Weingärtner Wachau, a successful
wine cooperative in Austria, has changed its management team. The winemaker and the
general manager who brought the wines to all-time peaks of quality and export sales
both resigned in April......
Hardy Wine Company reveals
surprises out of 2003 Vintage
Australia: In 2003 the Hardy Wine Company crushed a total of 258,132 tonnes of grapes,
drawing fruit from the most recognised regions in South Australia, Western Australia,
Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and the ACT. This represented a 55,000 tonne,
or 17.6 percent......
Uncorking
China's wine industry
As millions of Chinese migrate from the countryside to cities, more are starting
to consume Western-style wine. Per-capita wine consumption, still among the lowest
in the world, has grown by an average of 11 percent each year for the past five years......
Tue, 10 Jun 2003
- Paso Robles' Boisterous
Hospices du Rhone Keeps Rolling
Wine sales might have slowed down these days, but that didn't dampen enthusiasm last
weekend in Paso Robles at the Hospice du Rhône, the annual gathering devoted
to Rhône variety wines from around the world......
France: The Grape
Or The Place - A Row Over Labels
Christofaro works for the Marcel Deiss domain in the northeastern wine region of
Alsace, where unlike most of the rest of France, wines have historically been named
after grape varieties, not after the places, or domains, where the grapes are grown.
So at Marcel Deiss, current owner Jean-Michel (Marcel's grandson) is something of
a local aberration. He wants Alsace to fall into line with the rest of France.......
Moderate Drinking
May Cut Women's Risk of Diabetes
Drinking moderate amounts of alcohol may help prevent healthy young women from developing
diabetes, new research suggests......
US:
It's a buyers' market in vineyard property
Al Blasi has the deeply tanned and muscled forearms of a man who's spent a lifetime
working the land. Since 1933, his family has farmed this 40-acre slice of Chalk Hill,
first raising prunes before turning it all over to grapes in the late 1970s......
1,000 guests to
toast Mondavi
Wine industry legend Robert Mondavi will be toasted June 18 when nearly 1,000 guests
from around the world gather at his Napa Valley winery to celebrate his 90th birthday.......
France: Wine revival
plan close to the crush
The scheme that was going to give the beleaguered French wine industry the chance
to compete on a level playing field with the New World has been seriously stalled
after objections to the French government. And many now believe it will be vetoed
altogether.....
Mon, 09 Jun 2003
- Vintage occasion
proves a corker for lovers of Italian wine
Hundreds of Italian wine connoisseurs were given a rare treat yesterday when 13 of
the country's top-quality producers showcased their finest award-winning vintages
in Glasgow......
NY: Wine industry
hopes for boost
Wine sellers and vintners hope the state's new sales of spirits and wine on Sundays
will be a boon to their industry, especially for labels produced at New York vineyards......
Drouhin Family Buys
Back Control of Their Burgundy Firm
Nine years after Burgundy's Maison Joseph Drouhin sought outside financial help and
relinquished control to a Japanese food-product conglomerate, the Drouhin family
has regained a majority stake in their wine-merchant firm.......
Disability activist
sets sights on state's wineries
California vintners dread the day when disability rights crusader George Louie wheels
through their doors. He already has sued more than 700 California businesses, including
banks, bowling alleys and major retailers, under the federal Americans with Disabilities
Act and its state counterpart, the Unruh Civil Rights Act......
Sun, 08 Jun 2003
- Chile
harvest 'best in decade'
Chile's 2003 vintage is the best in a decade due to exceptional weather conditions,
delighted winemakers are saying. A hot summer cooled off to a perfect autumn with
almost no rain during harvesting months, allowing ample time for the grapes to mature.....
Million-dollar bid
sets a record at Napa wine auction
Cheers rang out and corks popped as the Napa Valley Wine Auction set a record Saturday
of $1 million for a single lot. Chants of "Go, go, go!" filled the big
white tent where the auction, billed as the world's largest charity wine event, was
held.......
Australia:
Downgrades take glow out of wine
Chill winds blew through the Barossa Valley yesterday, as Peter Lehmann Wines' latest
profit forecast downgrade stripped almost 6 per cent off the stock.......
US: Marimar Torres
goes organic
Marimar Torres Estate has converted its 25ha Don Miguel Vineyard in California's
Sonoma County to organic farming methods.
Australia: Annual
wine exports break 500m litres
Australia's wine exports have passed the annual 500m litre benchmark - about 25 litres
for every Australian ñ for the first time. The nation's Wine and Brandy Corporation
logged year-to-year end of May export figures at 503m litres.......
Australia: Lehmann
stock plunges on 25% downgrade
Peter Lehmann Wines Friday joined the ranks of wine companies to downgrade their
profit forecasts, saying it expected a 25 per cent fall in full-year net profit......
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