Fri, 12 Dec 2003

Only one Italian wine in Top Ten
There is only one Italian wine in the top ten of the Wine Spectator Top 100, the wine "bible" : the Oreno 2001 Tenuta Sette Ponti occupies the tenth position of the special chart in which each year in December the most famous international wine magazine selects the hundred best wines in the world.

UK: Wine Buyer Gets Tongue Insured for $17 Million
Angela Mount may go down in history as the woman with the golden tongue. Britain's Somerfield supermarket chain, for which she purchases wines, has insured her tongue for 10 million pounds (about $17.3 million) because the company considers it such a valuable asset.

Screwcaps - The Beta Videotape of the Wine World?
Sage words and a good assessment of the current situation except, as Tyson Stelzer quotes in his book "Screwed for Good", those words were published over 20 years ago in 1980. Back then there was an expectation of significant bottlings in screwcap and it becoming a significant alternate seal to cork in the Australian marketplace.

US: Napa's Wine Beehive
As harvest 2003 shifts into high gear, Highway 29 at Oakville Crossroad in Napa Valley is a beehive of activity. Cars zoom along the highway, clogging the roads with tourists and local residents competing for space with large trucks hauling important bounty -- gondolas of grapes headed for the crush pad.

When is pinot blanc not pinot blanc?
The French proclivity for precise, some would say rigid, regulations regarding their wines makes pinot blanc from Alsace an aberration. Almost all the best French wines are named not by grape name but by the village or vineyard where the grapes grow.

Pinot Gris meets Grigio challenge
Jim Bernau, the president of Oregon's Willamette Valley Vineyards, did something interesting the other day. Along with his latest releases of Pinot Gris, he sent me a bottle of the well known, heavily advertised Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio (the same grape) from Italy. Why would an American winery try to generate interest by asking you to taste one of the most popular examples of one of Italy's signature white wines?

Wine of humble beginnings
Wolf Blass wines is one of Australia's leading wines and success stories. From humble beginnings in the great Barossa Valley, South Australia, Wolf Blass made himself a one-man marketing machine, promoting himself until he made it to the top.

AUS: Vineyards see red as seven million bottles go to waste
Australian wine growers, grappling with a hangover of monumental proportions, plan to dump 7m bottles of plonk after bingeing on red grapes.

Thu, 11 Dec 2003

Retsina - Wine of the Greek Gods
Some people say that Retsina, the resinated wine produced in Greece since ancient times, is an acquired taste. I'll agree - I acquired it immediately. Not everyone agrees - the Epicurious Dictionary describes the flavor as "sappy and turpentinelike".

A user's guide to the wine guides
Some hefty books on wine are destined to be checked out by readers seated comfortably, taking a sip from time to time. Other, smaller ones get tucked into a pocket to be taken for consultation in the wine store.

Oui, doggy bag for leftover wine
BORDEAUX - French restaurants have started offering diners a 'doggy bag' for any leftover tipple to stem a drop in wine sales as drink-driving controls get tougher.

US: When it comes to Alsatian wine, Trimbach does it their way
In 1626, King Charles I had yet to sign the Massachusetts Bay Charter. In Europe, Catholics and Protestants were locked in a murderous war. And in Alsace, a narrow strip of land nestled between the Rhine and the Vosges Mountains, Jean Trimbach, a Protestant, was establishing himself in the wine business.

Wine Pick of the Week: 2000 Marques de Caceras Rioja Crianza
Rioja is to Spain what Chianti is to Italy. It is the vinicultural ambassador of that country even more so than the fabulous fortified sherry wines of Jerez. To taste Rioja is to taste Spain.

Aussie wine wins Swiss fans
An unheralded Australian wine has been acclaimed as the best value drop in Switzerland. And the success of the Naturally Australian Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 2001 in Switzerland has underpinned the restoration of an iconic Australian wine site.

AUS: WA faces red wine glut
West Australian winemakers have just over a month to find a market for millions of litres of red wine. An oversupply of red grapes had led to a glut of red wine on the market, with large quantities still sitting in storage tanks that will soon be needed for the 2004 vintage.

Airline Unveils Wine Bottle of the Future -- And It's (Gasp!) Plastic
Science solves problems both great and small. Air New Zealand felt it was wasting fuel by toting around heavy glass wine bottles, which were also troublesome because they can break or be used as a weapon. So how could the airline save on fuel costs while retaining wine's traditional appearance for its customers?

US: Trends: The worst is over
As 2003 wanes, the BUSINESS JOURNAL talked to wine industry insiders about the major trends fermenting for the North Coast wine business in the new year.

Wed, 10 Dec 2003

2002 Dashe Cellars Zinfandel Ulysses Lolonis Vineyard, Redwood Valley
There are times when I just need a red wine that grabs me by the lapels, drags me across the bar and slaps my face. This high-octane fruit-bomb of a wine from California does all that and more, but in such a deliciously nice way that I kind of like the rough treatment. It has boatloads of thick, jammy, peppery, crushed raspberry fruit aromas and flavors that sail across the palate in a most satisfying way.

Gallo to Import Whitehaven
E. & J. Gallo has obtained exclusive U.S. distribution rights for the Marlborough-based Whitehaven Wine Company. This will be the first New Zealand wine in Gallo's portfolio, which includes imports from Italy (Ecco Domani and Bella Sera) and Australia (McWilliam's Hanwood Estate and Black Swan).

Bay vintners hopeful
The 2003 vintage was a tough one for Hawke's Bay but some top wines will still be made, Te Mata Estate's Nicholas Buck says. Te Mata will still be producing its flagship red, Coleraine, which it does not make in poor vintages.

Police in dawn raid on Thai workers
Nine illegal vineyard workers were caught by Immigration officers and Blenheim police this morning, after an early morning raid at a Wratts Rd property. The nine Thai overstayers, who were all living on the rural property, were served with removal orders after a police wagon and unmarked police cars swooped at 6.30 am.

US: The Best Wine Bar In America
It's everything you expect from a good bar and more. Friendly, familiar faces are the norm. Strangers feel at home. One owner has a degree in viniculture from the University of California at Davis. The other owner, a gracious and lovely lady with a warm smile is remarkably charming. The ambience is comfortable, with a feel reminiscent of the old television comedy, "Cheers".

US: Battle royal over wine shipped interstate
From Napa Valley's verdant vineyards to the starchy K Street offices of Washington lobbyists and lawyers, a battle is playing out that could determine the future growth of California's $7 billion wine industry.

AUS: Drinkers cheer beer, wine price war
Liquor stores are slashing beer and wine prices in what some industry observers say is the most aggressive pre-Christmas price war for years.

Terra Spase Releases First Comprehensive Report on Napa Valley Vineyard Soils and Wine Grapes
Paul Skinner, Ph.D., soil scientist and founder of Terra Spase, released a report today that provides vintners, winemakers, and land-owners with the most comprehensive resource for soil information on the Napa Valley.

AUS: Oz/US trade deal close
The Australian wine industry hopes to strengthen relationships with the US, its most important export market, as free trade talks near completion.

Wine Masters Challenge 2004
The holding of the Wine Masters Challenge 2004-6th World Wine Contest, is a legitimate tribute to Producers, Wine experts, distributors, retailers, clubs, official organisms, regulating commissions, specialized press and all that directly or indirectly are connected to wine world wide.

Tue, 09 Dec 2003

Bad publicity sends Hitler wine sales soaring
Christmas sales of Adolf Hitler wine have reached a record high thanks to publicity generated by attempts to ban it in both Brussels and Berlin.

AUS: Rare grape adds juice to wine game
You might be well familiar with Chardonnay and know all about Shiraz but what do you know of the Albarino grape variety, Chances are, not much. That's all about to change now that Robyn and Gerry Humphrey from Eumundi Winery and Vineyard are about to harvest their first crop of this new-to-the-Coast variety.

Argentina - A New Wine Frontier
The small but prestigious Weinert Wine Cellars (Bodega y Cavas de Weinert) breaks ground in December on the most southernmost vineyard in the Americas -- the first vineyard in Chubut, a thinly-populated province known more for its whales and penguin colonies than for agriculture.

Forum to Focus on Wine Export Growth
New Zealand Winegrowers is bringing the market and wine industry together in January to discuss strategic development of wine exports. The vehicle for the gathering is the New Zealand Wine Exporters' Forum, which takes place in Wellington on 27 and 28 January 2004.

Finding out what wine's about
Premium "sticky" late harvest wines may be easier to produce following research that showed spraying vines with botrytis spores caused the infection to take hold earlier and faster. Nelson schoolteacher Les Le Bas tried spraying botrytis spores directly on to riesling grapes.

AUS: Latest Banrock Station Accolade Takes IT to National Tourism Awards
The Riverland's internationally acclaimed Banrock Station Wine and Wetland Centre will represent South Australia at the National Tourism Awards to be held in Perth in February.

Asconi Sparkling Wine Arrives In The U.S. For The Holiday Season
Asconi Corporation one of the largest Eastern European producers of wines and spirits, today announced that the first shipment of Asconi sparkling wine arrived in the port of Miami.

Belgian bid to ban Nazi wine
BRUSSELS - The Centre for Equality and Anti-Racism has said it is preparing legal action in a bid to ban the import of Italian wine carrying labels depicting Adolf Hitler and leading Nazis.

US: Bordeaux Superlot Fetches $245,700 at Zachys Auction
A superlot consisting of 33 imperials of classified Bordeaux from the celebrated 1982 vintage sold for $245,700 -- triple its high estimate -- at a Zachys wine auction in New York on Dec. 6. The buyer, an anonymous private collector bidding through his agent, skillfully outmaneuvered a telephone bidder and a Maryland collector in the salesroom who lowered his paddle at the $200,000 mark.

SA: Top wine estate sold for R323m
More than three centuries old, the Boschendal wine estate at the gateway to the Franschhoek Valley has been sold for R323-million.

Prized Canadian ice-wine to woo Indian connoisseurs
Having tickled the taste buds of Indian connoisseurs at select gatherings hosted by the Canadian High Commission, more cases of premier ice-wine from Niagara vineyards are set to arrive in the country.

Mon, 08 Dec 2003

UK Sinks £2.7 Billion of Festive Booze
Partying Britons will spend 2.7 billion Pounds on booze this Christmas, drinking twice as much as normal. The country will down 49 million bottles of wine, eight million bottles of spirits, seven million bottles of liqueurs, 117 million pints of beer and 16 million bottles of champagne in just two weeks.

Toast holiday season with moderately-priced wines
The easiest and hardest holiday shopping has already begun. Buying wine for Christmas parties and holiday dinners; to take to neighbor's houses; and to give as gifts adds up to a long and complicated list. Filling it can seem an expensive, endless and not-so-jolly chore.

Goodbye to 'corked' wine?
If you're one of those wine drinkers who can't stand the thought of imbibing anything that comes from a screwcap-stopped bottle, and think a wine is worthy only if it comes complete with a good old cork, then you'll be pleased by cork producer Amorim's latest initiative.

Matching wine with Veg
There's only one basic rule to remember here. In the minefield that is food-and-wine matching, there is just one thing that is sure to send a vegetarian screaming for the door. Don't serve them heavy tannic reds to wash down a veggie risotto, quiche or polenta.

Legal Action Taken on 'Hitler Wine'
Belgium's official anti-racism center said on Friday it was preparing legal action to stop imports of an Italian wine with labels depicting Adolf Hitler and other leading Nazis.


US: A winning wine business
Bill Murphy never imagined when he graduated from Tufts in 1967 with an electrical engineering degree that he would end up in the California wine business. But with his wife Brenda, the couple has successfully turned what was a hobby -- growing a few Chardonnay vines in their backyard -- into the Clos La Chance Winery, an 85-acre vineyard in San Martin with a 60,000-case production facility.

Foster's ferments
The continued squeeze on premium wine prices has some analysts tipping a profit decline at Foster's this year. Christian Catalano asks Merrill Lynch's David Errington what lies ahead.

Presidio bunkers standing guard over wine collections
Call it the alcohol arsenal. Deep in the heart of San Francisco's old Presidio Army base, a 106-year-old munitions bunker is being recalled to duty as a rent-your-own wine cellar.

Gallo completes New Zealand deal
The US wine giant E&J Gallo has signed a deal for the exclusive distribute rights for the New Zealand winemaker Whitehaven Wine Company in the US and Canada.

AUS: Dollar dents wine profits
The robust Australian dollar has cut deep into the profits of the nation's winemakers, threatening growth as smaller producers battle for export share and industry authorities call for a new round of grape plantings.

AUS: Wine exports slower
Exports of Australian wine increased by only 1.6% for September 2003, sparking talk that the booming industry may be in for a correction. Winegrape Growers Council chief executive Rhett Marlow says the flat export result is a short term hiccup, with the higher Australian dollar cutting export values.

Sun, 7 Dec 2003

SecretVineyards.com Delivers Boutique Wines to Your Door
The site is a great vehicle for distributing these wine country treasures that are rarely found outside of the winery itself. SecretVineyards.com caters to a specific, sophisticated lifestyle of leisure through the incorporation of an exceptional wine club, an informative newsletter, great music, and even dating.

AUS: Plant more grapes or harvest the consequences, growers told
Winegrape growers have warned that vineyard expansion is at a standstill, despite bullish forecasts for wine industry growth. The pressure on growers was the result of a squeeze on wine profits, with returns on bearing vineyards and vineyard margins less than half of those five years ago, it has been claimed.
AUS: Foster's drained by wine US fears
Australian wine export sales continue to slide as ABN Amro yesterday downgraded earnings forecasts for the Foster's Group, with its Beringer Blass Wine Estates trying to recover ground following a poor start to the year.

AUS: Grape growers feel pressure
Winegrapes growers have warned vineyard expansion is at a standstill, despite bullish forecasts for wine industry growth. The pressure on growers was the result of a squeeze on wine profits, with returns on bearing vineyards and vineyard margins less than half those of five years ago.

SA: Demand for wine farms has agents running
The five percent interest rate cuts of the last year, which have seen the bank lending rate tumble from 17 percent to 12 percent, have resulted in a sudden rush of activity in certain areas at the upper end of the Western Cape property market.

US: A buck and two-thirds for a bottle of wine
Not to be outdone by $2 wines, Tony Cartlidge's Greenfield Wine Co. is selling "Green Island" wine for just $1.67 a bottle at his winery's tasting room in American Canyon. The new selection includes some aged (maybe) wine from northern Central Valley that typically costs about $5, but since Cartlidge cuts out both the distributor and retailer, he can sell them for peanuts and still make $3 per case.

£10m says I have impeccable taste
Many women pride themselves on having expensive taste, but few would be bold enough to put a 10 million pound price tag on it. Not so wine buyer Angela Mount, who has insured her finely tuned taste buds for that amount.

A starter's guide to rice wine
If you haven't discovered premium sake yet, the time has come. We are living in sake's golden era.

Red Wine May Protect Against Breast Cancer
Phytochemicals in grape skin and seeds appear to block estrogen formation, California researchers say.

Wine for a Sweet Tooth
Many young adults, especially in the US, have grown up not being allowed to drink any wine at all. Instead, they grow up drinking soda, Hi-C, and eating chocolate and candy. Is it any wonder that when they try their first wine, they find it incredibly sour or tart?