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Thu, 29 Jan 2004
- Time is ripe for pinot noir
Hundreds of wine buffs have headed to Wellington to toast New Zealand's fastest growing
variety of grape. New Zealand pinot noir is starting to turn heads overseas, but
there is still concern about the future of a wine that costs a bit more than most.
Teaching
tastebuds secret to success
The key to the future lies in our tastebuds, says writer Keith Stewart, who has launched
an online programme to teach restaurant staff how to use theirs more effectively.
Stewart, who has a 30-year background in the drinks business and is a judge of the
Sommelier of the Year competition, said he developed the programme because waiters
and others working in the hospitality industry needed a course focused on the fundamentals
of taste if New Zealand was to maximise the potential of selling its food and beverages
in the increasingly sophisticated world market.
Buyers Impressed
With Pinot Noir
New Zealand's wine industry should do well from this week's Pinot Noir 2004 event.
Four hundred wine experts have gathered in Wellington to taste Pinot Noir from 110
New Zealand wineries.
US: Sensitive palates
give women an edge in the wine business
Wendy Caron, wine director for Gastronomy restaurants, has just pasted together a
mock-up of Baci's new wine list as she walks through the restaurant one recent Wednesday
night. Stopping at a table to greet some regular customers, she holds the proto-list
at arm's length over her head.
NZ: Government opposed to wine subsidies
New Zealand's finance minister Michael Cullen has rejected the idea that the country's
wine producers should receive subsidies. The Dominion Post today quoted him speaking
at the New Zealand Wine Exporters Forum in Wellington, where he talked about producers
glancing enviously at the subsidy regime that Australian wine producers enjoy across
the Tasman".
Wine drinkers may
face price rises
Wine drinkers face price rises as wineries are tipped to pay increased industry levies
to cover a projected international marketing budget of more than $50 million a year.
With New Zealand grape production expanding rapidly, the industry faces a potential
glut over the next three years unless exports to its main markets of the United States,
Britain, Australia and Canada triple.
Wine
needs export fund injection
The wine industry has been told it will need to lift its spending on marketing by
up to $50 million to triple exports over the next four years. The industry is facing
some tough choices, as wine production increases, and the sector looks to maintain
and replicate the success enjoyed by sauvignon blanc on the world stage.
British
pay premium for NZ cask wine
Tesco's controversial decision to stock premium New Zealand wine in 3-litre casks
may have caused ripples in this country but it has proven to be a savvy move for
the British supermarket giant. News that Tesco was selling Marlborough sauvignon
blanc by the cask met outrage from some wine exporters last August.
Cullen rules out
Aussie-style subsidies for wine industry
The New Zealand wine industry should not expect Australian-style subsidies, Finance
Minister Michael Cullen says. Some members of the wine industry would welcome more
direct involvement by government, he told the New Zealand Wine Exporters Forum in
Wellington yesterday.
US:
California wine slump may be over
The California wine glut from the past few years - caused by cheap imports and bumper
grape crops - seems to have ended. About 8,000 vintners, growers and brokers are
meeting Wednesday at the Sacramento Convention Center for the trade's largest annual
convention.
Tues, 27 Jan 2004
- Quality
concerns surface as big grape crop looms
Marlborough grapegrowers are being asked to cut back crops this year, to avoid high
yields and low quality in the region's sauvignon blanc. But industry members fear
some growers may be tempted to overload vines to make up for last year's frost, which
cut harvest by 30 per cent.
Address to 2nd Bi-annual
Wine Exporters Forum
In the last decade the New Zealand wine industry has progressed from being a precocious
child, through a highly promising adolescence, and into a sturdy adulthood. For many
observers (perhaps the less well informed) it has come to represent a new vision
for the future of rural New Zealand, combining as it does the rich flavours of the
landscape, the aroma of tradition and craft, a dash of artistic New World flair and
more than a hint of advanced technology.
AUS: Wine fund chief
executive resigns
The chief executive of Berren Asset Management, responsible for the International
Wine Investment Fund, has resigned. Berren said Chris Day has agreed to stay on until
a replacement is found. Berren chairman Mike Terlet said Day's resignation had been
regretfully accepted by the board.
ITALY:
2003 Wine Production down, table grape harvest increases
The unusual climatic conditions last year caused a meagre wine grape harvest following
close on a similarly poor harvest the previous year. The adverse weather conditions
which characterised last summer, besides causing irregular plant growth and development,
caused an early grape harvest in almost all regions.
UK: Wine packaging
code gets European approval
A voluntary Code of Practice for the packaging of wine has been adopted by EFWSID
(European Federation of Wine and Spirit Importers and Distributors). The code was
created by the UK's Wine and Spirit Association (WSA) and its French equivalent,
AFED. It sets out to ensure the minimisation of faults during the process of packaging
wine, from receipt of bulk to the despatch of product to the consumer.
Mon, 26 Jan 2004
- Wine innovator savors
a life of glasses half-full
Preparing to join the family business, a lack of fluency in French and turmoil in
Cyprus brought George Thoukis to Modesto's E.&J. Gallo Winery in 1960. He's been
there since, having a hand in many major innovations and products that transformed
Gallo from a jug-wine company into a producer of world-class vintages.
AUS: Wine tax slammed
in APEC report
The federal government's tax treatment of small wineries has been slammed in an international
report into difficulties facing small businesses. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) report found sharp criticism of the wine equalisation tax (WET) and the way
it was inflated by the GST.
Swiss vintners go
in search of new palates
Switzerland's wine producers have uncorked a new strategy to improve their reputation
and boost sales at home and abroad. Last year Switzerland exported 1.5 million litres
of wine - a mere drop in the ocean alongside imports of more than 160 million litres.
US:
Mondavi writing off its Chilean venture
Robert Mondavi Corp. has sold its interest in Chile's Caliterra brand and taken a
$3.9 million charge to earnings, saying the venture with the Eduardo Chadwick family
has fallen short of financial goals.
US:
Put your trust in Vintrust to track your wine
If your wine collection consists of four cases of $8 to $15 bottles of wine, then
what Andre de Baubigny is offering probably won't be of much interest to you. But
if your collection is more extensive and expensive than that, or if you rummage through
the boxes and come across a bottle that you have long forgotten, then you might want
to pay attention to what he has to say.
US:
State Foresees $3M Yearly in Wine Bill
New York consumers would be able to buy wines directly from some out-of-state producers
under a measure included in Gov. George Pataki's $99.8-billion budget. The bill included
among the governor's revenue-raising proposals announced Tuesday would permit reciprocity
with other states that allow interstate wine shipping. The state Budget Division
estimated the measure would raise $3 million annually through new fees and taxes.
PULLPOP - New Wine Closure System
Pullpop Technologies Ltd. is marketing its latest bottle opening solution, a simple
yet innovative closure system that can be applied to regular wine bottles closed
with natural or synthetic stoppers, without the use of a traditional corkscrew.
Sun, 25 Jan 2004
- Alien
grapes plonked into local wines
Take another look at that bottle of reliable kiwi sauvignon blanc you were planning
to open tonight. How New Zealand is it really? A severely reduced harvest of sauvignon
grapes last year means winemakers have resorted to blending overseas wine into some
labels traditionally made entirely from New Zealand grapes.
SA:
Harvest 2004 kicks off with a bang
A scientist called Bill Lembeck once calculated that a 750ml bottle of Champagne
contains 49 million bubbles, based on 5.5 atmospheres of pressure, when stored at
20 degrees Celsius. If you still need a reason to pop that bubbly cork, how about
a toast to the start of harvest 2004? Cape Cap Classique is getting more marvellous
by the moment, and a regional bubbly report seems a good point to kick off.
AUS: Wineries complain
about getting WET
A report has attacked the Australian government's treatment of small wineries. The
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation report, released this week, criticised the wine
equalisation tax (WET) and the way it was inflated by the GST.
Chile
exporters concerned about strong peso
Chile's economy is heading for strong growth in 2004 but not everybody is happy.
Some exporters, hurting from a currency appreciation, are scrambling to cut costs
and raise prices to stay profitable.
Australia's International Wine Fund
CEO Resigns
Australia's International Wine Investment Fund (IWI.AU) on Friday said chief executive
Chris Day tended his resignation from Berren Asset Management Ltd., the manager and
responsible entity for the listed wine-focused fund manager.
US: Champagne is traveling well
Recent sales figures for high-end Champagne and sparkling wines, the traditional
celebratory beverages of the economically favored, tend to bear that out. As of October,
in the United States, French Champagne sales for the first nine months of last year
were up 15 percent over the same period in 2002, industry analysts say.
CANADA:
Winemakers bubbly over export proposal
Five years after noting that the Canadian side of the Niagara River had wineries
but there were none on the U.S. side, Randall and Karen Biehl are about to open theirs
and give another boost to Niagara County's blossoming wine industry.
Introducing Burgundy:
Rully
Both geology and the lay of the land are essential to the character of all the vineyards
of Burgundy. To recap: With the sole exception of Chablis but including Beaujolais,
all of Burgundy lies along a rather narrow north-south strip that extends no more
than 100 miles along the west bank of the Saône River.
UK: Blanc check
for wine purity
It is the hints of gooseberry and green pepper that wine critics look for in a good
bottle of sauvignon blanc. But the taste may no longer tell the whole story. British
retailers are quietly testing wines amid suspicions that the characteristic flavours
owe as much to chemical flavouring as to the natural taste of the grapes, the Guardian
has learned.
'Breakthrough' addiction
treatment set to be subsidised
A new treatment for alcoholics which suppresses cravings could soon be funded by
the Government's drug buying agency Pharmac. Head of the National Addiction Centre,
Professor Doug Sellman, said today Pharmac was in negotiations to start subsidising
the drug naltrexone in March, by as much as $6 per tablet.
A
dying wine
Wine has been produced from the vineyards around the town of Marsala in western Sicily
since Roman times. The town, whose name was originally Marsa Allah, the port of God,
was so named by the Arabs who had been trading there for centuries.
Cheeky
little number with a twist
Sitting on a supermarket shelf, the two bottles of wine look identical at first glance.
Both are labelled Sacred Hill Whitecliff Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2003. But a close
inspection of the front label reveals a difference: one is marked "Product of
New Zealand", the other "Product of Chile and New Zealand".
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