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Fri, 13 Feb 2004
- Australia's Winemakers Seek Relief in
Taxing Times
Australia's wine industry has launched a national initiative seeking targeted reform
of the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET), to help reverse declining profitability and save
regional jobs. Winemakers and industry representatives will lobby Members of Parliament
representing wine industry interests for an exemption from WET on the first 600,000
litres of domestic sales by a winery.
SA: Wine police
hunt errant Sauvignon blancs
Teams of Wine & Spirit Board inspectors are paying unannounced visits to Cape
Sauvignon Blanc producers to take samples of grape juice from that varietal for testing
to ensure that flavourants are not added to wines during the present harvest.
Playing
with fire
Oak. Perhaps wine's most important ingredient other than grapes. It can be as much
an enigma to winemakers as it is to wine tasters. Revered by some and reviled by
others, oak is the substance behind a familiar whine: "This is too oaky!"
US:
New Northern California Appellation Proposed
A new appellation has been proposed for Northern California. The proposed Trinity
Lakes AVA (American Viticultural Area) is located in Trinity County, north of Mendocino
County, sandwiched between coastal Humboldt and inland Shasta counties.
Schramsberg sparkles
It was 1972, and few people outside the still-sleepy Napa Valley had even heard of
a tiny sparkling-wine facility called Schramsberg. Established in 1862 by German
immigrant Jacob Schram, the winery, with caves dug by Chinese workers, had prospered
for several decades before falling into decline.
A Toast to screwcaps
After twisting open and enjoying several bottles of wine with screw caps over the
past year, I finally get it. I am now convinced that the admittedly tacky-seeming
but sterile and airtight screw cap is not only a good idea, but one whose time has
finally come.
Thu, 12 Feb 2004
Health Benefits
Of Red Wine
Phytochemicals found in the skin and the seeds of grapes used to make wine may help
prevent several forms of cancer and provide a variety of vitamins and minerals, too.
La Sauvageonne is
back
Chateau la Sauvageonne, a small Languedoc winery that enjoyed a small and slightly
cultish following in U.S. in the middle 1990s but then seemed to have faded from
view, is showing signs of bouncing back.
US:
Why aren't we growing more pinot noir, pinot gris?
Why is Oregon making such good pinot noir and pinot gris, while Washington seems
to ignore these grapes?
Nothing
'suspect' in SA wine
Cape Town - There are no suspect substances in South African wines, says Geoff Taylor,
the director of Corkwise, a British laboratory that does chemical analyses of wine.
AUS:
Cabinet gets wines minister
Queensland will have its first female police minister and a minister for wines in
the new State Cabinet announced today by Premier Peter Beattie.
AUS: Campaign against
wine equalization tax
The Winemakers Federation of Australia is continuing its campaign for a reduction
in the wine equalisation tax, holding a press conference in Canberra this morning.
The Federation wants an exemption from the tax for wineries which produce less than
600,000 litres a year, which covers around 90 per cent of existing businesses.
Preliminary
Report Says California Crushed 2.9 Million Tons of Wine Grapes in 2003
In the Preliminary Grape Crush Report issued yesterday, the California Agricultural
Statistics Service said the 2003 crush totaled 3.4 million tons, down 11 percent
from the 2002 crush of 3.8 million tons. The wine grape crush was 2.9 million tons
with 1.6 million tons of red wine varieties, down 10 percent from 2002, and 1.3 million
tons of white wine varieties.
US:
Vignerons give cautious toast to FTA
Orange district winemakers have given cautious support to Australia's Free Trade
Agreement with the US, saying it could make their produce more competitive in a growing
market. The FTA was concluded on Monday, and has aroused discontent among many rural
producers.
FRANCE: Inter Rhone
doubles marketing outlay
Inter Rhone, the association of Cote du Rhone and Rhone Valley wine producers, is
to double its marketing budget, the French press reported today. The association
announced this week that it will up the amount spent on marketing the region's wines
to 20m over five years, in the face of falling export volumes and sales.
Wed, 11 Feb 2004
- US: The tug of war over vineyard values
Once again it's the Buyers versus the Sellers in the timeless tug of war concerning
vineyard values. Over the last three years the Buyers have been dragging the Sellers
through the mud with every pull of the rope. Be it the grape glut, a weak economy,
the war on terrorism, inexpensive imports ñ you name it the sellers have
had the deck stacked against them.
AUS: Wine faces three years of over
supply
Australian analysts Macquarie Financial Services predict the nation's wine industry
could be dealing with a grape over-supply for the next three years, raising the prospect
of more discounting or lower priced labels.
Weaker wine erodes
Australia Foster's profit
Australia's largest brewer, Foster's Group, said yesterday its first-half profit
was hit by weak US wine earnings, but said it might have seen the worst of tough
market. Foster's underlying profit edged up 2.9 per cent on strong beer sales as
a US wine oversupply and sales of cut-price "extreme value" wines slashed
earnings at the division, once seen as the company's main growth driver.
Orlando buoyed by
Jacobs Creek
Orlando Wyndham has sailed through tough times in the wine industry with its flagship
brand Jacobs Creek, according to new figures released by its parent company, French
drinks group Pernod Ricard. The sales figures show that Jacobs Creek volumes grew
14 per cent on a global basis.
History of Glass Wine Bottles
When did the wine industry start using glass bottles, and how did they settle on
their current size of 750ml? For the answer to these questions, you have to go back
in time - back thousands of years to when wine was first cultivated and enjoyed.
Cheap
wine developing a cult following
Wine is great, but cheap wine is even better. While most wine connoisseurs would
never put cheap and wine together in a sentence, college students on a budget are
constantly putting the two words together.
Tue, 10 Feb
- SA:
Flat year expected for wine exporters
Cape Town - Following a tough 2003 for export-focused local wine producers, the road
ahead for both domestic and global wine industry players was not all that bubbly,
Sue Birch, the chief executive of Wines South Africa (Wosa), said on Friday.
Wine
becomes popular in India
Although it`s a mere drop in the ocean when compared to France and Italy`s consumption
of 60 litres a year per person, but wine consumption is defiantly on the rise at
a rate of 20% a year, despite India`s traditional penchant for whisky, rum and potent
locally-distilled brews.
HUNGARY: Making
bread from wine
With a history of winemaking dating back more than a millennium, the Benedictine
Abbey of Pannonhalma is once again producing wine for the first time since before
the communist era.
Mon, 09 Feb 2004
- Chatonnet confirms
new cause of 'Corkiness'
Dr Pascal Chatonnet, the Bordeaux-based wine scientist and consultant, has confirmed
in a recent study that TCA is not the only cause of 'corked' or mouldy odours in
wine.
Grape surplus to
squeeze wine groups
Australia's wine companies could still be dealing with an oversupply of grapes for
the next three years, raising the prospect of more discounting wars or new low-priced
labels, analysts have warned. A Macquarie Financial Services report said the expected
size of this year's vintage, combined with a slowdown in the growth of wine exports
and falling grape prices, meant supply and demand might not get back into balance
before 2007.
Aussie wine looks
upmarket
Australian wine remains Britain's most popular drop but faces a challenge to convince
drinkers it's more than just cheap and cheerful plonk if it is to keep its place
as the market leader. More than 120 Australian wine makers were in central London
this week spruiking their latest vintage to buyers from Britain's biggest and smallest
merchants with an emphasis on pushing their mid to premium priced labels.
Bulgarian Wine Bottle Inspires New Haircut
The latest follicular fashion in the UK has a rather unusual origin - the Bulgarian
wine Blueridge, the British Independent wrote on Saturday. The distinctive shape
of Blueridge bottles - long ridge on one side and short on the other, the slanting
fringe reflecting the angle of the bottletop - is fast becoming the look for the
season, with London stylists claiming more and more customers are requesting the
ridge cut.
US:
National wine group puts cork in Seattle chapter
The quirky wine-appreciation club has 30 successful chapters nationwide, but it's
closing its chapter in the nation's second-biggest wine-producing state because of
a quarrel with the state Liquor Control Board.
US:
High-profile wine lots sell far in excess of open market prices
It isn't a surprise to anyone who attended the Naples Winter Wine Festival that the
best wine lots received auction bids far in excess of what the wines could be purchased
for on the open market.
Sun, 08 Feb 2004
- New York Legislators
Propose Wine Doggy Bag Law
New York diners may soon get to bring home more than just a receipt and a stomach
full of food at the end of their meals. If a newly proposed bill is approved, they
will also be able to bring home any unfinished wine. Bill A9512, introduced in January
by state Senator Stephen Saland (R-Dutchess County) and Assemblyman William Magee
(D-Madison County), would help boost restaurant wine sales, while also cutting down
on drunk driving, Magee said.
New glass stopper for Schloss Vollrads
Premium German producer Schloss Vollrads is moving half its wines to a radical new
glass stopper. The Vino-Lok closure is a glass bung surrounded by a plastic membrane
and held in place with an aluminium cap. It is 100% neutral, resealable, recyclable,
and aesthetic, according to the official blurb on the website of the manufacturer
Alcoa, a major German company specialising in aluminium products.
UK: Constellation
merges European operations
Constellation Wines has integrated its two European businesses, Constellation Wines
Europe Ltd and Matthew Clark plc. Renamed Constellation Europe Ltd, the combined
business will have an approximate retail sales value in excess of 2.5bn making it
one of the biggest premium drinks companies in Europe.
Australian wine
still popular in Britain
Australian wine remains Britain's most popular drop but faces a challenge to convince
drinkers it's more than just cheap and cheerful plonk if it is to keep its place
as the market leader. More than 120 Australian wine makers were in central London
this week spruiking their latest vintage to buyers from Britain's biggest and smallest
merchants with an emphasis on pushing their mid to premium priced labels.
Argentina wine law focuses on terroir
Argentinian winemakers are welcoming the implementation of the 1999 law which allows
much more exact geographical labelling. Although consumers are likely to see little
difference on labels, producers feel that wines can now be more closely identified
with their terroir.
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