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Fri, 11 Jun 2004
- FRANCE: Remy Cointreau
2004 profit slumps
Remy Cointreau has posted a sharp drop in net profit for its 2004 fiscal year. The
French company, home to Piper-Heidsieck Champagne and Remy Martin Cognac, announced
today that net profit for the 12 months to 31 March fell by 25% year-on-year to euro
76.3m, and blamed the fall on adverse currency changes. The French company said that
foreign exchange fluctuations hit earnings by euro 41.6m.
Three MWs on 2004
International Chardonnay Challenge Judging Panel
The judging panel for this year's International Chardonnay Challenge boasts an impressive
line-up, including three Masters of Wine.
Arsenic
leaching from vine posts
Tests have shown arsenic to be leaching into the soils around Marlborough's six million
timber posts. Twenty-five per cent of soil samples taken from close to posts in six
sites around Marlborough showed arsenic was present in levels above soil guidelines,
HortResearch scientist Brent Clothier said yesterday.
Thurs, 10 Jun 2004
- AUS: Exports pass
$2.5 billion
Australia's wine exports have passed the A$2.50 billion (US$1.75 billion) annual
barrier for the first time. New figures from the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation
show an annual figure for the year to May 31, 2004 of A$2.53 billion (US$1.77 billion)
despite a 7% decline in the average dollar per litre return to Australian producers.
Foster's
May Take Wine Unit Charge of A$300 Million
Foster's Group Ltd., Australia's biggest brewer and winemaker, will write down the
value of its wine unit by as much as A$300 million ($212 million) as a glut of wine
in California depresses prices.
US
Wine Sales Gain 8.4% Over March/April 2003
Retail wine sales for the four-week period ending April 10, 2004 increased 8.4 percent
when compared to the total retail wine sales for the same period in 2003.* The corresponding
volume of wine sold during this period grew at half the pace of sales value: 4.8
percent for the four weeks ending April 10, 2004. This would indicate a modest rise
in the average unit price for wine purchased.
US:
Cheap wine demand to grow: Foster's
Global beverages firm Foster's Group Ltd said that it expected demand among United
States consumers for cheap wine to continue to some extent. Walt Klenz, the outgoing
managing director of Foster's wine arm, Beringer Blass Wine Estates, said the jury
was still out on whether demand for "extreme value" wines had passed.
CHILE: Wine exports
enjoy healthy start to year
Chilean wine exports for the first four months of 2004 registered a healthy rise,
according to figures released last week. Local wine association Chilevid reported
on Friday that exports for the period January to April this year increased to US$224m
from $191m year-on-year.
Wed, 09 Jun 2004
- US:
Boutique wine industry launches tourism trail
Brenda and David Simmons, along with Brenda's mother, Jean Kelsay, are bottling wine,
the green glass clinking out a melody as bottles pass through this three-person assembly
line. "We really didn't have any intentions of starting a winery," said
David Simmons. The Simmons farm has been in the family since 1885, but they planted
their first grape vines in 1998 after depressed grain prices pushed them to try new
crops.
World of Shiraz to gather in Barossa
The most eminent gathering of Shiraz experts in the world is due to meet in Barossa
next month for the first International Shiraz Alliance. Top Rhone winemaker Michel
Chapoutier, John Alban and Steve Fennell from California, Charles Back and Kevin
Arnold from South Africa, as well as a host of Australian Shiraz exponents are gathering
for the four-day event from July 30 to August 2.
AUS:
What a corker, wine in a can
We've had it in bottles, flagons and casks - now get ready for wine in cans. Barokes,
a range of wines in 250ml aluminium cans, will go on sale in New South Wales in September
for $3.99 each.
A very more-ish
Italian number
The Frescobaldi family owns 735 hectares of vineyards scattered over 4000 hectares
of land divided into nine estates, writes wine writers Deborah Walton and Peter Morice.
Tue, 08 Jun 2004
- Film
pits Mondavi Against Tradition
Cannes, France -- The Robert Mondavi Winery does $500 million a year in business
and flexes its muscle far beyond its Napa Valley vineyards. But is the company dangerous
to the future of wine? Jonathan Nossiter's documentary "Mondovino," which
premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, leans toward that suggestion at times.
Languedoc for terroir-driven
bargains
Jean-Marie Fourrier is a young man many would envy. His family are growers in the
world-famous village of Gevrey-Chambertin in Burgundy and since 1994 he has been
in charge of their nine precious hectares (23 acres) there, including the irresistibly
named grand cru Griottes-Chambertin. More than enough, you might think, to keep him
and his English partner Vicky busy.
Office of Champagne,
USA Launches Free Education Kits for Wine Clubs
The Office of Champagne, USA announced today that complimentary Champagne Club Kits
are now available to wine clubs nationwide through their website, http://www.champagne.us.
"Champagne is a wonderfully diverse region that makes extraordinary wines. We
have developed an easy-to-use kit of materials that helps informal and formal wine
clubs across the United States incorporate Champagne into their weekly or monthly
get-togethers," said Sam Heitner, Director of the Office of Champagne, USA.
Mon, 07 Jun 2004
- AUS:
Big wine to put squeeze on costs
From this week, the nation's two big locally owned wine businesses will be locked
into large-scale restructuring, both seeking a formula to drive acceptable levels
of profitability in one of the industry's worst downturns.
AUS: Foster's to
stem wine drain
Foster's Group chief Trevor O'Hoy is tipped to announce write-downs, a drive to cut
costs by $100 million, and possibly even an earnings downgrade when he unveils the
results of a much-awaited review of the company's embattled North American wine operations
tomorrow.
SA Harvest Report
2004
Good rainfall after the pressing season, followed by warm and dry weather conditions,
resulted in late leaf drop. This was conducive to very good accumulation of reserves.
US:
Cops have few leads in 3,700 gallon spill
Detectives have little to go on as they try to catch the vandals responsible for
draining tanks at Hagafen Cellars of more than $100,000 worth of wine. On Tuesday
night or Wednesday morning, culprits opened the valves on two wine tanks at Hagafen
Cellars on Silverado Trail, north of Soda Canyon Road, sheriff's Capt. Mike Loughran
said.
PARIS:
Wine ads could be a mouthful
Wine will be reclassified as a natural food rather than an alcoholic drink under
French law if the country's wine industry and a majority of its MPs have their way.
The change would allow winemakers greater latitude in advertising their product at
a time when French wine consumption is falling. Forty years ago the average French
consumer drank 134 bottles of wine a year; today it is only 77.
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