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Fri, 09 Jul 2004
- Call
for better vineyard working conditions
A man who witnessed a Marlborough vineyard blaze where a toddler was badly burned
says working conditions on vineyards need to be improved. A three-year-old girl was
injured in a van which caught fire while her mother was working on the Wrekin Rd
vineyard, in Blenheim last Friday.
AUS:
Sunburnt country awash with wine
Forget Australia being a land of wheat and sheep - a new atlas shows the country
is awash with grapes and winemakers. Released today, the social atlas of Australian
wineries shows the number of wineries grew 150 per cent between 1991 and 2002.
SA: Not quite The
Day After Tomorrow
Masters student in Climatology, Leonie Joubert on why future French harvests could
be frozen into oblivion and southern hemisphere vineyards racked by severe droughts.
Margrit
Mondavi: The woman in front of the man
They would surely say that it was Margrit -- a petite woman of Swiss origin -- whose
presence loomed large in Bob Mondavi's life. Through all of the efforts to establish
a meaningful cultural base in the Napa Valley and throughout California with their
contributions, both financial and otherwise, to Copia, to the Napa Opera House, to
the Robert Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at Davis, the Oxbow School for
young artists, they would also say that it's time that Margrit Mondavi get the recognition
she merits.
Pommery
Releases Rose Champagne in Mini-Bottles
This summer, Champagne Pommery is debuting an addition to its lineup -- Pink POP,
an extra dry rosé Champagne sold in bright pink 187ml bottles. The single
serving can be poured into a glass or consumed from the bottle, using the accompanying
neon pink straw.
US:
Fermenting growth
Hanzell Vineyards, founded by a former U.S. ambassador and one of Sonoma County's
oldest wineries, has spent $4.1 million on a new wine-making facility and cave complex.
The Sonoma winery also has made changes to its wine-making facility to get rid of
TCA, or 2,4,6 trichloranisol, the chemical compound responsible for the bad flavors
in wines with cork problems. Although not a health hazard, TCA gives wines an unpleasant
odor and taste.
US: Wine Lovers
Think Inside The Box
Cork-sniffers be warned: The box is back and bigger than ever before. Wine industry
officials say boxed wines are making a comeback, currently accounting for up to 20
percent of wine sales by volume. Wine in a box is usually really wine in a bag --
and the bag is in a box. The wine is inside a plastic bladder with an attached tap
that lets the wine out but doesn't let in air -- wine's nemesis -- because oxygen
causes wine to go south.
Wine
gone bad? It makes for good disinfectant
If your wine is past its time, it still may be good for something. Cleaning. A researcher
at Oregon State University says bad wine is a good germ killer.
Wine
Consumption May Not Lead to Gout, Study Finds
Overindulgence in alcohol is a usual suspect for those who suffer through bouts of
gout. However, researchers at Harvard Medical School found that drinking wine in
moderation may not lead to these arthritic flare-ups in the joints, unlike beer or
spirits.
Thu, 08 Jul 2004
- AUS: Wine exports
up 12.6% in 12 months
Australia exported 575.2m litres with a value of A$2.5 billion in the 12 months ending
May 2004, an increase of 12.6% in volume and 1.1% in value over the corresponding
period to May 2003. The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics also
showed that exports of Australian produced wine increased 11.3% over April 2004 to
54.4 million litres.
AUS:
Southcorp rises to the occasion
Winemaker Southcorp is vastly increasing its advertising spending to invest in its
four flagship brands after a strategic restructure and cost-cutting program led to
a year in the marketing wilderness. Last year, the company invested just $1.5 million
on media supporting some of Australia's biggest and most iconic wine brands, including
Penfolds, Lindemans, Rosemount Estate and Wynns.
US:
Michigan wine industry booming
Michigan's wine industry is expanding rapidly, with small and larger vineyards benefiting
from new methods of growing and breeding grapes that can withstand the state's harsh
winters, officials say.
US:
Organic grapes: It matters?
More and more wineries are emphasizing a return to traditional farming methods. They
extol the virtues of covering crops instead of using artificial fertilizer, natural
predators to control vine-damaging insects instead of pesticides, and physical control
of weeds rather than herbicides. Some wineries, like Bonterra Vineyards, emphasize
their exclusive use of organically grown grapes.
FRANCE: Grands Chais
acquires wine dealer
Alsace-based trader Les Grands Chais de France has announced the acquisition of Sofival/Vinival,
the Loire Valley's biggest dealer in still wines, although local wine co-operative,
Alliance Loire had been the favourite to acquire Vinival.
Study
Identifies Genetics of Fat Metabolism, Red Wine Link
A new study has found that a gene called SIRT1 can reduce the development of new
fat cells and increase the metabolism or use of fat within existing fat cells. SIRT1
is the topic of considerable recent research, and other studies have also shown that
its activity level can be significantly increased by the presence of a compound found
in red wine.
A wine, by any other name, can sell
better
In a late-'70s moment that has become Napa legend, Robert Mondavi put his sauvignon
blanc through oak barrels, changed it to the more easily parsed fume blanc, and created
a sensation. Winemakers have again been rethinking varietal names. If Mondavi pioneered
what the government calls the "fanciful" varietal - not, as it might sound,
a dandied-up wine but a new, made-up moniker for an existing grape - some U.S. wines
have recently adopted new but very real names, taking a cue from overseas.
Wed, 07 Jul 2004
- US: Wi-fi sensor net aids wine makers
A Californian vineyard is turning to wi-fi technology to help it grow better grapes.
Pickberry in Sonoma County is using a wireless net to gather data from sensors in
its fields that monitor key conditions such as temperature, humidity and soil moisture.
International
wine tourism study
Williamstown's Robin Shaw has been awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study international
wine tourism best practice. One of six South Australians awarded fellowships, Ms
Shaw is tourism development director for the Winemakers' Federation of Australia
which operates out of Industry House at the National Wine Centre in Adelaide.
CHINA: Rare wine bottle to be auctioned
A rare wine bottle of Wu Liang Ye will go under the hammer July 30th in Chengdu,
capital of sw China's Sichuan Province. The 600-year-old item is expected to fetch
at least 50,000 yuan, or 6,000 US dollars.
Tue, 6 Jul 2004
- CHILE: Wine exports
grow 16% Jan-May
The value of Chilean wine exports grew 16% in the first five months of 2004 and generated
US$285.3 million, compared with the US$245.7 million earned in the same period of
last year.
AUS:
Major gains for wine, car exports as Thai trade door pushed open
Wine and car exports will be boosted by the dismantling of trade barriers with Thailand
in a deal expected to generate $3 billion for Australia. A free trade deal signed
yesterday will unlock Australian access to South-East Asia's second-biggest market,
of 63.5 million people.
AUS: Wine sales
on the rise
Domestic sales of Australian wine surged 5.4 per cent in May to 36.5 million litres,
the Australian Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.
US:
Windy wine-making
Add another nuance for connoisseurs of Northwest wines to explore and celebrate.
In the Columbia River Gorge, the same confluence of cool, moist air funneled from
the coast and dry, warm inland air that makes the Gorge so well suited for wind surfers
also has convinced federal regulators that the area's wine grapes deserve some distinction,
too.
Nearly
4,000 wines judged at the most comprehensive wine competition in the United States
Forty-four esteemed wine industry professionals from every corner of the United States
gathered June 12th and 13th at Hotel Nikko to taste, score and rank nearly 4,000
wines at the San Francisco International Wine Competition. In its 24th year, the
San Francisco International Wine Competition, the biggest competition of its kind
based on number of entries, examined wines from 964 wineries, 25 states and 21 countries.
Corking times ahead for the screw top
wine
It has taken 23 years, but drinkers seem finally to have succumbed to the charms
of the wine with a screw-cap.
Israel's wine revolution
rolls on
An ancient wine press sits on a hill overlooking vineyards planted just six years
ago, testimony to the deep-seated biblical heritage of Israeli wine.
Wine growers plan
new message in a bottle
Faced with the greatest crisis it has known, the Bordeaux wine region is embarking
on a fight to reinstate its position on the world stage as a paladin of taste and
delicacy.
Mon, 05 Jul 2004
- Marlborough
producers angry about boxed wine sales
Marlborough sauvignon blanc will continue to hit British shelves in 3-litre casks,
despite protests from the wine industry. Christchurch firm Cottesbrook began selling
cask wine to British supermarket chain Tesco's last year.
Shiraz loses shine
Winemakers in the south of France know they're on to a good thing. They have successfully
applied for the right to call their traditional syrah wines "shiraz" within
the EU, to fight Australian shiraz for supermarket supremacy in Britain. It's a deliberate
and clever marketing ploy aimed at hurting the Australians where it counts.
Cork
is #1, but synthetic becoming acceptable, say American wine drinkers
Results of a new survey of American consumer wine buying preferences conducted by
Wine Intelligence reveal some 52% of consumers reject screw-cap, while 11% feel positive
about this type of closure. In the UK research, six in ten consumers rejected screw-cap,
while only 7% said they liked it.
German
and Washington Wineries Collaborate on New Value-Priced Riesling
Chateau Ste. Michelle in Washington and German vintner Ernst Loosen have teamed up
for a second time, to introduce the 2003 Saint M Riesling this month. Loosen produced
the Saint M at his J.L. Wolf estate in the Pfalz region of Germany, and Chateau Ste.
Michelle, one of Washington's largest producers of Riesling, will market the wine
in the United States.
Tannins
and Trilogy
Is tannin necessary for a red wine to age? Tannin -- that astringent, drying characteristic
in many expensive red wines -- is an element that often has wine lovers disputing
its value. On the one hand, there is the old school of thought that says a red wine
must have some astringency (as well as good acidity) for it to have the staying power
to be really enjoyable after a decade of quality cellaring.
Bordeaux
finds changing tastes hard to swallow
There can be few investments as frustrating as wine. There it is, glowering at you
from your cellar or wine rack, the bottles or cases you have been hoarding faithfully
for two or three years, maybe longer, and all you really want to do is to drink the
profits.
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