Cornas in the
northern Rhône valley threatened by property development
According
to municipal plans, 3.4 hectares in the appellation Cornas are set to be
transformed into building plots. In this very small appellation 3.4 ha is a
substantial piece of land. It concerns the three vineyard names Les
Chaillots, La Côte, and Les Mazards. For more information, or to support the
campaign to save the vines, contact Alberic Mazoyer at Domaine Alain Voge:
alain-voge.com
Torres establishes foothold in Rioja
Torres
is almost synonymous with Catalonia. But now they have bought a small
property in Rioja, not big, just some 5 hectares. Torres has since several
years expanded to other countries: California and Chile. And also to other
regions in Spain: Priorat, Toro, Ribera del Duero and Jumilla. And now also
to the grandfather of all Spanish wines, the Rioja. They will produce wine
mainly from bought grapes, it is said, and from newly planted own vines. The
first vintage is expected to be 2009.
Wine Business International
Moth new threat to Napa
vineyards
A small moth called Western Grapeleaf Skeletonizer is the latest threat
to Napa vineyards. One such moth was recently found in a trap in Napa
Valley. The evil beast eats the leaves and the grapes and also causes fungal
problems. They will now try and find out if it was an isolated moth that had
lost its bearings or if that are many by putting many traps in the vineyard
area where it was found.
napavalleyregister.com
The world’s best Pinot Noir
The
tenth vintage of the world championship of Pinot Noir saw 1050 contestants –
wines from many countries: France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Argentina,
Chile, the United States, New Zealand,… Four wines were awarded Great Gold
Medal: Vina Casa Marin, Le Abarca Hills Vineyard San Antonio 2004 from
Chile; Domaine Philippe Bouzereau, Château de Citeaux Auxey-Duresses 1er cru
”Les Duresses” 1999, Bourgogne, France; Weingut Thomas Marugg, Fläscher
Blauburgunder Barrique, Fläsch, 2005; and Cave les Deux Crêtes, Réserve
Badrutt’s Palace Pinot Noir Tête de Cuvée, Valais, 2005, the two last were
both from Switzerland.
mondial-du-pinot-noir.com
Saint Emilion and satellites
joins forces
The
producer organisations (who represent the interests of the wine makers) for
Saint Emilion, Saint Emilion Grand Cru and the two “satellites” Lussac St
Emilion and Puisseguin St Emilion have merged the organisations, presumably
in an effort to work more effectively. Two other satellites have chosen to
remain independent: Montagne St Emilion and St Georges St Emilion.
Wine Business International
►► Travel to
Bordeaux with
BKWine.
This month’s silly rule:
English wine bars not allowed to serve exclusive wines in small glasses
The
Scandinavian monopoly markets don’t have a, ehrr, monopoly on silly rules…:
Some English wine shops (e.g. The Sampler and Selfridges) have opened wine
bars in connection with the shops to give the customers the possibility to
taste some of the wines before buying. They have also sold some very
exclusive wines by the glass to make it possible to taste otherwise
prohibitively expensive wines by the glass. As an examples, curious wine
drinkers could buy a tasting portion (25 ml) of Chateau Pétrus 1996 of £32,
and thus did not have to fork out £950 for a full bottle. This has led to
action by the British authority that controls serving of alcohol. In England
there is a rule that “a wine glass” must contain either 125 ml or 175 ml. To
serve smaller portions are illegal… So good bye to tasting exclusive wines
in small portions.
www.thesampler.co.uk and
telegraph.co.uk
German consumers buy wines
according to taste
A survey of German consumer behaviour has shown that German consumers
primarily buy wines according to taste and character (51.3%). Geographic
origin was most important for 12% of the consumers, price for 9% and grape
variety for 7%. Perhaps somewhat surprising results considering the
reputation the German market has for being extremely price sensitive.
Wine Business International
Sex sells – even wine?
Perhaps
not something that would catch on with most marketeers (and certainly not
the advertising regulators) in Europe. But a South African wine producer has
launched a campaign featuring lightly clad (actually, not at all) women and
men (mostly women). The ads have been used in the South African magazine
Food & Home Entertaining and at a wine fair. In South Africa the campaign
has been well received according to the winery, Avondale, who uses as a
slogan “Wines approved by mother nature”. Perhaps a way to emphasise the
natural (naturist?) aspect of their wines?
wine.co.za and
Avondale
Wine sells – even sex?
But it is not only in South Africa where you sell wine with sex. In New
York they try it too. Or perhaps it is the other way around: selling sex
with wine? At Babeland, a shop for sex toys, they recently organised a wine
tasting where the participants were offered to taste Seduction Cabernet,
Foreplay Chardonnay and other wines. One of the organisers says to Decanter:
“Wine and sexuality have one thing in common: people indulge in both, often
don't have a clue what it's about, but like to appear as though they do”.
They also organize something called Kinky Wine Tastings. We don’t want to
know...
Decanter
Giant winemaker Gallo
changes importer in Sweden
One of the world’s largest wine producers, Gallo in California, has
changed importer for the Swedish market. The will now be represented by
Spendrups Vin instead of their previous importer, the government owned (but
up for sale) V&S Vin & Sprit.
Wine Business International
Early harvest
Many wine regions will start the harvest exceptionally early this year,
due to the warm weather early in spring. Champagne started harvesting on
August 20. In Italy many regions are three weeks ahead of schedule and some
started harvesting already by mid August. In Provence the harvest began on
August 20, Alsace started on August 22, in Beaujolais the harvest began on
August 25, 11 days earlier than last year, Burgundy on August 31, two weeks
early... But quality wise the outcome is so far uncertain with some
districts looking disappointing and others ready to produce excellent wine –
according to this years unusual weather...
Record harvest in Argentina
The 2007 grape harvest reached record levels – up 6.5% compared to last
year. A substantial part of the grape production is used for grape juice
rather than wine though.
wine-business-international.com
Provence snapshot
Provence
in a few lines:
- Provence is the biggest producer of rosé wine. 42% of all French AOC rosé
wine come from Provence
- Annual production is 140 million bottles: 84% rosé, 13% red, and 3% white
- Total vineyard plantings: 27,300 ha in the departements Var,
Bouches-du-Rhône and Alpes-Maritimes.
Crozes-Hermitage snapshot
With
its 1430 ha it is the biggest appellation in the northern Rhône valley
- Annual production is 60,000 hl, 93% of which is red
- The appellation accounts for 50% of all wines from the northern Rhône
- Maximum yield is 45 hl/ha
- Grape varieties: Red Crozes is made from Syrah. The whites are primarily
made from Marsanne but also Roussanne is permitted.
- 40% of all wine is exported. The biggest market is the UK.
New DOCG in Italy: Oltrepò
Pavese
Oltrepò Pavese have been given DOCG-status (the highest rank for Italian
wines) for its sparkling wines made from Pinot Noir grapes.
wine-business-international.com
The genome of the vine
mapped
French and Italian researchers have mapped the full genome of the vine.
It is the fourth plant after Arabidopsis, rice and poplar that has had its
genetic fingerprint identified. The results were recently published in the
scientific journal Nature.
Le Figaro
New French Vin de Pays
rejected by the EU
France recently created three new Vins de Pays: “de l’Atlantique”, “de Gaule”
and “de France”. These have now been rejected by the agricultural commission
at the EU. The reason is that, according to European rules, a Vin de Pays
(and its name) should refer to a specific geographic place name and that
this geographic area should be smaller than an entire country. None of the
three new French VdP abide by these rule. France have now two months to
argue its case.
Wine Business International
Beaujolais Villages trials
mechanical harvesting
The traditional harvest is by hand in Beaujolais but since 2004 it has
been allowed to harvest by machine in AOC Beaujolais. This year a new
experiment is launched to also use mechanical harvest for AOC Beaujolais
Villages and Cru. Mechanical harvest is generally more cost effective and
can produce at least as good results as manual harvest – if done properly.
One difficulty is that vines trained in e.g. Gobelet (as is the tradition in
Beaujolais) cannot be harvested with machine. The vines have to be
“re-trained” in e.g. Guyot, which is not a small task.
vitisphere.com
One bottle of Grange sold
for $51,000
At a recent auction in Australia a single bottle of Grange 1951
(previously called “Grange hermitage”) sold for the record price $51,000. It
was two Grange collections that were up for sale at the same time. They
fetched a total of $308,000.
wine-business-international.com
Donauland changes name to
Wagram in Austria
The Austrian Donauland has had to sub-districts: Wagram (2450 ha) and
Klosterneuburg (350 ha). The whole region will now change name from
Donauland to Wagram. Klosterneuburg will still as a sub-region – a grosslage.
Mosel-Saar-Ruwer becomes
Mosel
Short and efficient? The German wine district Mosel-Saar-Ruwer (named
after the three rivers that flow through the district) changes name to
Mosel. The new name should be used starting 2007.
QmP becomes Prädikatswein
The German quality designation Qualitätswein mit Prädikat, often
shortened to QmP, changes name to Prädikatswein from August this year.
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item you'd like to see here or have a news tip? Send me an email:
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