High desert area seeks special winemaking designation

Part of California's high desert could become one of the nation's largest designated winemaking regions. In a newly public application, members of the Antelope Valley Winegrowers Association in Kern and Los Angeles counties request their own viticultural area. This is the same marketing distinction ...

Wine clinics give reds a health check

Johannes Pauw and his father Rik arrive at the Penfolds re-corking clinic at Sydney's Intercontinental Hotel filled with nerves and anticipation.Would they be walking out with the official nod to keep cellaring the dozen bottles of 1981 Grange Rik bought for his son? Or would they be lumped with the...

Champagne bottle gets green makeover

Go to Google looking for “green wine,” and you'll be greeted with a flood of information on how the global wine industry is taking steps to green its grapes, bottles, processes and more. Many wineries are eschewing pesticides and embracing biodynamic practices. Most vineyards are quick to crow ...

Oregon Vineyards Protected From Developers

Portland,Ore. -- A ruling yesterday by the Oregon Court of Appeals seemed to reinforce a July federal court's actions in protecting Oregon’s agriculture and forestlands from aggressive housing development.The rulings addressed two conflicting ballot initiatives: The first, Measure 37, was passed ...

Divers lift 200-year-old champagne from Baltic shipwreck

(CNN) -- Divers are recovering bottles of champagne that have been lying at the bottom of the Baltic Sea for about two centuries, an autonomous Finnish island official said Wednesday.About 70 bottles lie mostly undamaged at 50 meters deep [roughly 164 feet] south of the Aland Islands."The first bott...

Scotland announces minimum price for alcohol

Scotland’s government announced on Thursday that its planned minimum price for alcohol would be set at 45 pence per unit, meaning a bottle of wine would cost at least £4,23 and a bottle of whisky £12,60.The minority Scottish National Party administration announced last year that it intended to b...