May, 21, 2012 France: Bordeaux hit by spate of binge drinking drownings

(Telegraph) - France's wine capital Bordeaux has been struck by spate of binge drinking drownings in its river Garonne, with five young men dying in the past ten months. The southwestern French city famed for world-beating grands crus like Chateau Margaux or Chateau Latour is in shock, raising quest...

May, 21, 2012 If Euro collapses investors will move into wine

(Harpers) - If the Eurozone collapses, there will be a move into wine from investors, but it will be short-lived - that's according to the Financial Times' investment columnist John Authers. Speaking at the London International Wine Fair's opening conference, Authers warned that as an asset wine's p...

May, 21, 2012 US: North Coast growers, vintners look at strategies to combat shortage

(NBBJ) - Wine industry economics in California have changed dramatically in the last year — even since the beginning of this year — as more wine producers realize the marketplace for grapes and wine in bulk won’t be large enough to keep pace with sales of finished wine. And the outlook for add...

May, 21, 2012 Vintage $350 Madeira Beats Pricey Burgundy, Champagne

(Bloomberg) - It isn’t every day that wine writers get to taste Madeiras from 1910 and 1912 over lunch, but I had a chance to taste those two old-timers in an array that also included examples ranging from a 1920 to a pubescent 1996. Even more surprising was my finding that the 1910 Barbeita Se...

May, 21, 2012 Wine rating: It's all in a number, or is it really?

(VailDaily) - In March, I expressed my less-than-flattering opinion of the usefulness — or not — of wine ratings, specifically Wine Spectator. My opinion — all my articles include my opinions — was not well-received in New York. Perhaps I should have explained that I feel the same way about ...

May, 21, 2012 Wine: ‘North-eastern Italy is open to experimentation’

(Scotsman) - A FREQUENT complaint, particularly about French and Italian wine producers, used to be their reluctance to learn from the New World. Equally, many have ascribed a similar conservatism to the top levels of the British wine trade. Perhaps those contentions were what prompted David Glea...

May, 21, 2012 Foley ramps up NZ wine interests

(Stuff) - American billionaire Bill Foley continues to ramp up his New Zealand wine business, with news of another prospective winery acquisition and possible listing. Foley, who owns Wairarapa luxury lodge Wharekauhau, is in merger talks with the listed New Zealand Wine Company, a statement to t...

May, 21, 2012 Wine: Hold the sugar please, champagne is having a dry spell

(Scotsman) - O ne in four of us apparently likes our champagne completely dry with “nil dosage”. If you have ever bought a bottle labelled Extra Brut, Brut Nature, Brut Sauvage, Brut Zero or Sans Sucre – rather than the standard Brut – you will have experienced this zero dosage style: champa...