November, 01, 2011 Wine 101

(Cityweekly) - We all know what wine is, right? I mean, many people drink it regularly. Well, I don’t know about you, but I drank wine for quite a while before I actually gave much thought to what it actually is and how it is made. It’s not necessary to understand the sausage-making side of wine...

November, 01, 2011 US: Texas Cracks Down on Internet Wine Sales

(NBCDFW) - A Texas crackdown is under way on merchants who sell wine online without paying for proper permits and taxes. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission worked with FedEx and other shippers to identify incoming wine deliveries from companies that do not comply with state law. “We sen...

October, 31, 2011 US: Lender puts Bellisimo Vineyard into receivership

(NBBJ) - The 153-acre Bellisimo Vineyard estate Sonoma County’s Knights Valley attracted attention in early 2008 when a publicly traded Chinese agriculture company purchased it for $14.75 million more than three years ago, but it passed quietly into receivership as this harvest was about to begin....

October, 31, 2011 US: New York taking additional steps to boost wine industry

(Syracuse) - New York’s winemakers can’t catch California and now have to keep Washington state in sight as they try to hold onto the Empire State’s tenuous ranking as the country’s second-biggest wine producer. Less restrictive laws, a new wine council and a low-budget fall promotional c...

October, 31, 2011 France is EU’s top wine producer

(ConnexionFrance) - FRANCE is set to be Europe’s top producer of wine again after being overtaken by Italy last year. French wine production is set to reach 50 million hectolitres this year, up 11% compared to 2010. According to the latest estimates by the European Commission, Italy, France�...

October, 31, 2011 US: Wineries conjure up weird labels for the creepy season

(NapaValleyRegister) - For some wine lovers, “sparkling white zinfandel” is scary enough, but many wineries have marketed wines with truly spooky labels. Maybe the most obvious is Vampire wine. Oddly, it’s not from Transylvania in Romania where vampires reportedly originate (though Romania...

October, 31, 2011 France: St Emilion debts force landmark sale

(Decanter) - Saint Emilion is being forced to sell off local landmarks in order to pay off massive debts. The medieval town, which attracts over a million visitors per year, counts only 2,000 local taxpayers among its permanent citizens and has debts four times the size of comparably-sized communes ...

October, 31, 2011 'Regulate Marijuana Like Wine' initiative aims to tax pot in Calif.

(News10) - Supporters the "Regulate Marijuana Like Wine" initiative are out gathering signatures to support the regulation and taxation of marijuana in California. Proponents say the initiative would repeal the prohibition of marjuana for adults, regulate marijuana like wine, and charge a sales tax...