October, 16, 2011 Chinese wine students are boon for Bordeaux

(AFP) -- One of France's oldest oenology schools, La Tour Blanche, is fighting falling enrolment through a tie-up with a Beijing wine school, the latest in a string of Bordeaux institutes to look East for their future. The wine school, which just turned 100, today teaches the ropes of the trade ...

October, 16, 2011 US: Idaho’s wine industry is gaining ground

(Idahostatesman) - Tractors still dot the fruit-and-nut themed roads (Plum, Pecan, Apricot) of Canyon County’s Sunny Slope, but these days party-themed limousines and weekend wine tourists are also in evidence. Their quarry is a cluster of mostly small wineries with an increasingly big reputati...

October, 15, 2011 US: Grape prices on the rise

(PressDemocrat) - Last year, Ron and Ellie Jones couldn't find a single winery willing to buy their Chalk Hill chardonnay crop, which was left to rot on the vine. But last year's surplus of grapes has become a shortage. For the first time in years, wineries are bidding up the price of grapes sold...

October, 15, 2011 UK: A new binge-drink limit: MPs consider guidance of eight units in a day

(Dailymail) - Alcohol guidelines should be updated to include a ‘binge drinking limit’ – the maximum amount that should be consumed in one day, an expert has told MPs. Nick Heather, a professor of alcohol and drug studies at Northumbria University, said that on no account should overall rec...

October, 15, 2011 US: California's 2011 vintage poses key dilemmas

(SFGate) - California. Land of endless sun and ripe bounty, right? For wine, 2011 stands to rewrite that notion. Anyone who's been in Northern California this year doesn't need to be reminded of the summer that wasn't. Grapes were delayed first by frost, then by rain and cool weather throughout the...

October, 15, 2011 Can you taste your wine's origins? 'Somewhereness' says you should

(Theglobeandmail) - To some of us, wine is more than a drink to round out a meal or relax the nerves – it’s geography. Napa, Navarra, Naramata, Niagara, Nova Scotia – those regional designations often matter as much as the company or grape behind the juice. We geeks want to taste the land. Con...

October, 14, 2011 Coopers Roll Out Innovations

(Wines&Vines) - From barrels shaped in water to barrels made from acacia wood, from barrels streamlined for red wine fermentation to appellated American oak, winemakers have more barrel options to work with than ever before. In an industry that dates back to the Roman Empire, abundant new product re...

October, 14, 2011 Ancient Greek ships carried more than just wine

(Nature) - A DNA analysis of ancient storage jars suggests that Greek sailors traded a wide range of foods — not just wine, as many historians have assumed. The study, in press at the Journal of Archaeological Science1, finds evidence in nine jars taken from Mediterranean shipwrecks of vegetables,...