August, 05, 2011 California: Ballot initiative would tax marijuana like wine

Supporters are gathering signatures for an initiative that would decriminalize marijuana in California for those older than 21. The measure, dubbed the Regulate Marijuana Like Wine Act [PDF], would tax and regulate the cultivation, production and sale of cannabis using grape and wine industry stand...

August, 05, 2011 UK: Probe as batch of fake wine found on sale in city

AN investigation has been launched into a batch of potentially harmful fake wine found on sale in Edinburgh. Stores across the Capital are being checked after officers found counterfeit bottles on sale in a store in Leith. Tests are being carried out to determine whether the substance could be h...

August, 05, 2011 US: LCB's wine kiosk experiment may be ending

HARRISBURG - The state Liquor Control Board's one-year experiment with wine kiosks may soon be coming to an end at a supermarket near you. The LCB claims the Conshohocken-based contractor that provided the kiosks owes the state nearly $1 million. The contractor disputes this. But the liquor bo...

August, 05, 2011 Drinking spirits ups risk of acute pancreatitis, but wine or beer does not

Drinking just one 4cl measure of spirits can increase the risk of an acute attack of pancreatitis, but wine or beer does not appear to have the same effect, according to researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. To come to the conclusion, the researchers followed 84,601 people from 46 t...

August, 04, 2011 US: Washington Wineries Pick Up the Tab

Seattle, Wash.—Summer has finally hit the Northwest, but closure of Washington’s state tourism office threatens to leave travel planning in limbo and wine-oriented destinations scrambling to raise their profiles. Best estimates put the number of visitors to Washington state wineries in excess of...

August, 04, 2011 WIF report shows wine has outperformed gold

While gold is seen as the traditional safe haven investment in uncertain times there is a commodity that has performed even better over the past two decades fine wine. The Bermuda-based Wine Investment Fund (WIF) has produced a report indicating that between 1993 and the start of this year, fine wi...

August, 04, 2011 Chile’s Undurraga family back in wine business

Chile’s pioneering Undurraga family has been in the wine business since Francisco Undurraga planted his first vines in the foothills of the Andes Mountains in 1885. By the 1980s, it was one of Chile’s biggest producers and most popular exporters to the United States. By 2005 it was making 1.5 mi...

August, 04, 2011 US: Growing Wine Industry In SD

South Dakota's wine industry continues to grow. Since the first vineyard opened nearly 15 years ago, South Dakota growers have produced over one-million bottles of wine. And it doesn't appear the industry is slowing down anytime soon. Strawbale Winery may not be the largest, but is one of ol...