July, 22, 2011 Sapporo may expand U.S. mergers and acquisitions search to wine and cocktails

Japan’s Sapporo Holdings would consider acquiring a U.S. producer of wine or ready-to-drink cocktails, expanding the scope of its potential targets as it seeks to build up its North American operations, a senior executive said. The maker of Yebisu and Sapporo beer is also looking to lift market s...

July, 22, 2011 AUS: Wine exports wither on vine but there's light at end of funnel

This was meant to be the year Australia's wine industry finally hit rock bottom and started looking up again. That was before our dollar rocketed to $US1.07, and a projected 1.3 million tonne grape crush - the fruit of recent attempts to curb chronic oversupply - gushed to more than 1.6 million ton...

July, 22, 2011 AUS: Expensive drop as forklift shatters $1.1 mln wine

(AFP) — An Australian winemaker said Friday he was "numb" after a malfunctioning forklift destroyed more than Aus$1 million ($1.1 million) of his prized shiraz. Some 462 cases of the 2010 Mollydooker Velvet Glove Shiraz, which sells for Aus$185 a bottle, smashed to the ground as it was being lo...

July, 22, 2011 Wine Never Cheaper as Bidders Circle Foster’s Spinoff: Real M&A

(Bloomberg) -- Buying Napa Valley wine has never been so cheap with Treasury Wine Estates Ltd. selling at less than 80 cents on the dollar. The world’s second-largest winemaker, which owns Beringer Vineyards and Stags’ Leap Winery, was spun off by Foster’s Group Ltd. in May after it rejected a...

July, 22, 2011 France: Clos Fourtet and staff star in new wine movie

A new film set in a French chateau - and starring the real Chateau Clos Fourtet - opens next month in French cinemas. Tu Seras Mon Fils (You Will Be My Son) deals with the conflict between a fictitious chateau owner and his son. It was almost entirely filmed at the Saint Emilion Premier Grand Cru...

July, 21, 2011 Canada: Climate change threatens to spoil Ontario’s signature wines

Ontario’s wine makers are fighting to protect their grapes against Mother Nature’s wrath. The destructive forces of climate change are already being felt in the world’s biggest wine-producing regions – California, Europe and Australia – as the steady rise in global temperatures scorches...

July, 21, 2011 Tough conditions hit NZ Wine Company

An oversupply of New Zealand wine blended with high levels of bulk wine sales, a strong dollar and tough competition has hit the NZ Wine Company's bottom line. The company said it expects an underlying loss before revaluations and income tax for the June 2011 year of up to $1.3 million. NZWC c...

July, 21, 2011 How to Read a Wine Label

Wine labels can be a little like cryptic crosswords: unfathomable, infuriating and intimidating. Browsing the shelves of one of my favorite local wine merchants, a cozy little shop in London where the wines are stacked in bins that stretch from the floor to the ceiling, I was faced with a scrambl...