July, 11, 2011 Airlines reeling in premium passengers with wine

(AP) — Delta Air Line's master sommelier Andrea Robinson opened up bottle after bottle of white and red wine from France, Italy, Australia, the U.S. and other parts of the world. As she tasted them Monday, a blue bucket sat on the table next to her. It was there so she could spit out each sip, ...

July, 11, 2011 Train to Avoid Vineyard Heat Illness

Davis, Calif.—Despite a summer still limping to achieve its normal stride, California’s wine grape-growing season is expected eventually to warm up. Customary elevated temperatures endanger vineyard workers: A pregnant vineyard laborer died from heat-related causes in 2008. To mitigate this inhe...

July, 11, 2011 Study backs screwcaps over corks, but tradition is difficult to overcome

YAKIMA, Wash. -- As the primary election season heats up, a different kind of debate is taking shape in Yakima Valley's wine country: Do you close a wine bottle with a cork or a screwcap? The Hogue Cellars, a Prosser winery, recently made a case for screwcaps with the release of a five-year st...

July, 11, 2011 French and Spanish toast big wine export growth

A thirst for wine in emerging markets has helped give French and Spanish wine exports a 20 per cent boost in the first three months of 2011. In its quarterly report on the wine market, Rabobank said global wine exports are generally picking up at a “brisk pace” compared to the start of last y...

July, 11, 2011 Focus - Growing Pains for Chilean Wine

Chile's wine industry is facing enforced consolidation due to pressure on wineries' profitability, but the country's longer-term future looks much brighter. Concha y Toro's purchase of Fetzer Vineyards has thrust Chile's wine industry further into the spotlight this year. Amid Australia's bloated...

July, 11, 2011 US: Lake County wine industry seeks recognition for two new appellations

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Growers and wineries in the Big Valley and Kelsey Bench areas of Lake County are working together to submit two separate American Viticultural Area (AVA) applications to the U.S. Tax and Trade Bureau in Washington, D.C. The proposed Big Valley AVA will include all of Big Vall...

July, 11, 2011 French Insurer Buys Bordeaux Vineyard for $284 Million, FT Says

Mutuelle d’Assurances du Corps de Sante Francais, a mutually owned insurer serving health-care professionals, is acquiring Chateau Lascombes, one of the biggest Bordeaux vineyards, for 200 million euros ($284 million) from Colony Capital LLC, a U.S. buyout firm, the Financial Times reported, citin...

July, 11, 2011 US: New Jersey wineries 'waiting for the ax to fall'

Local winemakers have been facing uncertainty about the future of their vineyards since December, when a federal court of appeals ruled that it was unconstitutional to allow in-state wineries to sell directly to retailers and in tasting rooms while requiring others to go through wholesalers....