September, 21, 2010 Winemakers optimistic even with threat of wet fall

SALEM, Ore. – People in Oregon’s wine industry are nervously eyeing the sky, and if it doesn’t dry out soon it could be a terrible year for wine.At Bethel Heights Winery, inside they’re bottling their 2008 grapes now. However, like every other Willamette Valley winery, the concern now is ove...

September, 21, 2010 Compulsory health warnings 'unlikely': WSTA

UK - The government is unlikely to force the alcohol industry to put health warnings on its wine labels, an industry conference heard last week.Jeremy Beadles, chief executive of The Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA), said nothing was confirmed but the government had ‘indicated’ it would...

September, 21, 2010 No Wine Cellar? Sotheby's Opens Retail Wine Shop

(Reuters) - Always wanted a wine cellar, but never had the room? Sotheby's auction house has a solution. It opened a retail wine shop.The store on the first floor of its New York building has what Sotheby's head of wines in the Americas and Asia Jamie Ritchie described as "a rather broad selection o...

September, 20, 2010 Foster’s wine in the sights of US private equity businesses

PRIVATE equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and TPG have held early talks about teaming up to bid for the wine unit of Australian brewer Foster’s.The pair are yet to decide whether to proceed either together or separately, according to reports in Australia.In 2007, KKR and TPG united to take Texa...

September, 20, 2010 Our grog's not that cheap: Foster's shareholders

PRIVATE equity firms circling Foster's Group may have to pay more than $3.5 billion for its wine business after some shareholders warned they would not support lower offers.The Australian Financial Review disclosed yesterday that private equity giants Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts and TPG were consider...

September, 20, 2010 Weather Pushes Back Oregon Wine Grape Harvest

A cool spring followed by a summer with only a scattering of hot days has delayed the Oregon wine grape harvest by at least two weeks and possibly up to a month. Growers are trying different ways to speed up ripening before fall rains arrive, including pulling leaves to expose grapes to the sun. ...

September, 20, 2010 Chinese billionaires turn to wine

In addition to investing in stocks, real estate and antiques, Chinese billionaires are discovering a new source of big returns - the wine market. The yield rate from some famous French vintages during the first half of this year has exceeded 30 percent, far above any alternative.The price of histori...

September, 19, 2010 New Jersey's wine market is aging well

Winemaker Larry Sharrott 3d looked through a kaleidoscopelike instrument called a refractometer, measuring the sugar content of a just-pressed batch of chardonnay grapes. He liked what he saw. This summer's hot, dry weather has produced the best grape harvest in South Jersey in years, growers say...