September, 09, 2010 Eastern Vineyards Confront New Pest

Thurmont, Md. -- First it was the multi-colored Asian lady beetle (MALB) invading Eastern vineyards and imparting a nasty flavor to the wines. Now it’s a stink bug from China. The East has always had several kinds of native stink bugs that have co-existed with orchards and vineyards without causin...

September, 09, 2010 Long maceration on Pinot noir

Winemakers love to gripe that Pinot Noir is the hardest wine to make. I disagree. It is not that it is difficult to make; Pinot Noir is difficult to get right. First, if you are not starting with good grapes you might as well pack it in. Americans don’t like to be told this, but all vineyards are ...

September, 08, 2010 Foster's wine arm bid came from Cerberus - report

(Reuters) - Cerberus Capital Management is believed to be the firm that made an offer worth up to $2.5 billion for the wine business of Foster's Group Ltd. Foster's, Australia's largest brewer, rejected the surprise bid for the world's second-largest wine business on Wednesday, but left the door ope...

September, 08, 2010 Statewide issue of wine kiosks delayed by negotiations, safety tests

Talks with retailers are delaying the deployment of kiosks that will allow Pennsylvanians to buy wine without going to state-run liquor stores. Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board spokeswoman Stacey Witalec tells WITF-FM that negotiations with supermarkets and routine safety testing of new kiosks are ...

September, 08, 2010 Letting grapes do their thing

One of the newest things in wine also happens to be the oldest: Doing nothing. There's a growing backward-is-forward movement afoot to simply let grapes do their thing when it comes to making wine. Defined as "natural wines," they're the kicked-back kin to bio-dynamic and organic wines (sustainably ...

September, 08, 2010 Martha Stewart Lawsuit: The Wrath of Grapes

Martha Stewart is engaging in a smear campaign against Vampire Vineyards to bolster the sales of a Gallo wine label bearing her name, this according to a new federal lawsuit obtained by TMZ. According to the suit, Stewart's Gallo wine sales are less than one-half the wine sales of Vampire Vineyar...

September, 07, 2010 Foster's knocks back $2.5 billion offer for wine unit

(Reuters) - Foster's Group Ltd., Australia's largest brewer, said it had rejected an offer worth up to $2.5 billion for its wine business from a private equity firm and would continue to pursue the demerger of its wine unit. The deal would have been the largest buyout by a private equity firm in th...

September, 07, 2010 Home Winemakers Warned About Moth

Napa,CA -- The potentially destructive invasion of European Grape Vine Moth (EGVM) into California’s prime winegrape growing regions means that home winemakers in affected areas face the same restrictions as commercial grapegrowers and wineries with regard to movement and treatment of grapes, equi...