September, 01, 2010 British Sparkler Beats Champagnes in Wine Challenge

(Bloomberg) -- An English sparkling wine beat five Champagnes last night to take first place in the 2010 Decanter World Wine Awards at the Royal Opera House in London. RidgeView Grosvenor Blanc de Blancs, Sussex 2006, triumphed over Taittinger Prelude Grands Crus; Heidsieck Millesime 2000, Heidsieck...

September, 01, 2010 Winegrape Sorting in Northwest Wineries

Dayton, Ore. -- Northwest wineries are aiming for cleaner sorts of their incoming fruit this year, with sophisticated equipment designed to weed out material other than grapes (MOG), from greenery to grubs.While its grapes typically arrive at the winery in good shape, relatively free from material t...

September, 01, 2010 Antioxidant activity of sparkling wines produced by Champenoise and Charmat methods

The objective of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant activity of 19 Brazilian sparkling wines produced by Champenoise and Charmat methods. All sparkling wines tested showed significant antioxidant activity, both in vivo and in vitro assays. In general, the Charmat brut possessed more antioxid...

September, 01, 2010 Oak barrel maturation vs. micro-oxygenation: Effect on the formation of anthocyanin-derived pigments and wine colour

The objective of this study was to check whether micro-oxygenation (MO) could mimic oak barrel ageing as regard the effect on wine colour. A red wine was submitted to micro-oxygenation for three months while another lot from the same wine was matured in oak barrels for three or six months. After the...

September, 01, 2010 Coast to coast, weather keeps growers guessing

This has been a strange year for vintners, both here in the East and on the West Coast. We remember a winter of record snows, but local winemakers recall a quick warm-up that brought summer-like temperatures in early April, leading the vines to bud earlier than usual. Record-setting heat through the...

August, 31, 2010 Mechanical harvesting is changing the wine game in Oregon

Maybe Oregon's pinot noir pioneers had it right after all, that the rolling hillsides near Silverton — not Dundee — were best suited to cradle the state's wine industry.Ken Johnston, general manager of vineyard operations for Winemakers Investment Properties, certainly thinks so, and he's in the...

August, 31, 2010 Prosser Becomes Winery Hub

Prosser, Wash. -- The small Yakima Valley city of Prosser is rapidly establishing itself as the center of Washington’s booming Columbia Valley wine region.The city of 5,000 on the Yakima River now boasts about 30 wineries, the Washington State University Irrigated Agriculture Research & Extension...

August, 31, 2010 Bordeaux harvest starts with Carbonnieux after 'roller-coaster' growing season

Chateau Carbonnieux in Pessac Leognan is due to begin picking its Sauvignon Blanc grapes at the end of this week after a 'roller-coaster' season of highs and lows.A cold start to the growing season, and dry weather combined with cool nights in August, have meant that most vineyards are around a week...