October, 09, 2016 Chinese wine-tasters scoop surprise win in France

(BBC) - Chinese wine-tasters have won a taste test in France, in what organisers call "a thunderbolt in the wine world". They came first out of 21 teams by identifying details of six white wines and six red wines without seeing the bottle or label. The French team came second and the US ...

October, 07, 2016 France’s Wine Output to Slump to 4-Year Low as Vineyards Ravaged

(Bloomberg) - French wine production will be the lowest in four years after spring frost, hailstorms, grape rot and drought combined to damage crops from the northern Champagne region to the Charentes area in the southwest, the Agriculture Ministry forecast. The 2016 vintage will slump 12 p...

October, 06, 2016 Chablis winemakers angry over planned tar factory

(Decanter) - Winemakers are furious that the tar plant set to sit between Chablis and Irancy in  Burgundy  has been approved without their consent. Tar contains hydrocarbon molecules that may contaminate grapes through both air and water supply, they argue...

October, 06, 2016 Mergers and Acquisitions from Both Viewpoints

(Wines&Vines) - Though you might expect the biggest concerns at the 25th Wine Industry Financial Symposium held Sept. 26 and 27 in Napa to be the economy, the election, water or the grape crop this year, no topic got more attention than mergers and acquisitions (M&A). From symposium...

October, 06, 2016 Another Top Vintage for Northern California

(Wine-Searcher) - You'll never guess how the harvest is looking in the US's most important wine region.   Good Northern California vintages are like perfect-skin beauties in Hollywood movies: they're so commonplace that you take them for granted, until some Joker shows up with tattoos. ...

October, 05, 2016 Wine Enthusiast’s 2016 Wine Star Award Winners

(WineMag) - Seventeen years ago, the editors of Wine Enthusiast conceived an annual award program to honor individuals and companies that have contributed to the success of the wine industry. Over the years, the size and scope of our Wine Star Awards have expanded to encompass spi...

October, 05, 2016 How the Founding Fathers got their booze on

(NYPost) - Benjamin Franklin knew more than 200 “round-about phrases” for drunk — and famously catalogued them for “sober” readers in his 1737 “Drinker’s Dictionary.” But for someone who is thought to have proclaimed, “There cannot be go...

October, 05, 2016 TORNADO BATTERS CHINA’S TIANSAI VINEYARDS

(TDB) - A powerful tornado has swept through leading Chinese winery Tiansai Vineyards, destroying 200 mu (13 hectares) of vines and creating an “unprecedented disaster” in the winery’s history, according to the producer. The tornado, bringing about Gale Force 10 winds at i...