October, 09, 2018 Somm scandal: Revelations of cheating at master sommelier examination lead to the invalidation of 23 new certifications

(SFChronicle) - The master sommelier examination has often been called “the hardest test you’ve never heard of.” Since its inception in 1969, just 274 people have passed the grueling exam, which involves years, sometimes even decades, of preparation. For a wine service profes...

October, 08, 2018 Buying Wine? Invest Outside the Box

(Wine-Searcher) - Wine speculation is as predictable as it is expensive. Why is it that wine investment causes many wine lovers to get so out-of-joint? "I'm uncomfortable with wine investment on a number of levels. It's a drink" wrote UK wine writer Jamie Goode the other day. Most wine people...

October, 08, 2018 The New Way To Invest In Wine: Pay Farmers First, And Prioritize Inclusion

(Forbes) - Yes, it’s a disruptive business model. But, knowing Molly Madden even a little, you also get the sense that what she’s building today is a perfectly organic, natural evolution of what’s come before. Just like one plus one equals two. Here’s one: Ma...

October, 07, 2018 EXCESSIVE DUTY ‘RESTRICTING GROWTH’ OF ENGLISH WINE INDUSTRY

(TDB) - A group of English winemakers have come together to call for a freeze on wine duty, which they argue is “excessively high” and unfairly restricting the industry’s growth while damaging rural communities. Currently, 55% of an average priced bottle of wine sold in th...

October, 07, 2018 2018 Could be "One for the Record Books"

(Wines&Vines) - Napa and Sonoma grapegrowers report extended hang time and steady picking pace, yielding healthy and "happy" grapes. Napa Valley began its countdown to harvest mid-July when the Napa Valley Grapegrowers (NVG) announced that veraison was officially underway. But one didn&rsquo...

October, 07, 2018 French Wine's Hybrid Dilemma

(Wine-Searcher) - Genetic engineering could change the viticultural landscape. The history of plant breeding and genetic engineering took a surprising turn last month, when the French government authorized the introduction of new hybrid grape varieties into the country's viticultural landscape. F...

October, 07, 2018 Lebanon wines bring villages back to life and emigrants home

(Reuters) - Lured by Lebanon’s winemaking potential and nostalgia for his homeland, Maher Harb left a Paris consultancy job in 2010 and dug vines into the soil of family land unused since the country’s civil war. Seven years later his Sept winery launched its first commercial vintage...

October, 01, 2018 B.C. wines to lose exclusive grocery store access under new USMCA deal

(CBC) - 'Wine-on-shelf' system has been in U.S. crosshairs for some time. Under the new trilateral trade deal between Canada, the United States and Mexico, B.C.'s supermarket wine shelves could get a little more crowded. In a pair of side letters to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreem...