March, 05, 2015 Napa Valley: Winemakers Debate Optical Sorting

(Wines&Vines) - An optical sorter could easily be the next de rigueur accessory on the well-financed crush pad of a premium winery, but some winemakers aren’t convinced. The inaugural Innovation + Quality (IQ) conference held Wednesday at Charles Krug Winery featured a panel discussion...

March, 05, 2015 Rhône Launches International Program to Fight French Chauvinism

(Wine-Searcher) - Exchange program aims to make winemaking an attractive career to Rhône teenagers. Rhône Valley winemakers and their American Rhône Ranger counterparts are setting up a program next year to sponsor the sons and daughters of smaller wine producers on visits to A...

March, 05, 2015 Natural wines: no lab-bred yeast, pig’s pancreas or cryo-extraction

(TheGuardian) - ‘You have,” says Isabelle Legeron, “to forget all you know about wine.” She pours two glasses of 2011 malvasia secca, produced by the Italian natural winemaker Camillo Donati. “Look at this one: it is all we are told a wine shouldn’t be – or...

March, 05, 2015 CONSUMERS ‘BACK IN LOVE’ WITH MERLOT

(TDB) - The ‘Sideways effect’ is being reversed and consumers are starting to fall back in love with Merlot according to one of California’s top producers. Speaking to  the drinks business  during a lunch at Cut in London this week, Daniel Baron, director of wine...

March, 05, 2015 With 'Sonoma Coast' on label, hard to tell what's inside

(ChicagoTribune) - The entire reason for a wine's appellation, or the name of the place where the grapes are grown that make the wine, is to tell you what kind of wine it is. The name may be significant because it is narrow and tells a lot; "Napa Valley" certainly is. It may be general, overarch...

March, 05, 2015 YAO MING CROWDFUNDS NEW TASTING ROOMS

(TDB) - Former NBA star turned Napa winery owner, Yao Ming, has started a crowdfunding campaign to raise US$3 million to expand his US and Chinese operations. The money will be used to build a visitor centre in Napa Valley and a branded tasting room in the former Houston Rockets player&rsqu...

March, 05, 2015 Wildfires Threaten South African Wine Region

(Wine-Searcher) - Raging fires have ripped through Cape vineyards, leaving winemakers worried about the rest of the harvest. Bushfires raging through one of South Africa's most popular international tourist destinations have destroyed vineyards and scorched thousands of hectares of spectacular s...

March, 05, 2015 Damaged Grapes Most at Risk From Fruit Fly

(Wines&Vines) - The tiny insect pest spotted wing drosophila has cast a large shadow over wine grape growers since 2008, when it was first identified in North America in a patch of strawberries at Watsonville, Calif. Known scientifically as Drosophila suzukii, the fruit fly was identified am...