January, 13, 2014 More money means more marketing, research for Pennsylvania wines

(PennLive) - Pennsylvania wineries could decide early this year whether to take some more money out of their own pockets to subsidize research and marketing. Limited wineries in the state will vote soon on a referendum to increase their annual dues by a nickel for every gallon of wine they sell. T...

January, 13, 2014 California Wine Threatened by Drought Crisis

(Wine-Searcher) - California might be having its worst drought in more than a century. But it's too early to tell what the effects could be on the state's wine industry. What we do know is, conditions are already dire in some wine growing regions. Parts of Mendocino County are running out of drink...

January, 13, 2014 Canada: Quebec’s ice wine industry prepares for battle

(Yahoo) - Charles-Henri de Coussergues is one of an estimated 120 Canadian vintners taking part in the laboured yearly exercise of making ice wine. After the first frost, his three hectares of vidal grapes shrink on the vine. Inside each orb, the liquid becomes thicker and sweeter with each succes...

January, 11, 2014 Poisoned wine could have killed Alexander the Great

(TDB) - A scientist believes a toxic wine could have led to the death of Alexander the Great unravelling 2,000 years of mystery. Dr Leo Schep, toxicologist at the National Poisons Centre and scientist at the Otago University in New Zealand, thinks a poisonous wine made from a plant may have killed...

January, 11, 2014 US: Outsiders Increase Northwest Winery Profile

(Wines&Vines) - The prospect of greater national distribution—and, in turn, greater recognition for Northwest wine—is one of the benefits many vintners mention when talking about the spate of deals completed in the region during the past few years. E. & J. Gallo’s purch...

January, 11, 2014 Elegant furnishings from winery discards

(PD) - Wine Country chic meets steampunk in the eco-friendly workshop of Whit McLeod. In a Healdsburg warehouse filled with old industrial machinery, including steam-bending equipment, the former wildlife biologist takes what was once just wine-industry trash and turns it into stunning, hand-sawn ...

January, 11, 2014 Duckhorn files lawsuit over Duck Dynasty wines

(PD) - Duckhorn Wine Company has a history of going after wineries that dare to use a duck in their names or labels. But this time, the winery is hunting a potentially tougher target: the self-professed “redneck royalty” of the hit A&E TV show “Duck Dynasty.” The Napa ...

January, 11, 2014 Wine prognostication - a taste of the mystical

(SFGate) - It's January and crystal-ball time again. Here are my five wine themes for 2014: 1) California rising: It has been for several years, actually, but last January, I predicted that the state's new raft of producers and wine styles would hit the mainstream. It did just that. Whether you be...