January, 03, 2014 Opus One credits global success to Bordeaux négociants

(TDB) - Californian Cabernet blend Opus One is enjoying strong international demand through Bordeaux négociants, despite stagnating sales for the region’s Left Bank brands handled by the same distributors. In 2004, Opus One, a joint venture devised in 1978 by France’s Baron Ph...

January, 03, 2014 French watchdog hits Castel with multi-million euro fine

(Decanter) - French wine broker and producer Castel has been hit with a €4m (US$5.46m) fine for not telling France's competition watchdog that it had bought Burgundy's Patriarche. Castel withheld its acquisition of Patriarche in May 2011 from competition officials, which meant they were una...

January, 03, 2014 Study links US drinking habits to political beliefs

(TDB) - A study into drinking habits in the US has revealed what your chosen tipple might say about your political persuasion. According to a study by the US National Media Research Planning and Placement, Democrats prefer clear spirits such as vodka and Champagne while Republicans prefer brown ...

January, 03, 2014 Vineyards are putting Virginia on the wine map

(TheSpectrum) - Thomas Jefferson was a failure. Yes, the man did some good work, writing the Declaration of Independence and running the country as our third president. Monticello is fairly impressive, too. But there is no way around it: As a winemaker, Jefferson was a disaster. He began plan...

January, 03, 2014 Montalcino Wine Growers Purposely Throw Out 50% Of Good Grapes, Here's Why

(Forbes) - During the grape harvest of 2013, I was visiting Tenuta Il Poggione in Montalcino, home to some of Italy’s most expensive wines. As I walked the vineyards with winemaker Fabrizio Bindocci, harvesters all around us carved gorgeous, lush, fully ripe bunches of Sangiovese grapes from ...

January, 02, 2014 Cork Versus Screw Cap: Don't Judge A Wine By How It's Sealed

(NPR) - Step aside, cork. If you're a wine drinker, you've probably noticed that screw caps are no longer considered the closure just for cheap vino. Increasingly, bottles of very good wines are unscrewed, rather than uncorked. Screw caps for wine bottles have been around since the late 1950s...

January, 02, 2014 By the numbers: Wine consumption gaining on beer, where craft brews are the bright spot

(MiamiHerald) - Americans are continuing our love affair with wine as 2014 arrives, but we may love beer and spirits even more. Here’s what’s trending in drinks: • We love wine: We drank more last year for the 19th year in a row — up 2 percent to 360 million 12-bottle...

January, 02, 2014 Pesticides in French Wine

(NYTimes) - Organic wine producers in the Burgundy region of France are facing prosecution for refusing to use pesticides. This move is perplexing given the Ministry of Agriculture’s support for the organic wine industry and growing public alarm over pesticides in French wine. The share of...