May, 01, 2013 Hollywood and Vine: Wineries with celeb connection

(AP) — Sometimes visitors to MacMurray Ranch, the 1,500-acre (600-hectare) spread owned by movie and TV actor Fred MacMurray for a half-century, want to know: Where's the heliport? Where's the screening room? Kate MacMurray, Fred's daughter, just smiles. "This was our home," she explains. What ...

April, 30, 2013 France: Élysée Palace To Put Wine Up for Bid

(NYTimes) - The dreaded phantasm of economic austerity has finally knocked its bony fingers on the door of the Élysée Palace, which announced on Tuesday that it would auction off 1,200 bottles of its finest wines, renew its cellar with “more modest” vintages and return the...

April, 30, 2013 US: What Distinguishes Paso Robles Cabernet?

(Wines&Vines) - What makes Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles different from Cabernet grown elsewhere in California? Is it the climate, the soil or the people? Six winemakers debated this topic and others this past weekend as part of the inaugural CABs of Distinction event for media, trade ...

April, 30, 2013 Raise a glass to Russia's world-class wines

(Telegraph) - For most westerners, the whole concept of “Russian wine” sounds a bit like an oxymoron. And if you ever sip wine at a Russian party, the chances are you won’t like it much. Or at least you will find it perplexing.  That’s because four-fifths of wines sold ...

April, 30, 2013 Digital future for wine sales: Vinexpo

(Decanter) - Wine buying in the future will be an interactive world of mobile apps, virtual sommeliers and tweeting winemakers, according to new research. Digital technology is driving a sea change in the way retailers engage with wine drinkers, said the Chief Operating Officer of research group...

April, 30, 2013 Vandals destroy £90k of NZ wine

(TheDrinksBusiness) - A Hawke’s Bay winery has lost £90k worth of wine after vandals drained one of its tanks. Moana Park Winery near Napier was attacked last Friday night when its largest tank of Merlot was forced open and left to spill out onto the ground.  Owner and winema...

April, 30, 2013 Tax rebate threatening Australia’s wine industry

(HospitalityMagazine) - The managing director of De Bortoli, one of Australia’s largest family owned wineries believes the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) poses a bigger threat to Australia’s wine industry than the high Australian dollar.   The WET grants small wine producers t...

April, 30, 2013 Auction Buyers Snap Up Wine From The 'Best Restaurant In The World'

(Forbes) - Fans of the feted Catalan restaurant elBulli that shut in 2011 after 50 years in business and five years as the best restaurant in the world, according to Restaurant Magazine, had their last chance to take home a portion of the restaurant’s pretty extraordinary wine cellar at a Sot...