Wall Street Journal Nov 20, 08 7:56 PM CST
(Newser)
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Today is the third Thursday of November, which makes it a holiday of sorts for wine merchants: Beaujolais Day. It's the first day of the year (as dictated by French law) that the first wine of the season—Beaujolais Nouveau, made from Gamay grapes—can be sold worldwide. Wine purists generally dismiss the stuff, but wise marketing has boosted sales. This year, however, doesn't look to be a strong one, reports the Wall Street Journal .
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Wannabe oenophiles takes cues from The Drops of the Gods
New York Times Oct 23, 08 1:32 PM CDT
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What do Freddie Mercury and a Jean-François Millet painting have in common? Both have been used to describe wine in The Drops of the Gods , a Japanese comic series that’s quickly becoming the go-to wine literature in Asia, reports the New York Times . Customers tend to ask for wines featured in the comic, leading wine sellers to snap up each issue.
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GLOSSIES
Rich execs ditch fast-paced careers, look to winemaking
CNNMoney Oct 9, 08 1:34 PM CDT
(Newser)
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A new breed of winemakers is flowing into Napa Valley, writes Jeffrey O'Brien in a colorful look at the trend in Fortune . Investment bankers, tech entrepreneurs, and other wealthy refugees of the white-collar rat race are buying up vineyards at $400,000 per acre to pursue second careers that let them have a business—and a life. These "oentrepreneurs" aren’t just looking to make a buck; they’d rather generate buzz with sought-after, high-end cult wines.
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Firms has partnered with nonprofit association of vintners
Reuters Sep 11, 08 12:07 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Online shopping got a little more intoxicating today as Amazon announced it will start selling wine in the US starting in October, Reuters reports. The retailer —looking for a chunk of the $30 billion-plus US wine market —has partnered with Napa Valley Vintners, which will supply vino from the 315 wineries it represents. Only 7% of wine sales are currently made online.
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OPINION
Meet the sleeker,
but still affordable,
Côtes du Rhône
New York Times Sep 3, 08 11:19 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Today's Côtes du Rhône is no longer a middle-of-the-road red, writes Eric Asimov in the New York Times . France's wine industry is changing, and the region that once churned out bottles that were "light and fruity if you were lucky, more likely tart and harsh," has grown up. But the best still display "characteristic Rhône touches of earthiness and minerality."
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Once-tacky rosé shows staying power
Portfolio Aug 27, 08 3:04 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Rosé wine has gone from tacky to trendy, with easy-to-swallow prices helping sales bubble up by nearly a third in the past year, compared to just a 5.1% boost for all wines. Both US and European consumers are hooked—in France, rosés are selling faster than whites, reports Portfolio . The blush boom has caught the attention of serious players, with makers in Bordeaux and other regions rushing to cash in.
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Profit-hungry farmers, vote-hungry politicians nurture unlikely wine industry
Economist Aug 22, 08 5:40 PM CDT
(Newser)
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As farmers seek higher profits and politicians angle for healthier rural economies, vineyards are cropping up across the Midwest, the Economist reports. Michigan and Ohio now have over 100 wineries each, with vintage monikers handily swiped from French-named Midwestern locales like “Marquette” and “Frontenac”—or, less convincingly, “La Crescent.”
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Gourmet Aug 17, 08 2:00 PM CDT
(Newser)
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France’s wine business is stuck in the doldrums, as American wines (and their aggressive marketing campaigns) explode onto the scene. But one Napa Valley girl is working to change that, by introducing stodgy French vintners to the modern concept of marketing. “A lot of what I do is psychological,” Jaime Araujo tells Gourmet . “Changing the identity of a wine that’s been in your family for four hundred years is hard, and it takes a lot of hand-holding.”
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110K marijuana plants already confiscated this year
Associated Press Aug 10, 08 4:50 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Washington state is cracking down on drug dealers' latest innovation: Using vineyards to secretly grow marijuana crops, the AP reports. Police have made 22 arrests this year and confiscated 110,000 pot plants from the Yakima Valley alone, worth more than $100 million. But tracking dealers isn't easy: Some are in Mexico and others buy farms with fake names in quick cash deals.
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Wine growers battling cheap imports launch commando attacks
Time Aug 2, 08 7:30 AM CDT
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Tough times have turned some wine-growers in southwestern France to "wine terrorism," Time reports. Guerrilla grape-growers have bombed supermarkets and government buildings, hijacked trucks carrying foreign wine, and drained tanks. The growers want the French government to protect them from the cheap imports they say are threatening their survival.
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Italian bubbly makers hope to edge out pricey champagne
Reuters Jul 22, 08 8:07 AM CDT
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Sales of Italy's answer to champagne have been bubbling up for years, Reuters writes, but prosecco producers plan to boost output to 250 million bottles next year, with an eye on someday overtaking champagne as the world's favorite sparkling wine. The bubbly is cheaper to make than its French rival, and vintners believe its sweeter taste will go down well in red-hot export markets like China.
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Opinion
Dry notes make
snobs too boring
to mock—almost
Los Angeles Times Jun 13, 08 11:46 AM CDT
(Newser)
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When wine lovers say they taste notes of cherries or hints of tobacco, “usually all I can detect is a whole lot of jackass,” Joel Stein writes in the LA Times . Wine dialogue has devolved into a meaningless string of obscure scents, Stein says. It’s boring—too boring even to make fun of—and it says virtually nothing about the wine.
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Old rules to go as France tries to catch up with New World wines
Times (UK) May 30, 08 11:53 AM CDT
(Newser)
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France is ditching some long-cherished wine rules to compete with upstart New World wines, the London Times reports. The country, which sees itself as the center of the wine world, has been steadily losing market share to wines from places like Australia and California. A new class of French wine will permit "foreign" techniques such as adding tannins or wood chips.
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Dapper vintner proved California grapes could rival Europe's
San Francisco Chronicle May 16, 08 7:54 PM CDT
(Newser)
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California wine master Robert Mondavi died peacefully today in his Napa Valley home at age 94, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Disciples and critics alike have praised the vintner for elevating West Coast wine from jug juice to world-class vino. "His legacy and his vision for what California could do remains with us as guidepost and a source of aspiration," one winemaker said.
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Wineries try 'New World'-style screw
caps, snazzy labels
to revive sales
Associated Press Apr 27, 08 6:09 PM CDT
(Newser)
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A screw-top Bordeaux? The once-laughable notion is bubbling up in France these days as wine makers try to reverse decades of sour sales, the AP reports. Even snazzy labels and boxed-wine-with-a-straw are fair game, after French wineries exported a record $15 billion last year with "New World"-style packaging.
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