A $6 BEST IN SHOW WINE
IT JUST GOES to show you that good wine doesn’t need to cost a fortune. Or even $1O for that matter. A Chilean wine sold exclusively at British supermarket chain, Asda, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart, was recently awarded a platinum “Best in Show” medal from the Decanter World Wine Awards.... Read More
NO RAINS IN SOUTH AFRICA
THEY ARE in desperate need of rain in South Africa and it’s having an impact on viticulture. In a blow to the wine industry underpinning the Western Cape economy, the drought has caused an estimated 6.7 percent drop in the annual grape crop. This year’s is estimated at 1,378,596 tons,... Read More
TAKE A TRIP TO THE CITY OF WINE
GET YOUR passports ready, it’s time for a pilgrimage: The world now has a city of wine. That’s right, La Cité du Vin recently opened in Bordeaux wine country and it is the equivalent of a theme park for grownups. But instead of Disney characters you get to hang out with... Read More
CRACKING THE COUNTERFEIT CODE
THERE’S AN AWFUL lot of fake wine out there. For years the wine and drinks industry has been under attack from fraudsters selling fake packaging and counterfeit alcohol – and thanks to new technology, the problem is only going to worsen. NetNames, which specializes in online brand protection, is highlighting... Read More
THE ULTIMATE WINE HOARDER
THIS TAKES WINE collecting to a whole new level. A cache of over 22OO bottles of wine was recently discovered in the garage of an Aer Lingus pilot in England after he passed away. Sometime in the 197Os the unnamed man began collecting wine, picking up a case from duty-free... Read More
BRITISH BUBBLY BESTS FRANCE
CALL IT THE JUDGMENT of Paris . . . British style. In April, France’s top wine judges rated English sparkling higher than Champagne in a blind tasting. A selection of English sparkling wines, divided into three categories and tasted blind with comparable Champagnes, resulted in the English coming out on... Read More
THE WORLD’S BEST SOMMELIER IS . . .
SWEDEN can take bragging rights for being home to the world’s best sommelier! Swedish native Arvid Rosengren took the title this year as the Best Sommelier in the World after a grueling four day Concours du Meilleur Sommelier du Monde competition in Mendoza, Argentina, where 61 sommeliers competed for the... Read More
FRENCH WINE DETHRONED
IN AN ON-GOING battle for wine supremacy, French winegrowers have once again been overtaken as Italy has claimed the position as the world’s largest wine producer. Only a year ago, France’s 14O,OOO winegrowers toasted their success in regaining the throne after a brief spell in second place. France bore the... Read More
ARSENIC LAWSUIT TOSSED OUT
CALIFORNIA’S WINE INDUSTRY has won a big fight without even entering the ring. A judge dismissed a lawsuit claiming that some wines have dangerously high levels of arsenic. The class-action suit said that 83 cheap, mass-production Califorina wines had arsenic levels higher than those allowed in the state for water.... Read More
THE PINOT THIEF
SHE’S BEEN DUBBED the “bold blonde bandit”. The crime? The successful theft of over twenty cases of pricey Pinot Noir from the World of Pinot Noir’s (WOPN) grand tasting on March 4 at the Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara. Taking a page from the Ocean’s 11 playbook, the thief wheeled... Read More