WHEN SABERING GOES WRONG
This falls in the category of downright embarrassing. When done right, sabering a bottle of bubbly is nothing short of impressive. Done wrong and well, it’s quite the opposite. On New Year’s Eve, the General Manager at Napa Valley’s famed French Laundry restaurant unsuccessfully sabered a Nebuchadnazeer (15-liter bottle) of... Read More
SOTHEBY’S WINE SALES BOOM
2018 was quite a year for wine sales at Sotheby’s. The auction house recently announced that its wine and spirit sales for the year crossed US$100 million for the first time. After a bumper series of results which included a bottle of 1945 Romanée-Conti selling for $558,000, another seven Methuselahs... Read More
THE PERILS OF TOO MUCH SUGAR IN PROSECCO
In the end, the sugar sacks gave them away. Two Prosecco producers based in Valdobbiadene and Refrontolo, in the province of Treviso, were raided this past fall when officials grew suspicious after finding two tons of sugar in sacks. Italian police seized 750,000 liters of Prosecco from the two producers... Read More
MORE RED WINE BENEFITS
Well, it’s certainly tastier than an apple a day! A recent Harvard study has found that a glass of red wine a day keeps the doctor away. Those who enjoy a libation, but not too much, are less likely to be admitted to hospital than teetotalers. The study looked at... Read More
ALCOHOL, CAFFEINE and LONG LIFE . . .
Are wine and coffee the keys to longevity? It’s just possible! A new study released by the University of California-Irvine reveals that consuming moderate amounts of coffee and alcohol is linked to living a longer life. As always, the key word here is moderate. The 9O+ Study began in 2OO3... Read More
TOP 1O BEST SELLING COCKTAILS
When it comes to cocktails, everything old is new again. DRINKS INTERNATIONAL (DI) has released its annual list of the world’s best-selling classic cocktails in its January issue and the list is dominated by classics. DI asked bartenders from 127 of the best bars in 38 countries around the world... Read More
BOGUS BOURBON BARRELS
As if fake Scotch wasn’t bad enough, the recent holiday season saw an online company scamming customers out of bourbon barrels from Lexington, Kentucky. The state’s Attorney General Andy Beshear issued a Scam Alert in December for the website OakWoodBarrels.com. The website claimed that The Oak Wood Barrel Co. sold... Read More
FAKE SCOTCHES ABOUND
While counterfeit wine is a massive concern for the industry, fake high end spirits are becoming equally problematic. Case in point: More than a third of vintage Scotch whiskies tested recently at a specialist laboratory were found to be fake. Twenty-one out of 55 bottles of rare Scotch were deemed... Read More
SAZERAC COMPANY GOES SHOPPING
The Sazerac Company is kicking off the new year with a slew of brand acquisitions. The close of 2O18 saw the completion of the sale of 19 brands from Diageo. The brands purchased are Seagram’s V.O., Seagram’s 83, Seagram’s Five Star, Myers’s, Romana Sambuca, Yukon Jack, Booth’s, Goldschlager, Popov, Relska,... Read More
DON SEBASTIANI & SONS
OMAR PERCICH is being promoted from CFO to Chief Operating Officer. He is taking over the position from current COO, TOM HAWKINS, who is retiring after 1O years with the company. Prior to his tenure with Don Sebastiani & Sons, Tom was with Beam Global Spirits & Wine for over... Read More