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During much of that time, however, inferior or inappropriate grapes were employed in what was too often more an industrial process rather than artisanal winemaking. Only in the last 4O years have high-quality, Champagne-method American sparkling wines made from fit varieties, appropriately grown, become widely available. During much of this... Read More

The Year in ReviewTrends & Projections The mood in the industry, fueled by growing consumer excitement, is upbeat. Having successfully weathered a number of lean years where discretionary spending was down, overall economic confidence weak and unemployment growing, wine has proven its staying power. Put succinctly, a broader array of... Read More

Cognac is a charming city in southwest France, about 9O minutes northeast of Bordeaux. Cognac and the surrounding area remain quintessentially French, largely ignored by tourists and thus offer reasonably priced hotels, restaurants and a wonderful look at authentic French life. It’s a beautiful place to visit, about a five-hour... Read More

AOC law prescribes for Bandol the possibility of making three wines – a red, a rose and a white. Bandol producers, however, have always been defiantly red in the midst of a world conveniently pink. This small Provence appellation perched on the Mediterranean coast specializes in hearty and tannic red... Read More

Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc was the first wine from New Zealand I ever tasted. And the second and the third. Talk about starting at the top! Not that I’d heard of the now iconic winery or even that I could differentiate anything more about New Zealand as a winemaking country... Read More

For example, there’s simply been no relief in the bad news department that continues to haunt the decline of the flat-to-mostly-negative US-bottled standard blended brand segment, which has not recorded a single positive growth year since 1994, and dropped yet another couple of percentage points in 2OO5. But, meanwhile, in... Read More

LAURA DePASQUALE • 40+ • National Sales Director for Fine Wines, Palm Bay Imports • Miami, FL As a top sales director for a major wine import house, Laura DePasquale is a tad disarming. Her former careers as rock guitarist and graphic artist skew her profile out of the mainstream,... Read More

JORGE ORDONEZ • 46 • IMPORTER • FINE WINES of SPAIN • DEDHAM, MA PROFILE The human dynamo who imports Spain’s biggest, deepest wine portfolio to America is not your everyday importer. Jorge Ordonez goes way beyond buy and sell; he advises, cajoles, teaches, pleads, strong-arms, consults with wineries all... Read More

The Brewers Association (BA) is a natural combination, one of those things that makes you ask “Why did it take so long?” It brings together the craft brewers and the regional brewers in one group, and there was a lot of optimistic talk about combined efforts, particularly in the legislative... Read More

As the last century wound down, Temecula, the Southern Californian wine region 6O miles north of San Diego, suffered a calamity. With one notable exception, Temecula’s wineries picked themselves up and moved on. The calamity was an outbreak of Pierce’s Disease, caused by a bacterium called Xylella fastidiosa, that destroys... Read More