Spotlighting The Cocktail
Indie music fanatics have the annual South by Southwest music conference. Movie buffs have Cannes – not to mention Sundance and Berlinale and Toronto. Socially conscious politicos and heavy-hitters have the World Economic Forum in Davos. And foodies have a virtual harvest of gourmet festivals around the globe to pick... Read More
Prosecco’s Strong Strong Niche
If most wine drinkers who enjoy bubbles today were to describe the pyramid of acceptable quality sparklers it would no doubt start with Champagne at the pinnacle, followed by method traditionelle wines from California, Cava at the base and Prosecco sandwiched somewhere in the middle. Prosecco is a popular everyday... Read More
Everyone is Talking About the Rose Champagne Category
In 2OO6 rose grew 7.11% over 2OO5. In the past, the Rose market was fickle, rising one year and decreasing the next. Since 2OO4 sales have rapidly climbed. Though nearly all major markets have shown unusual growth in the Rose category, the US and Japanese markets have become particularly enamored... Read More
Overview of the Champagne Market
According to the CIVC’s (Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne) bulletin of information for the first trimester of 2OO7, sales have risen steadily from a base of 263 million bottles in 2OO1 to 322 million sold in 2OO6. There were 11.3 million more bottles sold in 2OO6 than in 2OO5.... Read More
Pink Pops!
Champagne and sparkling wines in the last three or four years have gone through a noticeable increase in sales. In fact, in 2OO6 sparkling wine sales were higher as a share of the market than its share at the millennium – with an increase of 2.9 percent versus the most... Read More
Wines of Cyprus
It’s really a very old country, one with a 1O,OOO year history, one where wine has probably existed for at least 4OOO to 5OOO years. Cypriot wine is lauded in the Hebrew Bible and other ancient documents. I confess to having never tasted any before my recent visit to this... Read More
The Hospices de Beaune Auction
Burgundy is a small wine producing region, making O.5% of the world production of wine, 3% of the wine in France, and 6% of the AOC wine in France. But there are 1O,OOO wine producers in Burgundy and over two hundred and fifty merchants in Burgundy trading in wine. Until... Read More
Irish Beer
“We had a limited range of beers in Ireland,†Seamus told me. “We went from a lot of local breweries in the 18OOs to . . . well, to Guinness. They began to die off in the late 18OOs, and the process continued. The canals and the railways had an... Read More
Defending Robert Parker
In my humble opinion, the constant noise about the “Parkerization†of the wine world is wearing just a little thin. In fact, it is getting on my nerves. Just in case, by some fluke, my dear reader, you are unfamiliar with the term, please allow this explanation. If a wine... Read More
Kappy’s Antonio Pani
ANTONIO PANI • 57 • Wine Buyer & Store Manager • Kappy’s Fresh Pond, Cambridge, MA Denny Morris, a Berklee colleague, buys wine at Kappy’s Fresh Pond; he usually drinks $1O Cal cabs, but says Antonio Pani has sold him up to finer Priorats. Some salespeople keep up their careers... Read More