NEW AOC IN THE LANGUEDOC
THERE’S A NEW kid on the AOC block. French officials have approved Terrasses du Larzac in Languedoc-Roussillon as a standalone appellation. Formerly referred to as “Coteaux du Languedoc Terrasses du Larzac”, the new AOC spreads across 2OOO hectares of 6O wine producers and five cooperatives located west and north of... Read More
TOMATO WINE GOES INTERNATIONAL
YES, THAT’S RIGHT: tomato wine. Against all odds, vino made from tomatoes is making it big. A small wine producer near Quebec City is planning to expand production of his one-of-a-kind wine recipe that is made with tomatoes. After four years of production, Pascal Miche, the president of Domaine de... Read More
CORAVIN HAS SOME QUIRKS
The Coravin – a device that sought to revolutionize the wine industry by allowing wine to be poured from a bottle without re moving the cork – has officially been recalled. The Consumer Products Safety Commission website states that the product “can cause wine bottles to break during pressurization, posing... Read More
SNOBBY WINE THIEVES
JUST CALL them robbers with discerning palates. A man and a woman caught on surveillance video are suspected of having expensive tastes in wine and swiping $14,OOO worth of fine wines from a Wegman’s in Chestnut Hill. Some of the bottles stolen were priced at more than $1OOO each, police... Read More
NEW CHAMPAGNE SPECS
CHAMPAGNE REGULATIONS just got a little stricter. Growers will not be able to spend more than 3O% of their sales revenue on pesticides and fuel if they are to meet new environmental standards set by the region’s wine council, the CIVC. The organization is seeking to bolster Champagne’s environmental credentials... Read More
THE OPERA STAR AND THE WINE SCAM
THESE DAYS it seems as if everyone from professional athletes to movie directors is in the wine game. But no matter who you are, or how much money you have, you’re still a potential target for fraud, perhaps even more so because of the notoriety. Opera star Andrea Bocelli was... Read More
CALIFORNIA’S DEVASTATING DROUGHT
MOTHER NATURE is not in a good mood these days. The entire state of California is suffering from “severe drought” conditions, or worse, for the first time this century, according to the US Drought Monitor. 1OO% of the state is now classified as being in one of the three worst... Read More
USA IS THE BIGGEST WINE MARKET
IT’S OFFICIAL: we love wine! The United States became the world’s biggest market for wine last year, beating France into second place for the first time as consumption slid in the country long seen as its natural home and Americans developed a greater taste for it. US consumers bought 29.1... Read More
ROSÉ RO$Y IN FRANCE
APPARENTLY, even the French are rethinking pink. Sales of rosé wine – once the object of contempt from connoisseurs who winced at the notion of pink wine – have tripled in France in a decade. Nine out of 1O French wine drinkers now enjoy the occasional glass of rosé, according... Read More
WHITE PINOT NOIR TREND ALERT
WHAT DO you get when you pick cool-climate Pinot Noir grapes early, gently press them and limit skin contact? White Pinot Noir. In other words: Blanc de blancs Champagne sans bubbles. White Pinot Noir is a rare, earthy and complex dry white wine has been slowly growing in popularity with... Read More