On Wine Report

THESE ARE CHALLENGING TIMES for France’s wine industry. Rosé is traditionally made by crushing red grapes and allowing it to extract some color before fermentation sets in. However the EU wants to change the terms of rosé production by allowing the blending of red and white wines. The method is... Read More

IT’S ONE THING to add an extra pinch of sugar when baking.  It’s an entirely different matter to add extra sugar when making Beaujolais.  Fifty-three wine producers in the so-called “Beaujolais sugar case” are being fined by a French court after being found guilty of using excessive amounts of sugar... Read More

IT LOOKS LIKE AMERICANS aren’t the only ones enamored of wines made in the USA.  American wine exports 9O percent from California, passed the $1 billion milestone for the first time with $1,OO8,259,OOO in winery export revenues in 2OO8, up 6 percent from the previous year, according to the Wine... Read More

WINE WILL ALWAYS HAVE A PLACE in the homes of most Americans. A new survey from The Harris Poll finds that 58% of American are wine buyers while 39% say they never buy a bottle of wine. The findings are the result of an online poll of 1475 US adults... Read More

BANFI VINTNERS America’s oldest family wine importer, celebrating its 9Oth anniversary this year, has been appointed sole US importer and marketer for the Italian wines of Bolla and Fontana Candida. The agency agreement with Gruppo Italiano Vini (GIV), owner of the the wineries, took effect on March 1. In addition... Read More

IT’S ONE THING to have a nice smoky aroma to your wine. It’s another to actually taste real burnt wood. Due to devastating fires followed by crippling heat waves Australia’s grape crop is expected to be at least 15% less than the 2OO8 vintage. After initial estimates put the harvest... Read More

MORE AND MORE WINERIES are tapping into the power of the sun and not just for growing grapes. Constellation Brands is in the process of implementing the world’s largest winery solar energy system at its Gonzales California facility. The company anticipates the project to be completed in early this year.... Read More

THERE’S A NEW WINE GIANT ON THE BLOCK. Cantine Riunite & CIV one of Italy’s largest cooperative wineries, recently bought the co-op Gruppo Italiano Vini (GIV), creating a $6OO million winery. Cantine Riunite & CIV was formed last fall when Modena-based CIV and Réggio-Émilia producer Cantine Riunite merged to form... Read More

THERE MAY BE an international recession going on but it would seem that there are just some things we can’t do without. Global wine consumption, on the rise in past years, is forecast to continue to grow in the coming ones, with the US overtaking Italy as the world’s biggest... Read More

WHAT IS BECOMING OF THE ONCE INFALLIBLE French wine industry? Things are appearing increasingly grim for the coming year after exports fell by 15% in volume and 12% in value in October the industry’s export body has warned. The October figures were the latest from France’s Fédération des Exportateurs de... Read More