On Wine Report

Will wines soon be coming IN PLASTIC BOTTLES and cardboard boxes? A glass shortage has been causing concern for the wine industry in Europe. The shortfall of bottles has left some winemakers struggling to meet orders and, although glass factories are working at full capacity, it’s not certain when the... Read More

Call it “bionic wine”. Wine made from genetically engineered grapes that are six times richer than normal in resveratrol could soon be available. Yuejin Wang and colleagues at the Northwest Agricultural and Forestry University in Yangling, Shaanxi province, China, made the supervine by equipping it with an extra gene from... Read More

TO COMMEMORATE ANOTHER GREAT YEAR in American wine, Doug Wilder, Director of California Acquisitions & Sales at Vinfolio, a premier wine store and collector services company, released his annual top 25 wines of the year. Wilder, who writes a free weekly wineletter, The Wilder Side of California, with his reviews... Read More

WHEN THINKING OF FRENCH BORDEAUX, a tetra pack with a straw is not generally the first thing that comes to mind. In fact, the notion of Bordeaux being packaged in a mini tetra pack with a straw might sound downright gauche, but French wine merchant Cordier is currently selling 1OOO... Read More

THERE WILL BE NO Ratatouille Chardonnay after all. Walt Disney Co. has shelved its plan to offer a Chardonnay in honor of the star of its latest movie. Costco was originally set to carry bottles of French 2OO4 white Burgundy with labels featuring Remy, the haute-cuisine-loving rat in “Ratatouille”, but... Read More

TIMES HAVE BEEN TOUGH lately in the French wine business but things may be on the upturn. After years of watching foreign taste buds respond to innovative New World wines, French wine and spirit makers appear to be making their way back into the global market. Exports in the first... Read More

IT’S TRUE: we are a nation of label snobs. Changing the label on a wine changed diners’ opinions of their wine, opinions of their meal, and their decision to return to the restaurant, according to a recent Cornell University study. In the experiment, forty-one diners at the Spice Box restaurant... Read More

IT MAY SOUND HARMLESS enough but wine counterfeiting is no laughing matter. Over the last few years the business of faking wine bottles and labels has grown substantially and become a very lucrative industry. The problem is so serious that twenty-five members of the Italian military police recently became qualified... Read More

RAIN KEEPS FALLING IN FRANCE. The torrential rain afflicting northern Europe has left French vineyards at risk of losing much of the 2OO7 vintage from rot and mildew, with Bordeaux one of the worst-hit regions standing to lose 9O% of its crop. According to the Bordeaux Met Office, six inches... Read More

CALIFORNIA AND FRANCE has better watch out – Virginia has its sights set on becoming a major wine destination. travel + leisure has named Virginia one of the top five new wine destinations in the world. The state is the only American region featured in July’s “Wine-Lover’s Guide”, which highlighted... Read More