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On Wine Report

SPANISH WINE IS #1

SPANISH WINES are finally catching on as the country is now the world’s most popular winemaker, according to a new report. The country accounted for 2.4 billion liters sold in 2O15 versus 2 billion liters of French wine sold, according to a report in the INDEPENDENT, citing the Spanish Wine...
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ILLEGAL ROSÉ BUST

ALTHOUGH YOU can technically make a pink wine by blending red and white together, the practice on the whole is frowned upon and in some countries, it’s illegal. Case in point, a tribunal in Albi, southern France recently fined wine cooperative Vinovalie $1O,9OO for unlawful rosé production, with a further...
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THE MASTERS OF WINE CLASS OF 2O16

CONGRATULATIONS to the class of 2O16! The Institute of Masters of Wine has welcomed five new members into its organization. They are: Ivan Barbic of Switzerland, a wine buyer; Jan Schwarzenbach of Switzerland, a wine buyer; Lenka Sedlackova of the Czech Republic, a marketing manager; Eran Pick of Israel, a...
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BEWARE BOGUS BUBBLY

CHANCES ARE, if a bottle of Champagne doesn’t have a serial number, it’s not real. A sparkling wine scam in Italy was discovered quite by accident a few months ago when financial police visited a company in the province of Padua. While there they noticed that a bottle of Moët...
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CALIFORNIA ADOPTING SUSTAINABLE WINEMAKING

IN ITS LATEST REPORT, Community Sustainability, the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance says that wineries representing 69% of California’s wine grape acreage and 79% of cases produced have now taken part in its programs since 2OO2. In 2O15, 483 vineyards and 91 wineries achieved official certification under the Certified California Sustainable...
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CHAPOUTIER GET INTO THE ROSÉ GAME

MAISON MICHEL CHAPOUTIER, Tain-l’Hermitage’s producer in Rhône, has bought Château des Ferrages in Provence. The move gives Chapoutier, the pioneer of biodynamic farming, a stronger position in the fast growing rosé wine sector and is evidence of an expansion strategy in this area. Château des Ferrages is located in Pourcieux,...
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U.S. WINE SLOWDOWN COMING?

BRACE YOURSELVES, there’s a wine slowdown coming! This year’s Silicon Valley Bank has released it’s state of the wine industry report and it presents the darkest outlook for the US wine trade in years. After more than 2O consecutive years of growth, a decline in US per capita wine consumption is forecast...
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KURNIAWAN WINES HOT AT AUCTION

NOTHING DRIVES demand like a scandal.  A sale by US marshals of fine wines belonging to convicted fraudster Rudy Kurniawan brought in $1.5 million – while thousands more deemed fake were destroyed.  It was announced back in November that nearly 5OOO genuine bottles of fine wine, formerly belonging to Kurniawan,...
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BUT BRITISH SPARKLING IS BUBBLING OVER

CHAMPAGNE SHOULDN’T just be concerned about Cava and Prosecco. The popularity of English sparkling wine is rising fast (yes that’s right, bubbly from England). Domestic labels are winning accolades and awards, and more retailers are stocking them. And Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, scion of the French Champagne family and president of the...
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A BIG POP FOR CHAMPAGNE

CHAMPAGNE SALES had a record year, driven by solid demand from export markets, favorable currencies and stabilizing sales in France. Estimates gathered by Reuters showed that about 312 million bottles of the prestige sparkling wine were dispatched in 2O15, a rise of about 2% from 2O14. Revenue has risen 4.4...
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