The Drinkable Grape » news roundup

Wine Hotel, Wine Good for Teeth, Riper Grapes are Cheaper Grapes, French Exports Rise, French Health Warning, and Not Drinking Parker Rated Wines

Liz Pirnat — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 21:53:04 +0000

Travelling to wine regions soon? Check out the Wine Hotels Collection. These are hotels in vineyards or have good wine lists or tour programs. But most importantly they are all in wine regions. Most hotels are being added, but currently they have hotels in Argentina, Spain, France, and Chile.
Again, teeth are protected by wine. This time it’s preventing tooth decay with wine waste. Ideally, they want to make a new kind of mouth rinse. Do I hear Pinot Noir Listerine soon?
The riper the grape, the cheaper the grape. For every 1 Brix above 26 Brix that grapes are harvested there is a 5% weight reduction. Since most pickers are paid by the weight, I have a feeling there will be some recalculations going on in the future.
French exports rose in 2007. For the first 10 months in 2007 the value of exports were up 9%, with Cognac and Champagne leading the sales.
Wine articles in France need health warning. This really makes me laugh that this is happening in France. But the courts have spoken and now all newspaper articles on wine need to say Alcohol abuse is dangerous to your health.
Parker is getting a beating on all fronts now days. Now one winemaker is saying he won’t drink his Parker-rated wines. Is 2008 the year of the anti-Parker movement?

Liz Pirnat — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 03:04:14 +0000

As the holidays have happen, things got a little crazy so I got behind on posting. Here’s my final news highlights from 2007.

San Francisco Chronicle Top 100 Wines. Some really great wines at good prices on here. I give this list more creditability than the Wine Spectator.
Jancis Robinson has a great wrap up for 2007 covering everything from Australian drought to climate change. Well worth the read.

Liz Pirnat — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:18:14 +0000

More younger people in the US are drinking wine. Again, beer is slipping in the market place.
Looking to run a marathon? Check out this fun run in Bordeaux.
With New Year’s Eve around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about Champagne. Tom Stevenson is one of the world’s experts on the subject and has written a wonderful op ed on the potential expansion of the Champagne region.
Is Brett caused by new oak? Winemaker Matt Thomson thinks so. Brett is a yeast infection that causes off aromas to be created in wine. Mr. Thomson is finding more cases of Brett in wines with low acid, high residual sugar and new oak.

Liz Pirnat — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 22:49:53 +0000

Do vintages matter any more? According to Hugh Johnson they don’t. With modern wine making vintage variation is no longer an issue.
St Emilion class is back! After much court action in France, it has been announced the 2006 classification can be used again, and just in time for printing labels too!

And have a happy belated Beaujolais Nouveau day!

Liz Pirnat — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:28:24 +0000

This was meant to be posted weeks ago, sorry about the delay.

Microsoft wine? Yes, it’s true. But it’s not for retail sale, just an underground thing.
Cabernet Sauvignon might have Greek roots. In the latest in DNA and book writing, Cabernet might be a direct descendant of an obscure Greek wine grape known as Volitsa.
Wine the video game? A new video game for the Nintendo DS will be about wine. Now when they have something for the Wii, than I’ll get it.
Weak dollar doesn’t hurt EU wines sales in the US. Guess we are all going crazy for European wines.
Lacking regional flavor? This is a great article on issues in the modern wine industry. Mainly focused on California, but these issues are actually worldwide. I highly recommend taking the time to read this.

Liz Pirnat — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 05:36:23 +0000

Martha Stewart wine. That last sentence scares me. Can you tell I’m not a big Martha fan? She’s teaming up with Gallo to make her own label of wine. The good news is the wine is supposed to sell for $15 a bottle, this will help get people interested in slightly higher priced wine, and open the wine market to new people. But it’s Martha! We’ll see what happens.
Nudity for Napa. One more group in joining on to the naked calendar movement. This time it’s Napa winemakers!
Bordeaux prices are up and stocks are down.

Liz Pirnat — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:38:38 +0000

Red wine reduces prostate cancer risk. More good health news with reasons to drink wine!
Italian harvest at 50 year low. Currently Italian wine producers are expecting a 13% drop in the harvest this year.
French regional wines a sham? It’s interesting to find so many people calling for an increase in quality on French wines.
Chaptalization expected for 2007 Bordeaux. Chaptalization is the addition of sugar to grape juice before or during fermentation in order to increase the final alcohol level in the wine. This is one of the practices that might end with EU wine reform.
Riesling demand outstrips supply. The value of German wine sales in the US is up 27%, with the volume up 15%. Other interesting facts, 37% of wine production in Germany is red and Germany is the third largest producer of Pinot Noir, more than even New Zealand.

Liz Pirnat — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 23:06:48 +0000

From the American Society for Enology and Viticulture conference a recent session was about Busting Wine Myths. In the linked article they discuss 3 major viticulture myths.
Petit Verdot on the rise in Bordeaux. The Bordeaux trade body is showing an increase of 10% of Petit Verdot.
Mechanical harvesting on the rise in Beaujolais. Because of the unique carbon maceraction method of fermentation in Beaujolais, usually grapes need to be hand harvested, but this year there is some experimentation with mechanical harvesting in Crus and Village status areas. Using the mechanical harvesting will also need to shift grapes from gobelet trained (bush trained vines) to guyot trained (wire trained).

Liz Pirnat — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 19:09:15 +0000

Wasp venom in wine can cause allergic reaction. Recently, a few people in Spain had an allergic reaction to wine due to wasp venom in it.
Smallest French harvest since 2003. France is expected to produce just under 50m hectolitres of wine. There will be a 23% drop in Vin de Table wine due to ripping out vines. Further bad weather could drop the harvest numbers even more.

Next week more on 2007 vintage.

Liz Pirnat — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:14:34 +0000

Napa set to have a great vintage in 2007. It was a very dry year, driest in at least the past 10 years.
German wine name changes! Effective August 1, 2007, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer will now be known as Mosel, and Qualitätswein mit Prädikat is now Prädikatswein. (Prädikat is the level of ripeness of the grapes, measured by the natural sugar of the grape juice at the time of harvest. Prädikatsweine are never chaptalised. The six levels of Prädikatsweine in Germany, in ascending order: Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Eiswein and Trockenbeerenauslese.)