Cross-regional sourcing is key to Penfolds latest release – a Grange from the extremely challenging 2011 vintage in South Australia. Speaking yesterday to the drinks business at the London release of the flagship wine, Penfolds winemaker Peter Gago said that the 2011 marked the third really difficult year since Grange was launched in 1951, but stressed that the wine was made possible by selecting grapes from across South Australia.
The vintage Champagne category is being exploited by certain houses who are upping production to raise their prices, according to one producer in the region. Speaking to the drinks business during a lunch at Le Gavroche last week, Antoine Malassagne, winemaker at Champagne AR Lenoble said: “A vintage Champagne should be something special with huge character and ageing potential.
English vineyards are forecasted to double in capacity and production over the next seven years, British MPs have been told. The prediction was revealed as politician’s toured one of the UK’s biggest wine producer’s, the Rathfinny Wine Estate, where they also heard about the Sussex winery’s application to the EU to have the county fully recognised as a wine appellation. Tim Loughton MP, said it opened MPs eyes “to see at first-hand what an important British success story our domestic wine industry is becoming.”
September is wine harvest month. For Shed Horn Cellars in California’s Lake County, it has been a disaster. A wall of flame from the Valley Fire, which started on Sept. 12, burned the winery to the ground. For nearby Hawk and Horse Vineyards, this harvest is a miracle. Though the same fire charred hundreds of forest acres on the 1,300-acre property, the 18-acre biodynamic vineyard was barely touched. “No one can explain why it was spared,” said an emotional Tracey Hawkins, whose family owns the estate.
Concerns are raised after a government report fails to rule out a link between vineyard spraying and cancer rates. The cost of producing France’s greatest sweet wines could be measured in more than simply dollars and cents, as claims emerge that vineyard sprays in the Sauternes region could be causing an alarming spike in child cancer rates. Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper reports that a former mayor of the town of Preignac has called for an investigation.
A Marlborough airline is making it easier for winemakers and tourists to travel between the two largest wine producing regions in the country. Blenheim company Sounds Air will start flying between Blenheim and Napier from November 5. General manager Andrew Crawford said there was demand from people in the wine industry, who commuted between Marlborough and Hawke’s Bay.
Judging got underway yesterday for the Hawke’s Bay A&P Bayleys Wine Awards – the oldest regional wine competition in New Zealand. Senior judge Rod Easthope said that, after a bit of a lull, the wine industry was experiencing an upward trend. “We had 410 entries this year, which is our third highest number ever,” Mr Easthope said. He said that when he tasted a wine he imagined it being served in a New York restaurant and whether it would sit alongside the best wines in the world.
The Wine & Viticulture Journal is calling on Australian wine producers who make sparkling wine from non-traditional varieties to enter the publication’s next wine tasting. The tasting is open to dry white or red sparkling styles not made from the varieties traditionally associated with sparkling wine production, namely Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Sparkling styles made from varieties other than Prosecco and Shiraz are also encouraged, with these styles having been tasted specifically in previous Journal tastings.
Italy’s growers breathe a sigh of relief as the weather ensures a good harvest so far. Italian producers and growers are optimistic about the 2015 harvest, after a fine summer ensured the disaster of last year was not repeated. Bad weather saw a much-reduced harvest in 2014, both in terms of quantity and quality, but this year’s glorious summer weather has put smiles back on growers’ faces, according to Italy’s Wine News website.
The past two decades have seen globalisation of the world’s wine markets proceed like never before, in both speed and comprehensiveness. There was a degree of trade expansion in the five decades to World War I but, until the late 20th century, interactions across continents involved little more than the exporting of vine cuttings and traditional production expertise. Indeed most wine was consumed in the country of production, and those countries were mostly in Europe.