More news...

May 5, 2008

High Tech Tracking for Bordeaux

Rising Bordeaux wine prices are causing many of the region’s famous châteaus to keep better track of their vino during shipment abroad. Increasing numbers of winemakers want to ensure that the quality of their products is not compromised during transport. Extreme temperatures, especially excessive heat, can damage the flavor, aromas and color of wine. Over-heated wines are hard to visually identify, so they are often discovered when they are uncorked, usually after someone has already paid for the bottles. A Boston-based startup, eProvenance, has devised a system of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips to track wines and their temperatures while being shipped. RFID chips are placed on each case of wine and measure its ambient temperature three times a day. In addition, each bottle of wine has an individual RFID chip and tamper-proof invisible ink on its label. The bottles and case temperatures are recorded in eProvenance’s online database. During the last six months, the company tracked approximately 1,200 cases of wine from some of Bordeaux’s top winemakers, including Lynch-Bages and Haut-Bailly.

* Image from www.eprovenance.com

April 28, 2008

Meaner and Greener Vines

Vineyard pests, beware—grape farmers will soon have a stronger, greener line of defense against the encroachments of nematodes and phylloxera, the destructive worms and aphids that feed on plant roots, weakening vines and reducing grape yields. In response to the often ineffective and limited use of chemical fumigation, UC Davis recently released five new pest-resistant grape rootstocks to several California nurseries, which will propagate the rootstocks and sell them to grape growers.

A team of researchers at UC Davis led by Professor Andrew Walker, a plant geneticist and breeder, developed these modified grape roots and trunks over the course of fifteen years. Various grape varietals can be grafted onto these special rootstocks to create hardier vines. Wine made through the use of these rootstocks may be on local store shelves by 2013.

* Image from Sylvia Wright/UC Davis

April 21, 2008

Rare Reds Fetch Impressive Sum

Despite cutbacks in consumer spending worldwide, sales of expensive wines appear resistant to economic concerns. One Chinese billionaire recently dropped a cool half-a-million dollars on 27 bottles of red wine, setting a record for the most money ever spent on a single lot of wine. Purchased through London’s Antique Wine Company, which announced the record sale on April 19, the valuable vino is an assortment of vintages from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, a Burgundy estate that only produces 450 cases annually. The Romanée-Conti wines bought by the Beijing-based entrepreneur include twelve bottles of the 1978 vintage, two bottles each of the 1961, 1966, 1996 and 2003; and one bottle each of the 1981, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2001 and 2002. On average, each bottle cost $18,518. Previously, the anonymous wine enthusiast bought a case of the 1982 Chateau Petrus for $59,880.

Notable single wine bottle purchases include Malcolm Forbes’ (the late publisher of Forbes magazine) splurge of $162,750 in December 1985 for a bottle of 1787 Chateau Lafitte. In 2006, the Antique Wine Company sold a bottle of 1787 Chateau d’Yquem for under $100,000, making it the most expensive white wine ever sold.

April 14, 2008

A Green Book for Spanish Reds and Whites

José Peñín, journalist and Chairman of Grupo Peñín, announced the debut of the English translation of the Peñín Guide to Spanish Wine 2008 to a group of wine professionals and press at New York City’s W New York — Union Square on April 3. The current issue of the guide, released annually for the last nineteen years, includes tasting notes and reviews of 8,100 wines, and lists more than 31,000 bottles. Grupo Peñín now prints 30,000 copies of its guide in Spanish, English and German. Along with the bilingual announcement, Peñín held a press conference in which he and other experts (including sommelier Roger Kugler of Boqueria & Suba) discussed misconceptions surrounding Spanish wine, the effect of currency exchange on the industry and other pressing issues. Following the discussion was the second annual showing of the New Values of Spanish Wines, a tasting from 25 Spanish bodegas, including the 2002 Divo, a Madrid Tempranillo from Ricardo Benito, and the 2005 Celler Melis poured by partner Victor Gallegos, who is also Director of Winemaking at Sea Smoke in Santa Barbara County.

* Image from Grupo Peñín

April 7, 2008

A Toast to the Past

Rémy Martin, a producer of premium Champagne Cognac since 1724, will launch their first-ever limited edition V.S.O.P. this June. The V.S.O.P., which stands for Very Special Old Pale, consists of a blend of eaux-de-vie (colorless fruit brandies) that have been aged from four to fourteen years in oak barrels. All of the grapes used to make the beverage originate from the Grande and Petite Champagne regions of France. Photographer and director David LaChapelle created the original art for the bottle, an exotic cabaret theme inspired by the V.S.O.P.’s origins in the nightclubs of Paris during the Jazz Age. The 750 ml bottle, arriving in stores this June, will cost $50.

* Image from Rémy Martin

March 31, 2008

The Pitch is Merlot and Away

Many people enjoy a cold beer while watching a ballgame, but now vino may become a drink of choice with the introduction of baseball player-themed wines. These special wines are produced by Charity Wines, which features an entire roster of wines themed after present and past Major League Baseball players. Current ballplayers with their own labels include Boston Red Sox’s David Ortiz (Vintage Papi), New York Mets’ Johan Santana (Santana’s Select Merlot) and Atlanta Braves’ Tom Glavine (Cabernet Glavingnon).

Some of the retired ballplayer-themed labels include Mike Schmidt 548 Zinfandel, Ernie Banks 512 Chardonnay and Eddie Murray 504 Cabernet. The numbers on the labels refer to each player’s career total of home runs. The athletes do not make a profit from the wine sales; each bottle ranges from $14-$18, and generates $1.25 for a charity of the player’s choice. David Ortiz, for example, directs the money generated to The David Ortiz Children’s Fund, which helps provide medical care to children in New England and the Dominican Republic. In 2007, Charity Wines raised nearly a half-million dollars for various altruistic organizations.

* Image from Charity Wines

March 24, 2008

Not a Nose to Sniff At

Dutch winemaker Ilja Gort, who owns Chateau de la Garde in Bordeaux, France, recently had his nose and sense of smell insured by Lloyd’s of London for €5 million. Gort decided to take out the policy after hearing about a man who lost his sense of smell in a car accident. The nose is one of the most important tools in Gort’s profession, since it can detect millions of different scents while the tongue only has five areas of taste. A battery of tests by doctors revealed that Gort has an above-average sense of smell.

The custom-made insurance policy comes with several unusual conditions; Gort may not ride in a motorcycle, breathe fire or be a knife thrower’s assistant. He must also see experienced barbers when he wants to trim his distinctive handlebar moustache. Gort, however, is not the first wine professional to take out such a policy. American wine taster, Robert Parker Jr., has his nose insured for $1 million.

* Image from Lloyd's of London

March 17, 2008

Supremely Premium Champagne

Think you have expensive taste? For fabulously wealthy wine lovers, having posh preferences may also mean a trip into the record books. On March 20, the world’s priciest Champagne will go on sale for a select community of 100 super-rich consumers in the U.S., Great Britain, Japan, China, Russia, Switzerland and France. A bottle of Perrier-Jouët Champagne will cost €4,166, while the limited-edition twelve-bottle set of Champagne will go for €50,000.

Buyers will travel to Epernay, France, to meet cellar master Herve Deschamps and to add a special liqueur to personalize their bottles, which will be aged for another eight months in the cellars. The liqueur is a combination of sugar and wines from various years, and its addition will put a finishing touch on Perrier-Jouët’s 2000 Belle Epoque Champagne for each individual. Previously, the record for expensive bubbly was held by a limited edition of Dom Pérignon Champagne, which sold for €12,000 per three-liter bottle in 2005.

* Image from Perrier-Jouet

March 13, 2008

Four of a Kind

Bellagio Las Vegas, a luxury hotel and casino in Las Vegas, recently announced that Joseph Phillips of Sensi is joining their lineup of Master Sommeliers. With their team increasing to four, Bellagio now holds the world record for the most Master Sommeliers working at a single location.

The other three members of the “Court of Master Sommeliers” are Robert Smith of Picasso, Jason Smith of Michael Mina Bellagio, and Director of Wine Robert Bigelow. Bellagio boasts a record 18 sommeliers at their property overall, four of whom are female. Along with its complement of sommeliers, Bellagio maintains approximately 50,000 wine bottles, 5,000 selections and 250 wines by the glass at any given time.

* Image from Bellagio Las Vegas

March 10, 2008

Throw a Wine Kegger!

An opened bottle of wine, as all wine lovers know, has only two or three days before prolonged oxygen exposure ruins the vino’s charm. One way to solve this recurring problem is to take the wine bottle out of the equation. Businesses like Más Wine Company in California’s Sonoma County are catering to a growing market of local restaurants and the public by selling their blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese wine inside large stainless steel kegs. Más’ kegs are airtight tanks capable of holding 3.85 gallons, or twenty bottles, of wine. Each keg, which is returnable to Más, is pressurized with nitrogen to keep oxygen from entering the vessel and spoiling the contents. For their part, Más guarantees that their wine in the kegs will stay fresh up to 60 days.

With wine kegs, restaurants gain increased savings as they prevent the problem of having half a bottle of wine spoiled because it was opened during a slow period. Wineries and distributors also benefit from increased savings through reducing the amount of inventory lost because of glass breakage. Additionally, wineries can ship more wine for their money with a keg, since they are not paying to ship corks, glass bottles and cardboard boxes.

* Image from Más Wine Company

March 3, 2008

Global Demand is Bubbling for Champagne

French Champagne producers set a new record in 2007, exporting 150 million bottles of Champagne to 190 countries, a 7.3 percent increase from 2006. Overall, 338.7 million bottles of Champagne were sold worldwide. During 2007, France led the world in demand for Champagne, consuming 188 million bottles, followed by Great Britain, which consumed 38.9 million bottles. The European Union, which remains Champagne’s main market, consumed 91.4 million bottles last year. Sales in the E.U. are growing fastest in Romania, Slovakia, Lithuania, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic.

Also that year, sales soared 41 percent in Russia and 30 percent in China. Japan, with sales jumping 14.4 percent, is now the world’s sixth largest market with 9.1 million Champagne bottles sold there. Even the United Arab Emirates increased imports by 18 percent because of its growing hotel industry. While other parts of the world enjoyed booming demand for the bubbly, the U.S. market shrank more than 6 percent because of the weak dollar against the euro.

Archives:
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003