wine industry

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Winemakers Hope Obamas Help Rekindle Sales

Domestic producers expect Obamas will continue to drive sales

(Newser) - President Barack Obama’s affinity for wine is the toast of American winemakers, hopeful that after eight years of teetotalling rule, the new first family will boost domestic sales, Reuters reports. Obama reportedly has a 1,000-bottle cellar in his new $1.65 million Chicago home, drawing raves from oenophiles....

Rising Star: Washington Syrah
 Rising Star: Washington Syrah 
Jan 19, 2009 4:57 PM CST

Rising Star: Washington Syrah

Syrah hailed the new American ZInfandel

(Newser) - Heavy-handed treatment of Zinfandel has left American palates lusting for big wines that don't blow you away, Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher write in the Wall Street Journal. Syrahs from Washington state—which has more than 550 wineries—have replaced Zins as "the most exciting red wines being made...

How-to Guides for New Tipplers
 How-to Guides 
 for New Tipplers 
BOOK REVIEW
Dec 17, 2008 12:50 PM CST

How-to Guides for New Tipplers

Five new guides to seasonal cheer

(Newser) - The holiday season tends to produce a glut of books on wine, and while all primers leave out the most important part—actual bottles—five new reads get a once-over by Eric Asimov in the New York Times.
  • Andrew Jefford’s Wine Course, by Andrew Jefford: a "poetically inspirational"
...

New Wine Season Begins; Merchants See Slower Sales

(Newser) - Today is the third Thursday of November, which makes it a holiday of sorts for wine merchants: Beaujolais Day. It's the first day of the year (as dictated by French law) that the first wine of the season—Beaujolais Nouveau, made from Gamay grapes—can be sold worldwide. Wine purists...

Comic Becomes Bible of Asia's Wine Culture

Wannabe oenophiles takes cues from The Drops of the Gods

(Newser) - What do Freddie Mercury and a Jean-François Millet painting have in common? Both have been used to describe wine in The Drops of the Gods, a Japanese comic series that’s quickly becoming the go-to wine literature in Asia, reports the New York Times. Customers tend to ask for...

'Oentrepreneurs' Hit Napa
 'Oentrepreneurs' Hit Napa 
GLOSSIES
Oct 9, 2008 1:34 PM CDT

'Oentrepreneurs' Hit Napa

Rich execs ditch fast-paced careers, look to winemaking

(Newser) - A new breed of winemakers is flowing into Napa Valley, writes Jeffrey O'Brien in a colorful look at the trend in Fortune. Investment bankers, tech entrepreneurs, and other wealthy refugees of the white-collar rat race are buying up vineyards at $400,000 per acre to pursue second careers that let...

In Vino, Cash: Amazon to Sell Wine

Firms has partnered with nonprofit association of vintners

(Newser) - Online shopping got a little more intoxicating today as Amazon announced it will start selling wine in the US starting in October, Reuters reports. The retailer —looking for a chunk of the $30 billion-plus US wine market —has partnered with Napa Valley Vintners, which will supply vino from...

Familiar French Red Gets Mod Makeover

Meet the sleeker, but still affordable, Côtes du Rhône

(Newser) - Today's Côtes du Rhône is no longer a middle-of-the-road red, writes Eric Asimov in the New York Times. France's wine industry is changing, and the region that once churned out bottles that were "light and fruity if you were lucky, more likely tart and harsh," has...

Wine Drinkers Pick the Pink
 Wine Drinkers Pick the Pink
Aug 27, 2008 3:04 PM CDT

Wine Drinkers Pick the Pink

Once-tacky rosé shows staying power

(Newser) - Rosé wine has gone from tacky to trendy, with easy-to-swallow prices helping sales bubble up by nearly a third in the past year, compared to just a 5.1% boost for all wines. Both US and European consumers are hooked—in France, rosés are selling faster than whites, reports...

Midwest Adding Grapes to Its Grain

Profit-hungry farmers, vote-hungry politicians nurture unlikely wine industry

(Newser) - As farmers seek higher profits and politicians angle for healthier rural economies, vineyards are cropping up across the Midwest, the Economist reports. Michigan and Ohio now have over 100 wineries each, with vintage monikers handily swiped from French-named Midwestern locales like “Marquette” and “Frontenac”—or, less convincingly,...

Napa Valley Girl Makes Splash in French Wine Marketing

(Newser) - France’s wine business is stuck in the doldrums, as American wines (and their aggressive marketing campaigns) explode onto the scene. But one Napa Valley girl is working to change that, by introducing stodgy French vintners to the modern concept of marketing. “A lot of what I do is...

Wash. Vineyards Flush With Pot Crop

110K marijuana plants already confiscated this year

(Newser) - Washington state is cracking down on drug dealers' latest innovation: Using vineyards to secretly grow marijuana crops, the AP reports. Police have made 22 arrests this year and confiscated 110,000 pot plants from the Yakima Valley alone, worth more than $100 million. But tracking dealers isn't easy: Some are...

French Winemakers Turn to Terror

Wine growers battling cheap imports launch commando attacks

(Newser) - Tough times have turned some wine-growers in southwestern France to "wine terrorism," Time reports. Guerrilla grape-growers have bombed supermarkets and government buildings, hijacked trucks carrying foreign wine, and drained tanks. The growers want the French government to protect them from the cheap imports they say are threatening their...

Prosecco Targets Champagne Crown

Italian bubbly makers hope to edge out pricey champagne

(Newser) - Sales of Italy's answer to champagne have been bubbling up for years, Reuters writes, but prosecco producers plan to boost output to 250 million bottles next year, with an eye on someday overtaking champagne as the world's favorite sparkling wine. The bubbly is cheaper to make than its French rival,...

Wine Reviews: Taste the Pretension
Wine Reviews: Taste the Pretension
Opinion
Jun 13, 2008 11:46 AM CDT

Wine Reviews: Taste the Pretension

Dry notes make snobs too boring to mock—almost

(Newser) - When wine lovers say they taste notes of cherries or hints of tobacco, “usually all I can detect is a whole lot of jackass,” Joel Stein writes in the LA Times . Wine dialogue has devolved into a meaningless string of obscure scents, Stein says. It’s boring—too...

France Eases Wine Laws to Cork Competition

Old rules to go as France tries to catch up with New World wines

(Newser) - France is ditching some long-cherished wine rules to compete with upstart New World wines, the London Times reports. The country, which sees itself as the center of the wine world, has been steadily losing market share to wines from places like Australia and California. A new class of French wine...

Wine Whiz Mondavi Dead at 94
 Wine Whiz
 Mondavi Dead at 94 
May 16, 2008 7:54 PM CDT

Wine Whiz Mondavi Dead at 94

Dapper vintner proved California grapes could rival Europe's

(Newser) - California wine master Robert Mondavi died peacefully today in his Napa Valley home at age 94, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Disciples and critics alike have praised the vintner for elevating West Coast wine from jug juice to world-class vino. "His legacy and his vision for what California could...

French Wine Goes Pop
French Wine Goes Pop
Apr 27, 2008 6:09 PM CDT

French Wine Goes Pop

Wineries try 'New World'-style screw caps, snazzy labels to revive sales

(Newser) - A screw-top Bordeaux? The once-laughable notion is bubbling up in France these days as wine makers try to reverse decades of sour sales, the AP reports. Even snazzy labels and boxed-wine-with-a-straw are fair game, after French wineries exported a record $15 billion last year with "New World"-style packaging.

In Veritas, Vino Wins Over Shanghai

Wine's popularity booms in China

(Newser) - The wine scene, long dormant in China, is booming in Shanghai, reports Portfolio. Chinese consumers were traditionally more passionate about spirits; if anything, only red wine was taken seriously. Not anymore: Shanghai's three premium-wine importers have multiplied to more than 100 since 1999, and wine bars abound. It's a trend...

Sonoma-Napa Rivalry Escalates
 Sonoma-Napa Rivalry Escalates 
Mar 26, 2008 2:54 PM CDT

Sonoma-Napa Rivalry Escalates

Larger Sonoma frowns upon high-end Valley

(Newser) - The friendly rivalry between California’s two leading wine regions has evolved into an out-and-out marketing duel, reports Reuters. Sonoma winemakers frown upon the more famous—and much pricier—wine made by their neighbors over the hills. Collectors covet Napa Valley’s exclusive vintages, paying from $400-$1,000 a bottle...

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