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Global Wine Trends Weekly Update

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17.07.2009

Critical Publics | EDOAO

Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

Table of Contents

Table of Contents ...... 2

Global Market Watch ...... 4

Region not important, wine drinkers say ...... 4 Price of wine soars despite recession ...... 4 Pinot Grigio leapfrogs Sauvignon Blanc ...... 5 Australian wines given Greenpeace rating ...... 5 Coming of age ...... 6 Wine ...... 7 Sauce: light red wines for summer ...... 7 In Spain, These Hills Are Alive (Again!) ...... 8 Rosés Are Back, and Sparkling ...... 8 Discount wines a concern ...... 9 Anthony Rose: The aim is to give the man in the street the chance to exchange wine, eBay-style, over the internet ...... 9

Global Industry Watch ...... 10

New World joins forces to head off European threat ...... 10 Foreign investors move on Chile ...... 11 Shift in wine purchases affects winegrape growers ...... 11 Is Constellation in Trouble? ...... 12 Italians dig up vines, wine output growth slows ...... 13 UK: Drinks firms launch GBP100m responsible drinking campaign ...... 14 Marlborough trade leader slams UK discounts ...... 15 Property tycoon aims to harvest wine growth ...... 15 World's largest wine appellation comes into being ...... 15 Alsace vintners: stopping varietal labelling would be 'catastrophe' ...... 16 Vineyards to move higher? ...... 17

Wine Domain Catalysts Watch ...... 18

The mechanics of tasting ...... 18 How dare they dis our wine ...... 18

Scientific Developments & Technological Breakthroughs Watch ...... 19

Red Wine Consumption and Risk of Prostate Cancer: The California Men's Health Study - Abstract ...... 19 More good news for wine drinkers...... 20

Wines from Greece Publicity Monitor ...... 20

Greece Lightning ...... 20

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

Blogosphere Monitor ...... 21

Small wineries tweet harder ...... 21 The Poodle and the Wine ...... 22 Lest We Forget the Average Wine Drinker...... 22 Steep Ascent for Ribeira Sacra ...... 23 Some like it hot and high alcohol – others don’t ...... 23

Peripheral Domains Intelligence ...... 24

Take the sommelier home with you ...... 24 Apps, tweets and websites for wine drinkers ...... 24 Wine Investment Remains Strong Alternative According To Wilson Douglas ...... 25 Amorim launches new cork ...... 25 Bulgaria seizes cocaine haul hidden in wine bottles ...... 26 Drinking in 'A Case for Wine' ...... 26 Police collar suspect in multi-million-euro Paris wine thefts ...... 26

Global Sustaining & Emerging Trends Digest ...... 27

Regular wine drinking on the rise ...... 27

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

Global Market Watch

The global market watch outlines developments, spotted and emerging trends that define the current situation in the global wine landscape. It includes all major developments in the market including consumer trends relating to wine and marketing campaigns or approaches, as well as concerns on health and sustainability.

Region not important, wine drinkers say

DECANTER, UK

14.07.09: Less than half of UK wine drinkers think region is important when they buy wine, a new report says. In the Wine and Spirit Trade Association's latest Consumer Intelligence survey, 48% of respondents said that region or origin is important, while 59% said country is important when making the buying decision. This will come as no surprise to major producers such as Lindeman's, Blossom Hill and Echo Falls. All are now producing wine in a number of countries under the same brand. Clare Griffiths, VP European Consumer Marketing for Constellation Europe said country of origin and regionality were low on the list for Echo Falls consumers. 'What is important to these consumers is the right taste profile, a recognisable grape variety and an easy drinking wine at the right price,' she added. The survey also shows promotions are more important than ever. 77% of respondents said discounts like three for £10, or money off deals were very important to their buying decision. This is compared to 61% three years ago. The report also showed Pinot Grigio has overtaken Sauvignon Blanc as the UK's second most popular white grape variety.

Pinot Grigio is experiencing a surge in popularity with 54% of the UK's regular wine drinkers consuming it in the past six months. While Chardonnay maintains its leadership of the UK white wine market, it has lost fans in the past three years. Sergio de Luca, director of buying for Italian specialist Enotria, told decanter.com, 'The strength of Pinot Grigio sales, despite euro exchange rate problems and duty increases, demonstrates the flexibility of the grape variety. 'It shows that the neutrality of this wine makes it easier for consumers to choose it'. Wine Intelligence, for the WSTA, surveyed 3,059 regular UK wine drinkers between March and April 2009.

http://www.decanter.com/news/news.php?id=286213

Price of wine soars despite recession

THIS IS MONEY, UK

17.07.09: The price of a bottle of wine has soared by up to 44p in the past 12 months, figures showed yesterday. The increase, which was the biggest for years, was mainly down to tax rises, it is claimed. It means that the average price of a bottle from a shop is now £4.26 - 18p more than a year ago. But in high street off-licences the increase was even greater, rising 44p in the year to May to £5.38. The average price in supermarkets is £4.08, 18p more than a year ago.

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

The average rise of 18p is almost double that seen in previous years when the cost of a bottle of wine increased by 10p or 11p, according to trade journal Off Licence News. Rosie Davenport, of Off Licence News, said: 'At a time when retailers are being accused of irresponsible pricing, prompting calls to set a minimum, this research shows wine prices are increasing. While the volume of wine sold has remained unchanged, wine sales are up 6%. 'The single biggest factor contributing to rising prices is government tax on alcohol, although some consumers are undoubtedly treating themselves to more expensive bottles to drink at home rather than going out to restaurants. 'The vast majority of wine drinkers are now paying the price of excessive duty hikes. And all at a time when shoppers are watching their wallets like never before. If the Government bows to pressure for a minimum price, sensible drinkers will be further penalised with today's average bottle price of £4.26 soaring to £8.' Taxes make up about half the £4.26 average price of a bottle of wine. The figures, compiled by market analysts Nielsen, also found that specialist wine chains are suffering most, with sales down 2% in the year to May.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/bargains-and-rip- offs/article.html?in_article_id=488630&in_page_id=5&position=moretopstories

Pinot Grigio leapfrogs Sauvignon Blanc

OFF LICENCE NEWS, UK

11.07.09: Pinot Grigio is now the UK’s second most popular white wine grape, overtaking Sauvignon Blanc, according to a major consumer survey. The numbers recording drinking it in the past six months have risen from 47% in October last year to 54% now. Pinot Grigio is now the second most popular white wine varietal, behind Chardonnay. More than 3,000 regular wine consumers were quizzed about their drinking habits by Wine Intelligence as part of a regular study for the Wine & Sprit Trade Association.

The numbers of wine drinkers drinking red have dipped in the last three months from 78% to 72%. Consumers say that the amount of red wine they drink as a proportion of total wine consumption is also down, from 44% to 40%. But the amount of white and rosé wines consumed as a proportion of total wine consumption has increased over the past quarter. White wine is up from 40% to 43%; Rosé is up from 16% to 18%. Brian Howard of Wine Intelligence said: "These findings are consistent with other research and industry indicators suggesting consumers are edging away from some of the more traditional red wines on formal occasions towards lighter wines in casual settings."

http://www.offlicencenews.co.uk/articles/71251/Pinot-Grigio-leapfrogs-Sauvignon- Blanc.aspx?categoryid=9059

Australian wines given Greenpeace rating

DECANTER, UK

09.07.09: About 300 Australian wines from about 50 wineries have been given a 'green light' in a guide aimed at helping drinkers buy wines free of genetically-modified material. Greenpeace Australia Pacific yesterday launched the first Alcoholic Drinks edition of its True Food Guide.

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

The Guide rates food and beverage companies by their policies and actions to exclude GM material from their products. The Guide, which also includes beers and spirits, gives a 'green' rating to GM-free products and a 'red' rating to those which may contain GM-derived ingredients. Although no Australian wines are on the 'red' list, a Greenpeace spokesperson said that not all necessarily were GM-free. The release of the list follows the production for several years of a list of green-rated and red-rated food products sold in supermarkets. Greenpeace compiles its lists by asking producers whether or not they use GM-free ingredients. It gives a 'red' listing to those which say they do use them, or to those which repeatedly refuse to answer.

Greenpeace claims most Australian winemakers, distillers and brewers are responding to consumer concerns by removing GM-derived ingredients from their products. The Winemakers Federation of Australia has for the past six years maintained a policy that no genetically modified organism be used in Australian wine production. 'Nature does it so beautifully so why would you want to change anything?' said Cullen Wines' managing director, Vanya Cullen, who took part in the launch. De Bortoli winemaker Rob Glastonbury said, 'Aside from the unknowns in the use of GM products, the concept that the food chain can be tied up in patents or intellectual property rights is repugnant.'

http://www.decanter.com/news/news.php?id=285919

Coming of age

THE GUARDIAN, UK

12.07.09: Heaven knows who came up with the statistic, but the word in the booze business is that 9 out of 10 wines are drunk within 48 hours of purchase. Do people in white coats stand, clipboard primed, beside the nation's bottle banks, quizzing punters about when and where they bought their Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay or Shiraz? Or are we such a bunch of lushes that the idea of leaving a bottle in the fridge or a wine rack for more than two days gives us the shakes?

Whatever the answer, the figure sounds plausible enough to me. Keeping wine, let alone laying it down to mature and develop in bottle, is increasingly rare. Patience is something that most of us have run out of. As Richard E Grant says in Withnail & I: "We want the finest wines available to humanity, we want them here and we want them now."

In one sense, this is perfectly understandable. The overwhelming majority of modern wine is made to be quaffed in its infancy. The trend towards immediacy started in the New World, particularly Australia, but it has spread across the globe. Even Bordeaux, the area that produces the most age-worthy wines, has changed its style since 1982. Tannic reds that used to take 20 years to soften are now approachable within five.

These days, fewer and fewer wines are worth ageing, for the simple reason that they won't develop added depth and complexity with time. They are as good in the first five years of their lives as they will ever be. If you doubt this, have a look at the shelves of your local supermarket or off-licence. How many of them, apart from the odd Port or Vintage Champagne, were made before 2004?...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jul/12/tim-atkin-red-wine

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

Wine

THE GUARDIAN, UK

12.07.09: There's a lot to be said for cheap fizz, says Victoria Moore

"I'm still perplexed that you don't like good cava but love cheap prosecco," texted a friend who pays too much attention to my drinking peculiarities. But thanks to an article by champagne and sparkling wine expert Tom Stevenson in The World Of Fine Wine, I've just stumbled on the answer. Champagne, and other sparklers fermented by the "traditional" method, get their fizz courtesy of a secondary fermentation in the bottle after which the dead yeast cells decompose (a process known as autolysis), adding layers of taste and aroma. "The effects of autolysis need something to work on, and a classic sparkling wine grape will also need a flavour profile that is sympathetic to the mellow, creamy, biscuity and toasty bottle-aromas that develop following disgorgement," Stevenson writes. "This is why chardonnay and pinot noir are ideal for the job. Three grapes that are not, to my mind, are cava's parellada, macabeo and xarello."

Of course ... it seems blindingly obvious now. The richness produced by autolysis makes those cava grapes look vacuous and flat. Too often there's a chasm between the expectation created by each of the two strands of flavour that isn't met in the other. It trips you up. Contrast this with the light, effortless flow of prosecco (bubbles produced by tank method, so no autolysis, which lets the fresh lightness of the grape shine through), cheap German sekt (riesling, and ditto) and countless frivolous but charming fizzy wines. …

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jul/11/victoria-moore-cheap-fizzy-wine

Sauce: light red wines for summer

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, UK

10.07.09: I’ve never been one for heavy, tannic red wines in the summer. It just isn’t right to wade through a tough, powerful red when you are toying with a leafy salad or a plate of prawns. Wrong, all wrong. The only exception might be a heftier style to match barbecued red meat, but otherwise let’s keep it soft and light in the hotter months.

For a treat, then, pick New Zealand pinot noir. This is mainly white-wine country, of course.

We British absolutely adore the country’s sauvignon blanc, and this still dominates the Kiwi section of the shelves. But New Zealand’s reds are on the rise, and pinot noir, which suits the country’s cool climate, leads the way. Vineyard plantings of pinot have almost doubled in a decade, from six per cent of all grapes grown to 11.5 per cent, and quality is impressive.

Expect a fresh tang, smooth, rounded texture, and moreish flavours of cherry, raspberry and plum, sometimes with a dab of chocolate. Partner this with poultry, mild Asian-spiced pork or even fresh salmon, and how can you resist? Well, the price tag might put you off. New Zealand’s relatively small wineries just don’t do 'cheap and cheerful’, and, anyway, pinot noir is a pernickety grape that can be difficult to produce, thus pushing up the price further.

Which is why I recommend them for a treat – an alfresco dinner party in high summer, with the

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update finest food and your favourite visitors, could be just the moment. Best match of all for a top pinot? Duck, sprinkled with five-spice, seared and briefly roasted, then sliced and placed on top of home-grown salad. Summer dining doesn’t get any better.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/wine/5779824/Sauce-light-red-wines-for- summer.html

In Spain, These Hills Are Alive (Again!)

THE NEW YORK TIMES, USA

14.07.09: THE stone terraces, thick with green vines, rise up the face of a mountain from the River Sil at the impossibly steep angle of a rocket ascending toward space. The only way down, or up, is by foot, and even thinking about the climb in the brilliant heat of the summer sun is enough to make the legs throb, the back protest and the mind boil in rebellion against such seeming insanity. Yet outside this small town in the heart of the Ribeira Sacra, in the Galicia region of northwest Spain, grape growers have been making that crazy climb day after day for 2,000 years…

..But there is pressure against making such wines as well. The local wine bureaucracy prefers squeaky clean, inexpensive wine for high-volume sales. Others argue for planting grapes with proven international popularity, like tempranillo, the grape of Rioja. Dedicated winemakers scoff at that view, calling it “Rioj-itis.”

“There are two types of winemakers: those who want to make money and those who want to make wine,” said Pedro Rodríguez, who makes small amounts of juicy, earthy, exotically- scented red wine under the Guímaro label. “The tradition here is to make your own wine, for yourself to drink. A lot of people say, ‘Make more, make more,’ but why?” As long as anyone can remember, mencía has been the dominant red grape, as it is in the neighboring region of Bierzo to the east. But where Bierzo produces dark, dense wines, Ribeira Sacra’s are lighter- bodied with a silky balance of fruit and minerality that can sometimes be reminiscent of Burgundy. “If you look at the great wine regions of the world — Burgundy, Champagne, Bordeaux — it’s very difficult to find similar conditions in the south of Spain, but you can find those conditions here,” said Raúl Pérez, who makes wine from several Spanish regions, including Ribeira Sacra since 2002. …

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/dining/15pour.html?pagewanted=all

Rosés Are Back, and Sparkling

THE NEW YORK TIMES, USA

15.07.09: Croteaux Farm Vineyards, a Southold boutique grower that specializes in rosés, has expanded its portfolio with the introduction of a sparkling version. Times Topics: Long Island

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

DiningEach of this vineyard’s three salmon-pink still wines comes from separate merlot clones. The new orange-pink 2008 bubbly ($22.50), named Cuvée Sparkle, combines all three clones. The tiny bubbles animating this light, dry, amiable wine were generated in a 500-gallon steel tank; generally, the bubbles in sparkling wines and French Champagnes develop slowly in bottles.

Cuvée Sparkle, most enjoyable when drunk moderately chilled, offers a sweet scent and simple, subdued flavors. It was overseen by Richard Olsen-Harbich, the winemaker at Raphael, in Peconic. He also produced the three still rosés, each named for international clone-classification numbers: 3, 181 and 314. The grapes were grown in Paula and Michael Croteaux’s 10.5-acre vineyard, which also has cabernet franc and sauvignon blanc vines. In modeling these aperitif and food-oriented rosés after those of southern France — nearly weightless, delicately fruity, closer to whites than to reds in spirit and use — the Croteauxs are playing into a trend. Rosés, long déclassé, have regained respectability…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/nyregion/12vinesli.html?_r=1

Discount wines a concern

STUFF, NEW ZEALAND

14.07.09: Wine producers are concerned that heavy discounting throughout the industry is affecting the reputation of New Zealand wine, at home and abroad.

Blair Gibbs, the head of Wine Marlborough says that for the first time ever, three bottles of Marlborough sauvignon blanc can be bought in the UK for just ten pounds (NZ$25).

"The level of bulk exports to the UK is staggering and we are seeing our market position which has taken 30 years to build being eroded in one year." Gibbs said.

He said comments by several influential commentators, criticising the discounts offered by some wine producers, have damaged the New Zealand brand.

"The consumers are loving (most) of it and there's an argument to say that new consumers are being drawn into the Marlborough category. "

"The flip side is that the value has gone and the brand Marlborough is heading in the wrong direction.''

He said the same is true in the domestic market - where bottles are available for less than ten dollars online and through retail and supermarket groups…

http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/2592478/Discount-wines-a-concern/

Anthony Rose: The aim is to give the man in the street the chance to exchange wine, eBay-style, over the internet

THE INDEPENDENT, UK

11.07.09: It's always been the case that you cannot buy and sell wine on eBay because you need a licence. Recently though, there's been a spate of new web- based initiatives, offering the opportunity to buy or sell wines without going through the cumbersome procedure of the auction house or traditional wine broker.

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

How to price your wine or what to pay? Helpfully, there are also sites giving you the market price of your wine or a wine you're thinking of buying.

After meeting Spenser Hilliard, a licensing-law barrister, and businessman Keith Prothero through Tom Cannavan's wine-pages.com forum, techie wunderkind Lionel Nierop (ex- Cambridge University wine-tasting team) set up bidforwine.com. The aim, says Nierop, is "to give the man and woman in the street the chance to exchange wine, eBay- style, over the internet". Not the most auspicious time to set up such a business perhaps, but bidforwine's been holding its own.

One sale produced £31,000, but even a single bottle can be bought and sold. "A bottle of 1999 Château Margaux went for £171, close to the market rate. The seller was happy and the buyer got a discount on the market price," says Nierop. The seller, who consigns the wine, paid a £1.75 listings fee plus 14 per cent commission (a sliding scale tapering to 5.5 per cent after £2,500) with no charge to the buyer.

Newcomers to the private- customer online scene include Richard Dawes Fine Wine, and Bordeaux Index, the latter's "Live Trade" publishing bid-offer spreads on 60 top wines for registered customers. The London wine merchant Berry Brothers & Rudd recently announced its intention to allow its customers to trade their private reserves with each other. Now, America's Vinfolio Marketplace, due to go live this month, allows anyone to add their wine to a virtual inventory of almost 12 million bottles, valued at $2 billion…

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/anthony-rose-the-aim-is- to-give-the-man-in-the-street-the-chance-to-exchange-wine-ebaystyle-over-the-internet- 1739842.html

Global Industry Watch

This section records developments and trends on both industry and individual corporation levels that form a matrix of the major issues and moves in the industry as a whole or by its critical actors and groupings, such as trade associations and regulatory bodies.

New World joins forces to head off European threat

DECANTER, UK

15.07.09: A group of New World wine-producing countries, including California, have teamed up to form the New World Alliance, a marketing strategy which will be unveiled at next year's Prowein event in Germany. New Zealand, California, Chile, South Africa and Argentina but not UK market leader Australia have joined forces to launch the Alliance, which hopes to fight off competition from its EU rivals. There has been talk of a New World faction for some time. As reported on decanter.com in May 2008, Vinexpo boss Robert Beynat considered legal action over a questionnaire emailed to key wine trade members to gauge opinion on whether a New World-focused wine fair held at a similar time of year to Vinexpo would be a success.

Su Birch, CEO of Wines of South Africa said, 'In these tough times we need to work smarter and not be hidebound by old ways of doing things. Working together at Prowein we can present a programme that we believe will attract all the key influencers at a fraction of the price we could

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update run individual programmes.'

A spokesman for the Alliance added, 'Although we remain competitors, we believe the potential exists to further advance the New World's share of the global wine market by sharing best practice.

'We have already benefited from each other enormously by exchanging viticultural and cellar research as well as innovations in packaging, marketing and logistics.' Prowein, which takes place in Düsseldorf, will be held from 21-23 March 2010.

http://www.decanter.com/news/news.php?id=286262

Foreign investors move on Chile

DECANTER, UK

10.07.09: Foreign investors are becoming increasingly interested in Chilean wineries. This is due to a a combination of increased demand for Chilean Carménère and Saugivnon Blanc, and the global enconomic downturn. 'A number of wineries and vineyards are on sale,' Max Morales, a Chilean wine consultant who also brokers property deals, confirmed. While small- to mid-range wineries have been hit by a shortage of credit, potential investors are seeing current exchange rates as a window of opportunity that may only last until the end of the year. One dollar currently buys about 540 Chilean pesos, compared to last year when stronger copper prices meant a dollar would only buy about 430 pesos.

'We are seeing investor interest from America, France, Spain and Portugal, and for the first time Argentina,' said Colin Becker, mergers and acquisitions expert with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Chile. Becker said investors are being attracted by both better exchange rates, and a desire to add Carménère and Saugivnon Blanc wines to their export range. 'No one is looking to sell in the local market, this is all for export,' he added. The main targets, said Becker, are small to mid sized properties, producing mid to premium quality wines. At least one or two partnership deals or winery sales could be concluded by the end of the year, Becker predicted. 'There is volatility and people want to be sure they are buying a viable business, but on the plus side Chile is a known quantity,' he said.

http://www.decanter.com/news/news.php?id=285947

Shift in wine purchases affects winegrape growers

CALIFORNIA FARM BUREAU FEDERATION , USA

15.07.09: The severe economic recession that is gripping the globe has filtered down to the world's wine sector, resulting in a major shift in wine purchases. That shift is having a direct impact on California growers of both value-priced and premium grapes. On the one hand, the change has helped; on the other, it has hurt. Central Valley winegrapes had in the past been viewed by many to be less desirable than winegrapes grown on the North Coast, but are now the ones that are attracting interest, as many buyers shy away from the higher-priced North Coast grapes.

At a meeting of the California Chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, held in Lodi earlier this month, winegrape broker Glenn Proctor of the San Rafael-

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update based Ciatti Co. said that the downturn in the economy has really changed consumer buying habits. "The market is a rollercoaster ride right now," he said. "Just when you think you know where it is going, it makes a sharp turn and you don't have any idea where you are. People are still buying wine, but they have changed how much they are willing to pay for that wine."

Proctor noted that the hint of a large winegrape crop this year has slowed sales of even value- priced grapes. "Early in the season we did see some buying activity, particularly in the Central Valley. Prices were being offered above prices of 2008. That made sense because consumers were buying wines at the lower price points," he said. "But buying activity slowed significantly when the expected large crop started to emerge. Buyers decided that they wanted to better understand what was out there before getting back into the marketplace."

Winegrape buyers, Proctor said, fear spending more than necessary for grapes and the possibility of buying grapes for wine that is at a price-point that isn't selling.

"Or if they are on the value end, they aren't sure what price they should be paying, depending on how things develop through the summer," he said. Proctor said the situation is quickly becoming a buyer's market as growers start to adjust their expectations to the marketplace.

"This isn't the same marketplace that it was six months ago," he said. "People are starting to test what the market is, but everyone is waiting. They don't want to spend too much money."

He cited the example of a winery that was buying premium Napa winegrapes. When the buyer noticed that no one else was following his lead, he stopped buying as well. Proctor said that he is also seeing situations where wineries are asking growers to renegotiate contracts, which is something he hasn't seen in several years. "It's not really about making money this year. It's about surviving, controlling the inventory and positioning oneself in the marketplace. We are seeing buyers backing off. They have less of an appetite and they are waiting to see what is going to happen, especially as consumers are changing their buying habits," he said.

His views were echoed by Nat DiBuduo, president of Allied Grape Growers in Fresno. Allied Grape Growers is a California winegrape marketing cooperative with more than 500 grower members located in all major winegrape regions of California, including the North Coast, Central Coast, Lodi and the San Joaquin Valley… http://www.cfbf.com/agalert/AgAlertStory.cfm?ID=1345&ck=86109D400F0ED29E840B47ED 72777C84

Is Constellation in Trouble?

WINE SPECTATOR, USA

14.07.09: The wine giant is restructuring in a bad economy, but insists it's all according to plan

When Constellation Brands reported in July that its first-quarter profits slid 85 percent, Wall Street was actually happy. The world's largest wine company by volume, which owns brands such as Mondavi, Clos du Bois and Ravenswood, beat analysts' expectations amid a sour global economy.

It was the latest in a series of good news/bad news announcements from the upstate New York-based company which, after a decade of growth and acquisition, has been restructuring. Supervalue brands like Almaden and Inglenook have been sold, production facilities in the United States and Australia have been put up for sale, winemaking has been consolidated,

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

vineyards have been divested and 400 people, or about 5 percent of Constellation's global workforce, will have been laid off by the end of the year.

Some in the industry worry that the steady stream of announcements coming out of corporate headquarters is a sign that one of the wine world's biggest companies, an important barometer of the industry as a whole, is in trouble.

But in interviews with Wine Spectator, company executives insist they're just using the recession as a chance to streamline and continue their restructuring. "We're cleaning up the portfolio," said Jose Fernandez, president of Constellation Wines U.S. "And catching our breath."

And Wall Street and industry experts appear to believe they're on the right track so far. Tim Ramey, a wine-industry analyst with investment firm DA Davidson & Co., said the reorganization came as no surprise. "It's not the economy," Ramey said. "It's a strategic move. They're exiting the value end of wine and spirits, which was once their core business. What the company looked like eight years ago is 100 percent different."

And more important to consumers, Ramey said, wine drinkers will feel little if any effect. The company's shift into premium wines still mirrors consumers' changing tastes. While the recession has led many wine lovers to trade down, pricewise, they're not switching to jug wines.

Constellation was once better known for brands like Paul Masson and flavored wines like Arbor Mist, but in 1999 that all changed when it paid $55 million for Simi and $240 million for Franciscan Estates. Those were the company's first steps toward building prestige, since it was clear even back then that generic jug sales were on the decline…

http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Features/0,1197,5199,00.html

Italians dig up vines, wine output growth slows

REUTERS, USA

15.07.09: Wine output growth in Italy, a major producer, will slow down this year after farmers dug up vines because of incentives under the European Union wine sector reform, research showed on Wednesday. Italy's wine output is expected to rise 5 percent from 4.6 billion liters (1.012 billion Imp gallons) produced in 2008, when it jumped 8 percent, farmers' research center ISMEA and wine industry body Unione Italiana Vini (UIV) said in a statement after conducting joint research. With growers actively digging up vines, this year's output is likely to be below a 4.8 billion liter average of the past five years, but much depends on a weather ahead of harvesting, ISMEA and UIV said citing preliminary estimates.

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

The EU reform, which started in August 2008, offers cash to less competitive winemakers to dig up vines to cut back output aiming to drain Europe's "wine lakes." Under a three-year scheme, the cash premium is the highest in the first year. Italian winemakers applied for cash to subsidize the removal of 11,600 hectares of vines in the 2008/09 year, the research said. The figure compares to a total of 788,393 ha under vines in Italy in 2008, according to Italy's statistics agency ISTAT. The EU reform aims to remove 175,000 ha of land under vines out of the EU's existing 3.6 million ha. Italian growers' increasing efforts to prune grapes to improve quality would also rein in quantity, the research said.

Wine output in Tuscany, famous for its Chianti red and its premium cousins Brunello di Montalcino and Nobile di Montepulciano, is expected to be flat on last year, it said. The region of Piemonte, known for its full-body red Barolo, is likely to see a bigger wine output this year, while forecasts are stable or slightly higher for Italy's main wine producing regions, Sicily and Puglia. Wine harvesting is expected to start about 10 days earlier this year spurred by hot weather, Italy's biggest farmers group Coldiretti said in a separate statement.

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE56E5JT20090715

UK: Drinks firms launch GBP100m responsible drinking campaign

JUST DRINKS, UK

16.07.09: An alliance of alcoholic drinks firms and retailers have unveiled a GBP100m (US$164m) campaign to tackle excessive drinking among young people in the UK. Around 45 companies have joined forces to create the five-year campaign, which launches today (16 July) and has the support of the Government, police and Drinkaware, the responsible drinking charity partly funded by industry. Young people aged 18 to 34 will be targeted by advertising using the strapline "why let good times go bad?". From September, adverts will be placed in retail stores, on beer mats in bars and pubs, on drinks packaging and on outdoor billboards. "It is designed to maximise the potential offered by the direct relationship drinks brands have with consumers," said the alliance today. "This campaign aims to shift the culture around alcohol by targeting those who drink to excess without punishing the majority of responsible drinkers." Health minister Andy Burnham and home secretary Alan Johnson are both backing the campaign.

Burnham said: "Clearly the industry has a responsibility to play their part in tackling this problem and I hope this campaign will make a real difference to people's attitudes to drunkenness and their drinking behaviour." Commander Simon O'Brien, of the Metropolitan Police, said: "The Association of Chief Police Officers have consistently said that there needs to be a real culture change in attitudes to binge drinking." Campaign group Alcohol Concern, which is partly funded by the Ministry of Health, said today that the industry campaign would not work. "This new initiative appears to be yet another example of the drinks industry trying desperately to avoid mandatory legislation to pass on health information to consumers," said Alcohol Concern CEO Don Schenker.

http://www.just-drinks.com/article.aspx?id=97852

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

Marlborough trade leader slams UK discounts

OFF LICENCE NEWS, UK

14.07.09: Marlborough’s reputation is being damaged by discounting in the UK, a New Zealand wine trade leader has warned. Blair Gibbs, head of Wine Marlborough, is alarmed by the appearance of bottles of the region’s Sauvignon Blanc on British shelves in three-for-£10 deals. “The level of bulk exports to the UK is staggering and we are seeing our market position which has taken 30 years to build being eroded in one year,” he told a New Zealand news organisation, adding that “Brand Marlborough is heading in the wrong direction”. Gibbs admitted that the problem was also present in the domestic market, following the record 2008 vintage. He said that producers were reducing crop sizes from the 2009 vintage and should also show restraint in selling their wines on discount. New Zealand currently achieves the highest price per bottle of any producing country supplying the UK, at £6.44 compared to the market average of £4.26.

http://www.offlicencenews.co.uk/articles/71254/Marlborough-trade-leader-slams-UK- discounts.aspx?categoryid=9059

Property tycoon aims to harvest wine growth

LONDON EVENING STANDARD, UK

17.07.09: Proprety tycoon Nigel Wray is funding the expansion of one of Britain's leading wine producers. English Wines Group, which makes sparkling wine from its Chapel Down vineyards in Tenterden, Kent, has raised £1.1 million in convertible loan notes. Much of the issue is being taken up by Wray, a director of the firm, and its chairman Paul Brett. When the loan notes convert into shares, Wray will control 35% of the company which has a market capitalisation of £7 million, while Brett will hold 22%. The business, which last year made £105,000 of profits on sales of £2.3 million, needs the money to buy in more grapes to supplement the expected harvest from its own 175-acre vineyard. It also needs to buy new equipment and improve the approach road and car park. Director Frazer Thompson is trying to keep the cork in on expectations. “Chapel Down is as big in its field as the Saudi downhill skiing champion is in his,” he said.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23720779- details/Property+tycoon+aims+to+harvest+wine+growth/article.do

World's largest wine appellation comes into being

DECANTER, UK

13.07.09: The USA will soon have the world's largest wine appellation - the 4m hectare Upper Mississippi River Valley AVA. Covering 48,142km sq (4.8m ha or 29,914 square miles) over four states, the AVA averages 193km (120 miles) from east to west, 362km (225 miles) from north to south. It encompasses some or all of ten counties in Minnesota, nine in Illinois, 18 in Iowa, and 23 in Wisconsin. The northern boundary begins near St Paul, Minnesota in the north to Moline, Illinois in the south.

The AVA is more than double the size of Wales (20,779km sq), and fifty times greater than Bordeaux (100,000ha or 1000km sq). Representatives of the four states involved filed the

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update petition in 2006. It will take effect 22 July 2009. Lake Wisconsin, established in 1994, is the only AVA which currently lies within the new UMRV AVA. It contains producers of some repute. The Wollersheim Winery of Prairie du Sac, for example, works with a range of grapes including Sangiovese and Bonarda, and has earned some 267 medals over the past 20 years. The application for the UMRV AVA was based upon evidence of a glacial retreat 15,000 years ago. The resultant water flows combined with the St Croix River and what became Lake Superior to form this bedrock. As federal tobacco subsidies have diminished, and wine consumption has risen in the US, many tobacco farmers, especially in Wisconsin, have switched over to growing grapes. Due to the abundance of cold and humidity, French and other hybrids dominate the region.

http://www.decanter.com/news/news.php?id=286008

Alsace vintners: stopping varietal labelling would be 'catastrophe'

DECANTER, UK

15.07.09: Alsace vintners have reacted with outrage at proposals to remove varietals from wine labels. Since March 2005, the INAO has given Alsace producers the option not to indicate grapes used for grand cru wines. Before, all grand cru Alsace wines were required to list grape variety on the label. Now vintners are convinced the next move will be to make varietal labelling illegal. That would be a 'catastrophe', they say.

An open letter signed by 200 vintners, and drafted by such renowned winemakers as Laurence Faller of Domaine Weinbach, Olivier Humbrecht of Domaine Zind Humbrecht and Pierre Trimbach of Maison Trimbach, late last month told the Alsace Viticultural Association such a reform would confuse consumers. 'It goes without saying that indicating the varietal brings essential comprehension to the consumer,' the letter said. 'The future of Alsatian viticulture is at stake. Too many points are not being addressed.' But AVA director Frederic Bach told decanter.com, 'We are not forcing anyone to do anything. The debate has just started.' The 51 grands crus could each put forward their proposals, he said. AVA 'grand cru section president' Jean Michel Deiss, who is well known for his grands cru wines without varietal indication on the front label, came under heavy criticism during an AVA general assembly meeting this month to discuss the letter, according to news reports.

Deiss who did not return calls or answer messages was criticised for 'authoritarian methods' according to a 2 July article in Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, a regional French newspaper. Deiss reportedly told general assembly participants that he does not want to impose his methods on other winemakers. Many disagree. Laurence Faller said, 'It is fine that Deiss makes his wines the way he wants to, but such methods should not be imposed on the rest of us.' Retailers agree with the letter. 'It would be like removing an important part of the story,' Stuart Rae, sales associate for Berry Bros. & Rudd told decanter.com. 'Buyers are big fans of the varietal nature of Alsace wine.' Mark Wessels of MacArthur Beverages in Washington DC asked, 'How would customers know the difference between Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl Zind Humbrecht and Gewurztraminer Clos Windsbuhl Zind Humbrecht?'

http://www.decanter.com/news/news.php?id=286258

Also published: Alsace vintners attack reforms – THE STRAITS TIMES, SINGAPORE http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Tech%2Band%2BScience/Story/STIStory_

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

399689.html

Vineyards to move higher?

STRAITS TIMES, USA

09.07.09: CLIMATE change, which could transform the Iberian peninsula into a semi-desert, is forcing winemakers in Spain to consider moving their vines to higher ground to escape the blistering heat. Vines at higher level mean better quality wine At Bodegas Perez Pascuas in the northern Ribera del Duero region, three generations of winemakers have come to the same conclusion: 'the vines at a higher level mean a better quality wine,' said Mr Jose Manuel Perez Ovejas, the grandson of the founder. The vines are situated at an altitude of more than 820m and relatively spared from summer heat waves.

Spain, which has more hectares of vineyard than any other country in the world, 'is in the frontline of climate change,' said Mr Juan Francisco Cacho, a wine expert at the University of Zaragoza. The country, already the driest in Europe, is threatened with 'Africanisation' of its climate and up to one third of its territory risks 'severe' desertification, according to the environment ministry. Now, the big wineries and the Spanish Wine Federation are looking into a project, called Demeter, aimed at 'gathering the knowledge necessary to face the challenge of climate change.' Vines love the sun, as all vintners know well. But too much heat is harmful to the proper ripening of the grapes, said Cacho.

Heat waves rob the grapes of sugar while the elements that give wine its aroma, its consistency and its colour ripen more slowly. Spanish vintners must choose between an early harvest that produces wine with the right amount of alcohol but is still 'green' or a later one in which the grapes produce a better quality wine but have more alcohol. 'The wineries prefer to wait... So much that the wines produced today are often are 14, 15 or even 16 per cent of alcohol compared to 12 previously,' said Cacho. The Demeter project is aimed at 'looking into winemaking practices that delay maturation,' said Ms Mireia Torres, technical director of the Bodegas Torres winery in the northeastern region of Catalonia. 'We have an experimental area where we analyse the different effects of the viticultural practices in relation to climate,' she said. One possible solution they are exploring is altitude. At a higher level, vines suffer less from the heat, the nights are cooler, which allow the grapes to ripen better. http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Tech%2Band%2BScience/Story/STIStory_ 399689.html

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

Wine Domain Catalysts Watch

This section records the most important articles written by those widely considered to be thought experts in the wine domain. These opinions are not only a valuable source of information but also provide important indications for current and evolving trends in the wine domain.

The mechanics of tasting

JANCIS ROBINSON, UK

13.07.09: You may (or may well not) wonder about the mechanics of our going to an external tasting and getting the tasting notes on to this site as efficiently as possible.

More and more we take our laptops to professional wine tastings so as to avoid laborious transcription, but you can imagine that this is an exercise fraught with practical problems. Julia's Mac has a usefully powerful battery but that of my Dell Latitude lasts a couple of hours at best, so I have to take a spare and/or a power cord, which can involve some very unseemly rooting around looking for sockets and, occasionally, some rather perilous potential tripping points (see pictures).

It is rare that there is enough room for a laptop on the table on which the bottles are presented, and even when the bottles are not too close together, the table is usually punishingly low for a human back, so I tend to go scouting for an empty wine box to lean on.

When I got to the New Wave Spain tasting described in Best of Spain's New Wave? last week, I found that the organisers had very kindly already organised a trolley for me and my laptop, which was extremely convenient - although I still needed a box to avoid backache (see left). And unfortunately the tasting was held in The Worx, Parson's Green, which is a photographic studio so there was a power point only at one end of the long, white room.

Again, the organisers were extremely co-operative and managed to connect me to that power source via a massive extension lead. I'm sure I was a thorough nuisance for my long-suffering fellow tasters. Any moment now I feel I will be moving towards a wheelchair and an amanuensis, but in the meantime I thought you might be amused by these pictures of your correspondent at work last week. You can find what I wrote on the trolley and box.

http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/a200907101.html

How dare they dis our wine

STUFF, NEW ZELAND

17.07.09: Regular readers may be aware that my affections for our sauvignon blancs rarely rate higher than tepid or lukewarm, but it's now time to eat my words - or at least some of them.

Nobody likes to be humiliated in public and when the influential London Times wine

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update critic Jane MacQuitty stated quite recently that our 2008 savvies are "evil, watery, grassy wines", my hackles began to rise, because my recent tastings suggest that this was surely an unwarranted attack on our wine. My annual pre-Christmas savvy tasting confirmed that some wines did suffer due to late-season downpours in Marlborough, though several looked as enticing as ever.

Yet, despite giving a guarded thumbs-up to the 2008 savvies, my indifference to the bracingly fresh and sometimes biting acidity of our signature grape variety remained intact - until recently. Unheralded bottles of late- release savvies have been sent my way of late and - amazingly - I have not only found myself rating them highly, but actually enjoying them enormously. The classy gold and black labels of Goldridge Estate are not hard to find locally and the wines are also not hard to like. While the chardonnay and pinot gris drink well, it's the 2008 Goldridge Premium Reserve Sauvignon Blanc ($15.19) that really impressed with its dynamic, herbaceous aromatics and personality-plus palate. Goldridge wines are made by Matakana Estate, north of Auckland, and with former chief winemaker of Western Australia's Plantaganet Wines, Richard Robson, now at its winemaking helm, Matakana is clearly a family-owned and - run winery worth watching. It came as no surprise to learn that Nautilus Estate had scooped a gold medal for its 2008 Nautilus Sauvignon Blanc ($22.23) at the International Wine Challenge in London - the largest wine competition in the world. I'm a big fan of Nautilus and its second label, Twin Islands, and the judges' assessment in London that the gold-medal 2008 is "good and crunchy, with nice length. A classy wine . . ." mirrors my thoughts exactly…

http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/2600928/How-dare-they-dis-our-wine

Scientific Developments & Technological Breakthroughs Watch

This section captures the developments in the scientific research landscape in terms of technological breakthroughs and emerging research covering both R&D from companies but also research from academia and institutional bodies. These are essential elements of future trends or cumulatively combined indicators of future market trends and consumer awareness as well as industry practice development.

Red Wine Consumption and Risk of Prostate Cancer: The California Men's Health Study - Abstract

URO TODAY, USA

17.07.09: Red wine contains polyphenol antioxidants that inhibit prostate cancer development in animal studies. We investigated the effect of red wine intake on risk of prostate cancer using data prospectively collected in the California Men's Health Study (CMHS). CMHS is a multiethnic cohort of 84,170 men aged 45-69 years who were members of the Kaiser Permanente (KP) Southern and Northern California Health Plans. Information on demographic and lifestyle factors was collected using mailed questionnaires between 2002 and 2003. We used Cox models to estimate the effect of red wine on prostate cancer risk, adjusting for potential confounders. A total of 1,340 incident prostate cancer cases identified from Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Result (SEER)-affiliated cancer registries were included in the analyses.We did not find a clear association between red wine intake and risk of prostate cancer. Hazard ratio (HR) estimates for consuming < 1 drink/week, >/= 1drink/week but < 1 drink/day and >/= 1 drink/day were

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

0.89, 95% confidence interval (0.74-1.07), 0.99 (0.83-1.17), and 0.88 (0.70-1.12), respectively. Further, we observed no linear dose response. The lack of association for red wine intake was consistently observed when we restricted the analyses to those with and without a history of PSA screening. In addition, we also did not observe any association with prostate cancer for beer, white wine, liquor or combined alcoholic beverage intake (HR for combined alcoholic beverage intake of >/=5 drinks/day=1.16 (0.83-1.63). Neither red wine nor total alcohol consumption were associated with prostate cancer risk in this population of moderate drinkers.

http://www.urotoday.com/61/browse_categories/prostate_cancer/red_wine_consumption_ and_risk_of_prostate_cancer_the_california_mens_health_study__abstract07172009.html

More good news for wine drinkers.

THE SPECTATOR, UK

14.07.09: New research recently presented at the Alzheimer's Association annual meeting in Vienna, suggests that moderate drinking could lessen the risk of Alzheimer’s or other cognitive decline in older adults.

On the other hand those in the study with a history of even moderate brain health issues appeared likely to face a greater risk of dementia as indeed did those that drank heavily.

Moderate drinking was described as one or two drinks per day by the study author Dr. Kaycee M. Sink, an assistant professor of medicine with the department of internal medicine in the Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine section at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The research involved a study of 3,069 dementia-free adults in their community over the age of 75. who were living.

"Based on this study, we cannot recommend that older adults who don't drink start drinking alcohol," Sink cautioned. "But it is reasonable to say that if you are already a light to moderate drinker, you may be at a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease or other dementias. However, if you already have memory or thinking problems, drinking alcohol may accelerate memory decline."…

http://www.spectator.co.uk/wine-club/features/5184018/more-good-news-for-wine- drinkers.thtml

Wines from Greece Publicity Monitor

This section presents all international publicity relating to wines from Greece.

Greece Lightning

SYRACOUSE NEW TIMES, USA

15.07.09: It is not really news when another Italian restaurant or a fast-food joint opens in the area, but it is definitely worth mentioning that two Greek restaurants have appeared within the last five months. The Black Olive in Armory Square, which opened Feb. 27, was highlighted in the April 22 issue of The New Times; Sotiris, a “Greek taverna” in Jamesville, opened around

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update the same time…

…Curiously, the menu doesn’t include prices for desserts; guess you’ll have to ask. The lunch menu is not quite as lengthy, nor expensive. Sotiris has an extensive wine list featuring mostly California and New York state wines. Retsina, the Greek wine commonly paired with Greek food, is available, and will enhance your Greek meal. You can get your favorite draft and bottle beers, and there is a full bar for cocktails. “The ladies come in for their Cosmopolitans,” notes Chuck.

While there is a full-service bar here, Capousis opts to promote dining over drinking. “Actually I considered serving only beer and wine, but my friends John Stage {Dinosaur Bar-B-Que} and Terry Riley {Riley’s} convinced me that a full bar was the only way to go.” The restaurant delivers within the Syracuse University and DeWitt areas and does “tons of catering,” according to Capousis. And while all this is enough to keep Chuck busy, June presented a superabundance of off-premises work. “We participated in the Taste of Syracuse and the Balloon Festival,” he notes. But the biggest coup was the Greek Festival in June; Capousis won the moussaka and pastisio bid for the entire four-day run. “About 20,000 people showed up and ate,” he says. http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3378&I temid=148

Blogosphere Monitor

In this section the most important blog entries for wine and Greek wine are recorded.

Small wineries tweet harder

DR VINO, USA

15.07.09: What do a winery (and vacation cottage!) outside of San Diego and a Muscadine wine producer in North Carolina have in common? They are both the quantitatively best winery adapters of social media: Eagle’s Nest Winery has over 6,000 followers on Twitter while Duplin Winery, “the world’s premier Muscadine winery located in Rose Hill, North Carolina” has nearly 4,000 fans on Facebook.

Whodathunkit! Do the small, new or off-the-beaten-path wineries tweet harder? Rounding out the top five twittering wineries are: a winery founded in 2001 in the Barossa Valley; a proto- winery in Sonoma that has yet to sell a bottle; an Iowa winery; and Mouton Noir wines based in Harlem. Certainly, as our recent discussion showed, overt marketing is mercifully likely to fall on deaf ears in these new media. But these business are tweeting for dollars, one way or another. The logic may be as clear as with the underpants gnomes from SouthPark. Their business strategy was:

Phase 1: Collect underpants

Phase 2: ?

Phase 3: Profit

Which platform works best? The media and finance worlds are abuzz this week with a report that teenagers don’t use Twitter. Indeed, a friend who works at college told me of a poll that showed only 0.5% of the undergrads used Twitter while 70% use

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

Facebook… http://www.drvino.com/2009/07/15/social-media-small-wineries-tweet-harder/#more-4361

The Poodle and the Wine

FERMENTATION, USA

14.07.09: I read recently that the most popular dog breed in France is the Poodle. Here in the U.S. it is the Labrador Retriever. This difference alone isn't quite enough to force Americans to be suspicious of the French. But it makes you think. We (wine lovers) should also be forced to think about the French today, on the day of their national celebration of their Republic: Bastille Day. There's no denying that the American wine industry in its modern form originally took its ques from the French. They were, and still are in large part, the model. The American idea of appellations, for example, is based on similar European and French models, with the primary difference being that we don't have much in the way of legally enforced rules concerning what can be grown where, how much can be grown, etc. And this won't ever happen here, in my view…

http://www.fermentation.typepad.com/

Lest We Forget the Average Wine Drinker....

VINOGRAPHY, USA

15.07.09: It's quite easy to be lulled into a false sense of reality in any number of ways in our lives. We extrapolate so much from our own experience that we tend to forget that most of us live in little bubbles, amidst an outside world that often bears little resemblance to ourselves. I very much appreciate, and in some cases seek out, opportunities to be reminded that the world of wine I live in is not the world of the average wine consumer. While I tend to buy most of my wine from the smaller, independent wine merchants that I recommend my readers patronize, I enjoy browsing the wine aisles of supermarkets and big box stores to see what's on offer, and watch how people buy.

Likewise, I always enjoy the surveys that are published at regular intervals suggesting to us what "normal" consumers actually buy, and what they think about wine. One of those surveys is the periodic UK-based Wine and Spirit Trade Association's survey of British consumers. They ask a few thousand consumers about their drinking habits, and then report the trends. According to Decanter, their most recent report included some questions about the importance of information about where a wine is from in helping consumers make their purchasing decisions. Apparently less than half of British consumers surveyed said that the region where the wine comes from is an important factor in their buying decision, and only 58% said that even the country was an important factor. In short, a large number of consumers don't really know or care where their wine comes from, or at least they don't use that as a criteria for buying their wine. Grape color, price, and grape variety seem to play a much greater role in decisions, presumably along with what the cute animal is on the front of the label…

http://www.vinography.com/archives/2009/07/lest_we_forget_the_average_win.html

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

Steep Ascent for Ribeira Sacra

THE POUR, NEW YORK TIMES, USA

14.07.09: One of my primary aims in going to Spain was to visit the Ribeira Sacra region in eastern Galicia. I’ve been wanting to do this for several years, and was thrilled to have the opportunity finally. You can read my report on the trip in the Dining section. The first thing that drew me to Ribeira Sacra was hearing about the vineyards. The vines are planted on terraces on impossibly steep slopes rising from several different rivers. The oldest terraces were originally carved by the Romans 2,000 years ago, and they are awesome in the true sense of the word. Awesome, yes. But so are vineyards in other parts of the world. The vineyards rising up from the Mosel and the Rhine in Germany, the slope of Côte- Rotie in the northern Rhone Valley, the terraces of Priorat in Spain and the Douro in Portugal, these are just a few of the world’s magnificent vineyards, each breathtaking in its own way. But Ribeira Sacra was different. First, it is obscure.

Very few people have even heard of it, much less tasted its wines. For centuries, the people of Ribeira Sacra have farmed these impossibly steep slopes to make wine for themselves. The ambitious few sold their wines commercially in Lugo up the Miño River, shipping barrels by boat. Paved roads did not even connect Ribeira Sacra with the rest of Spain until quite recently. Of course, in other ways of transport, Ribeira Sacra was way ahead of the rest of the world. An old Roman bridge, El Puente Bibei, built around 115 A.D., is still in use today. Even today, many people are only making wines for themselves, though the tradition of subsistence farming is dying out. For centuries, grape-growing was simply part of the overall farm production. “Each house would have a few cows, and grow potatoes, lettuce and peppers,’’ Ramón Losada, who makes wine under the D. Ventura label told me. “It would have a couple of lambs, vines and a bodega, and chickens and rabbits. There would be corn and wheat. Pigs, of course. The farm production would always be diversified.’’…

http://thepour.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/steep-ascent-for-ribeira-sacra/#more-1301

Some like it hot and high alcohol – others don’t

DR VINO, USA

16.07.09: We love our impossible food-wine pairings around here. While we don’t always agree on what works, we do know what works individually, almost intuitively. Now a sommelier is trying to break food-wine pairing down to a molecular level. According to a story in yesterday’s Globe and Mail, François Chartier is making the “corkscrew counterpart of molecular gastronomy.” His new book, Papilles et molécules (Tastebuds and Molecules) is apparently selling like hotcakes that have been reduced to a mere powder and then reconstituted as foam. Many of the pairings reaffirm the classics such as

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update oysters with muscadet and sauternes with foie gras, so score one for intuition.

http://www.drvino.com/

Peripheral Domains Intelligence

This section covers developments from associated domains such as Greek food, taste and culinary trends, as well as any other significant information that has an impact on or derives from the global wine domain.

Take the sommelier home with you

FINANCIAL TIMES, UK

16.07.09: Bertrand Faure Beaulieu, 44, would like the world’s best sommeliers to work either for a two- and three-star restaurant – or for him. This Swiss-born entrepreneur seems to have timed his business interests uncannily well. Banking in Norway during the oil boom was followed by commodity trading with Russia in the immediate post-Soviet era. At the end of the 1990s he left the vast oil and metal trader Trafigura that he co-founded, well before their spot of bother in Sierra Leone, to invest in internet streaming technology, and then in a company dedicated to maximising company productivity as well as employee wellbeing.

Today, his chief investment is in alternative energy sources – and in treating his growing stable of private sommeliers to a lifestyle of which their counterparts can only dream.

From a standing start, Faure Beaulieu has fallen in love with wine and is planning to scale up the personal relationship that lit the flame for him into a global business. He still commutes between Paris and London and it was his coal hole in Holland Park, London that held his first modest forays into Bordeaux and Barolo, but, he says, “I always felt wine was intimidating and I’m quite shy, so I didn’t go to tastings”. It was not until he put himself in the hands of French sommelier Philippe Messy, whom he met at L’Etranger in London in 2003, that he felt at ease with wine…

Subscription based

Apps, tweets and websites for wine drinkers

YAHOO TECH, USA

14.07.09: Don't know which wine to have with a pepperoni pizza? There's an app for that -- as well as websites and Twitter.

The number of ways to discover the most suitable wine for a particular dish can be as overwhelming as walking into a large wine shop.

More than a dozen apps claiming to be the equivalent of a sommelier in your pocket are available for iPhones and iPods. And there are others for the BlackBerry and other mobile devices.

But among the most popular for both are Nat Decants Food & Wine Match and HelloVino. Wine blogger Natalie MacLean also provides the same information on her website

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

(http://www.nataliemaclean.com).

If you want to find out which wine will go best with lamb vindaloo, MacLean, who has almost 400,000 wine and food pairings, recommends Shiraz for red or a white Chateauneuf-Du-Pape. She also suggests food pairings with beer, whiskies and cocktails…

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/nm/20090714/wr_nm/us_wine_3

Wine Investment Remains Strong Alternative According To Wilson Douglas

OFFICIAL WIRE, USA

15.07.09: For those contemplating investment in fine wine as part of an overall investment portfolio, the latter part of 2008 serves as a good barometer for the resilience of this market

As predicted, the initial dip seen last October, attributed to the large sell-off of investment grade wines as global economies turned sour, is starting to show signs of sustained recovery, thanks in large part to the unique supply and demand characteristics that influence this market. Increasing worldwide demand for these wines, particularly from the Asian market, has resulted in an inverse supply curve and prices ticking back up.

It would appear that Hong Kong’s intentions are clear in wanting to become the trading hub for fine wines in the region by adopting a zero tax policy on wines and spirits to replace the 40% tax levied previously. This, combined with the weak sterling, has been the catalyst for the major auction houses, (Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Acker Merrill), setting up shop in Hong Kong and enjoying considerable success. Traditionally, these same auction houses hold their monthly sales of fine wines in London and New York to provide added value to their core of art buying clients, which stands in contrast with the fledgling market developing in Hong Kong where wine has taken centre stage…

http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=9395&catid=418

Amorim launches new cork

DECANTER, UK

09.07.09: Cork giant Amorim has launched a new product in a bid to claw back market share from alternative closures.

With sales of screwcaps and synthetic corks estimated to have reached 6.5bn closures annually, the producer aims to win back customers in the high-volume market with its Acquamark cork. The new cork is a one-piece natural cork sealed with a water-based sealant rather than the solvent based-product traditionally used by cork manufacturers. Amorim claims this will increase the sealing capacity of the cork as well as prevent any cork particles falling into the wine…

http://www.decanter.com/news/news.php?id=285930

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

Bulgaria seizes cocaine haul hidden in wine bottles

REUTERS, USA

10.07.09: Bulgarian customs officers have seized more than 700 litres of concentrated cocaine worth an estimated 10 million euros ($13.94 million) found concealed in over 1,000 wine bottles, officials said on Friday. The drugs, found hidden in a container which had been loaded in Bolivia and shipped via Chile, were seized in the Black Sea port of Varna in a joint operation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Customs officials said the cocaine was destined for Europe. Officials said the operation was ongoing and would not say whether arrests had been made.

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLA684183

Drinking in 'A Case for Wine'

CHICAGO TRIBUNE, USA

15.07.09: Hard to believe, but the wine craze wasn't born in California's wine country. Indeed, the love for all things wine extends back thousands of years as The Art Institute of Chicago proves in a lively new exhibit, "A Case for Wine: From King Tut to Today." This is the first time a major art museum has explored the arts through wine, according to institute officials.

As it turns out, wine is a great theme for bringing together all sorts of interesting and beautiful things, from a 2,500-year-old Greek wine jug adorned with renderings of the maenads, female followers of the god of wine, to a 2007 work, "Leonardo's Last Supper," made by Chicago-based artist Brigitte Riesebrodt out of recycled wine barrel staves still smelling of the grape. There are 430 objects in all, drawn from all departments within the museum and from outside lenders.

The items reflect the practical, decorative and spiritual aspects through the ages of wine culture, from cultivating the vine to the joys of the table. "It all has to do with pleasure, the aesthetics of pleasure," said Christopher Monkhouse, the institute's curator and chair of European decorative arts. "Do people realize the preference for red wine goes back to King Tut?" he said. "I don't think many people appreciate this long and rich story and how it continues to reinvent itself." Indeed. Some of the extravagantly styled endorsements of the wine good life shown here would be at home on a Napa hillside today…

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/chi-0715-wine-exhibitjul15,0,3727763.story

Police collar suspect in multi-million-euro Paris wine thefts

AFP, FRANCE

17.08.09: Police arrested a 44-year-old man Thursday on suspicion of having stolen more than 500 bottles of fine wine worth hundreds of millions of euros from some of the best restaurants in Paris. He was collared whilst returning to his home in Colombes, west of the French capital, with 262 bottles of wine in his truck that were allegedly lifted from a Paris restaurant overnight Tuesday, Bastille Day. But he had been under police surveillance since the March 13 theft of several dozen bottles of vintage wines from the upmarket Hediard restaurant and fine grocery shop, a police source said. The suspect's identity was not disclosed.

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Global Wine Trends 17/07/2009 Weekly Update

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gZDkt5hwseqeAiQkiWbKDDHf2Vrw

Global Sustaining & Emerging Trends Digest

This section presents those global, macro and micro trends that affect or potentially affect the wine domain. Comprehensive fusion and distillation of the above publicity parathesis concludes to the most important aspects as those appear in the current setting.

Regular wine drinking on the rise

HARPERS, UK

13.07.09: A dramatic increase in regular wine drinkers is revealed in an updated guidebook released by Wine Intelligence. Portraits UK 2009 – available from £2,225 (+VAT) from July 14 – shows how regular wine consumers have evolved since the first edition in 2005. Results show regular wine drinkers have risen from 23.5 million in 2005 to 28.1 million in 2009 – or by nearly 20%. Overall spend has risen slightly while the average age of drinkers has increased from 46.7 years to 48, in line with the UK’s ageing population. Lulie Halstead, chief executive of Wine Intelligence, said: “At a time when businesses are having to fight for every sale, understanding your consumer has never been more vital.

“The new Portraits UK report is designed to help marketers, planners, innovation heads and commercial directors to define and understand UK wine consumers of today in unprecedented detail, and can be a springboard to shaping corporate strategy for the pivotal UK wine market.” Six segments of consumers are identified in the guide, up one from the 2005 edition, ranging from Adventurous Connoisseurs – older, ardent wine fans with expensive tastes – to Kitchen Casuals, who spend less and drink less frequently. The guidebook, including a PowerPoint presentation and data tables, is available from Wine Intelligence for £2,225 (+VAT). WSTA members receive a 10% discount.

http://www.harpers.co.uk/news/news-headlines/8193-regular-wine-drinking-on-the- rise.html

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