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Global Trends Weekly Update

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23.04.2010

Critical Publics | EDOAO

Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update

Table of Contents

Table of Contents ...... 2

Global Market Watch ...... 4

Asian collectors help fine wine prices rebound ...... 4 Christie's sells 'fake' wine, claims billionaire ...... 4 Beer goes flat as Canadians turn to ...... 5 bubble bursts as French turn to fizzy wine, crémant ...... 5 Pierpaolo Petrassi MW leaves Tesco, joins Waitrose ...... 6 Virgin celebrates 10 years in the trade ...... 7 Wine site launches with just 54 ...... 7 The Case for ...... 7 We want to be the best in wine says Oddbins boss ...... 9 Discover South Australia's wine country ...... 9

Global Industry Watch ...... 10

Battle lines draw up over proposed US shipping bill ...... 10 New tax on cheap wine puts Ontario vintners in a sour mood ...... 11 Bordeaux Land Prices Indicate Disparity between Appellations .. 12 Southern hemisphere wine yields down ...... 13 Debut New World collaboration at ProWein declared a success ...... 13 The Council unveil £1m advertising campaign ...... 14 Supporting Earth Day in the Wine Industry ...... 14

Wine Domain Catalysts Watch ...... 15

Bordeaux 2009 - right bank and overview ...... 15 Rabobank says wine sector must speed up ...... 17

Scientific Developments & Technological Breakthroughs Watch ...... 18

Red wine protects brain from damage ...... 18

Wines from Greece Publicity Monitor ...... 18

The magic of May wine ...... 18 Locanda Greca – Classic Greek on the Navigli ...... 19

Blogosphere Monitor ...... 20

Are You A Wine Lover? Then Call Your House Representative. Now...... 20 St Peter's Organic Ale ...... 20 H.R. 5034: a threat to wine shipping ...... 21 WSJ: “Alcohol delivers flavors” ...... 22 Wine Wholesalers Push for Deregulation with H.R. 5034 ...... 22

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update

Peripheral Domains Intelligence ...... 23

Art Unearthing Georgia's wine heritage icle title ...... 23 Global wine lovers make own Bordeaux blends with top expert ...... 24

Global Sustaining & Emerging Trends Digest ...... 25

Rosé attracts male following ...... 25

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 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.

Asian collectors help fine wine prices rebound

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, UK

21.04.10: The Liv-ex 100 Fine Wine Index has soared almost 28pc in the past year after tumbling 22pc between August and December 2008, as the collapse of Lehman Brothers helped trigger a worldwide banking crisis. Collectors of fine wines in Asia have helped fuel demand for the wines, including the Lafite from Bordeaux. The reversal of fortunes enjoyed by fine wines was underlined last month in Hong Kong when an auction at Sotheby's saw three cases of Lafite Rothschild of the 2000 vintage sell for HK$266,200. 12 bottles of the same wine sold for $11,749 for 12 in October 2008, a month after Lehman collapsed. Sir Victor Blank and M&A: I wrote the book“Lafite is still taking the lead role and is making other wines look extremely cheap,” Miles Davis, a partner of London-based Wine Asset Managers LLP, which has a total of about $20 million under management in two wine funds, told Bloomberg News. “Demand from Asia is enormous.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/7613027/Asian-collectors- help-fine-wine-prices-rebound.html

Christie's sells 'fake' vintage wine, claims billionaire

THE INDEPENDENT, UK

18.04.10: Allegations that Christie's auction house sold fake wine "over decades" have been made in a New York court. The complaint has been lodged by an American billionaire industrialist, William Koch, and is the latest salvo in a three-year battle that has embroiled Christie's and the leading British wine expert Michael Broadbent, a former director of Christie's and auctioneer who also wrote sales literature.Mr Broadbent has already won a libel action against the publisher Random House, which published Mr Koch's allegations in a book about the dispute. Mr Koch bought four bottles of wine in 1988 from a dealer, Hardy Rodenstock, reputed to have belonged to the third president of the US, Thomas Jefferson, for a total of $311,804 (£202,000 at today's rate of exchange). Mr Rodenstock claimed to have come into possession of a cache of wine engraved with the initials Th.J after it was discovered in a bricked-up Paris cellar in the 1980s. In his latest complaint, filed with the New York District Court at the end of March, Mr Koch claims he bought the wine because Christie's had sold other bottles from the cache and its sales literature implied they were genuine. Now, however, he believes the wines were counterfeit.

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update

In the complaint, against Christie's companies in London and New York, he claims that Christie's and Mr Broadbent sold the Jefferson bottles knowing there were doubts about their provenance, and that Christie's sold counterfeit wine "for years". Last night Mr Broadbent, who is not being sued but is named in the complaint, denied the allegations which he described as "unspeakably offensive". Mr Koch's complaint adds: "Even though Christie's is often aware of circumstances, communications and events which directly challenge the veracity and substance of its catalogs' detailed narratives, provenance and wine descriptions, it fails to include any mention of these adverse authenticity or provenance questions." …

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/christies-sells-fake-vintage-wine- claims-billionaire-1947859.html

Beer goes flat as Canadians turn to red wine

THE STAR, CANADA

20.04.10: Canadians’ growing taste for red wine is cutting into beer’s traditional market dominance across the country, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday. Beer clung to its lead as the most popular alcoholic drink in Canada, but its market share has fizzled, from 53 per cent in 1993 to 46 per cent by 2009, the new numbers showed.

Meanwhile, Canadians bought 441.4 million litres of wine, 64 per cent of that red and rosé. Dollar sales of red and rosé have more than doubled between 2000 and 2009, while white wine sales have climbed by 50 per cent. Domestic wines grabbed more market share of that increase than imported, StatsCan said. Just over 24 per cent of all reds and rosés sold in Canada were domestic, compared with almost 39 per cent of whites. On the heels of prosperity in Saskatchewan has come the largest spike in liquor sales in the country, up 13.5 per cent between 2008 and 2009. By contrast, Ontario sales squeaked ahead by just 1.6 per cent, based on net income to government liquor authorities.Beer drinkers, though, were ditching their Labatt 50 more frequently. Imported beer has more than doubled its market share in the last decade, StatsCan said, to up to 13 per cent of the beer market in 2009.Beer stores and agencies sold 2.3 billion litres of beer in 2009, or $318.30 a person for every Canadian over the age of 15. The biggest beer sales per capita were in Newfoundland and the territories.A 5.6 per cent increase in vodka sales kept revenues up for hard liquor sales across the country, but a drop in domestic liquor sales kept volumes down. Whisky, scotch and bourbon stayed the most popular spirits, accounting for 27 per cent of all spirit sales in 2009. Two-thirds of those were Canadian products.Beer and liquor stores sold $19.4 billion worth of bottles, cans and cartons in the year ended on March 31, 2009, up 3 per cent from the year before, StatsCan said. Part of that was consumption and part was price increases. … http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/797918--beer-goes-flat-as-canadians-turn-to- red-wine

Champagne bubble bursts as French turn to fizzy wine, crémant

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, UK

16.04.10: As France and the world nurses its economic hangover, makers of crémant

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update

– fizzy wine that is made using exactly the same methods as champagne – are in the pink. "We are in a position to take market share from champagne," said Jérôme Billard, 38, a from La Rochepot near Beaune in Burgundy's Côte d'Or.

Italy's answer to champagne

Sauce: ProseccoMr Billard runs a 15-hectare (37-acre) domain he took over from his parents and has been making crémant brut for the past 15 years. While the world has reined in on champagne – viewed as a luxury product – crémant producers like Mr Billard are convinced their time has come. And its not just in France that crémant is selling well, producers are starting to sell the fizzy wine in Britain too. "The year has started well, the euro is up, the pound is down, the market is complicated, it's good news for us," he said. Champagne sales dropped by 9 per cent overall last year, while crémant in Burgundy was up 6 per cent and in Alsace – the biggest producer – by eight per cent despite the global downturn. Champagne can only be made in the French region of the same name but that has not stopped vintners in other areas making their own bubbly wines. These include blanquette de Limoux from the southwest and Clairette de Die from near Valence in the Cotes du Rhône region. Crémant uses the same techniques as the champagne makers have ever since the monk Dom Perignon put yeast in wine with fizzy results. "I use the exact same grapes found in champagne – and – grown on the same type of chalky soil. So our products resemble champagne but are much cheaper," said Mr Billard. …

France's biggest crémant producer is the Alsace region, where sales last year rose to 32 million bottles. Last month, Alsace crémant sales jumped by more than 12 per cent in France and exports were up 19 per cent. Sales to the UK were up 67 per cent in the first three months of this year, and 176 per cent compared to 2008. The volumes sent to Britain are still tiny compared to champagne but Mr Solher hopes to ride the wave of other hugely popular foreign sparkling wines like Prosecco from Italy and from Spain, which have been doing a roaring trade in the UK. "Britain is the first importer in the world of champagne, so it's naturally a country we have in our sights as the British are well-versed in quality ," he said. Alsace crémant use a wider range of grapes than champagne and Burgundy crémant, with around 80 per cent pinot blanc, but also auxerrois, pinot gris, pinot noir and reisling "for its acidity and freshness", plus a touch of chardonnay. Mr Solher thinks his region has come up with the ultimate weapon to conquer Britain: the Fer de Lance (Spearhead), a "super-crémant" made according to draconian quality controls and elaborated over 24 months instead of the normal 9 for extra fruitiness. "It is a champion thoroughbred and can easily match a very great champagne cuvée," he claimed. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7598838/Champagne-bubble- bursts-as-French-turn-to-fizzy-wine-cremant.html

Pierpaolo Petrassi MW leaves Tesco, joins Waitrose

DECANTER, UK

21.04.10: UK supermarket Waitrose has recruited Tesco's Pierpaolo Petrassi MW as its new beers, wines and spirits manager, replacing Justin Howard-Sneyd MW. Petrassi, who has also worked for WaverleyTBS, was previously Tesco's senior product development manager and became a Master of Wine in 2007. …

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update

http://www.decanter.com/news/news.php?id=297163

Virgin celebrates 10 years in the trade

HARPERS, UK

21.04.10: Virgin Wines is celebrating its 10th birthday with a series of 10 exclusive offers over 10 days, beginning at the end of the month. The promotion will kick off from April 26, via email to existing cutomers and visitors to the website and will consist of free gifts, one off special deals and savings off a variety of customer favourites and new releases. In addition, each day of the campaign one customer will be rewarded with a free bottle of Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne.The birthday celebrations will continue throughout the year with a series of competitions, prize draws, birthday themed products and tasting events. Details of the celebrations will be promoted on Virgin Wines' website and Facebook page each month. …

http://www.harpers.co.uk/news/news-headlines/8944-virgin-celebrates-10-years-in-the- trade.html

Wine site launches with just 54 wines

HARPERS, UK

16.04.10: A wine website offering only around 50 wines at a time has been launched to hopefully make the process of buying wine easier for the average drinker.

FindWine (www.findwine.co.uk) hopes to attract wine drinkers looking for a quick, easy, user- friendly way to choose wine. It will only feature 54 wines at any one time and is designed to help consumers cut down the choice of wine on offer and therefore making their buying decisions easier. The range will feature both exclusive, and quirky parcels of wine sourced from boutique producers with an individual approach to . By limiting the range, FindWine hopes to also encourage users to experiment more across its selection trying less well-known varieties and regions.Central to the approach is an interactive wine selection matrix that lists the range by colour, style and price point, which is then cross-referenced by selecting a food style, country of origin or pre- selected mixed case option.FindWine co-founder Mike Howes said: "We offer something completely different from the multiple grocers and our online competitors. We've created the site to act as a guide, assisting the consumer much like a friendly, informative and engaging assistant in a wine merchant.""Our aim is to enthuse the wine buying public, giving them the tools to become more confident in their purchase decisions, and to really explore the world of wine beyond the big brands by giving them access to limited edition parcels that they won't readily find elsewhere." …

http://www.harpers.co.uk/news/news-headlines/8931-wine-site-launches-with-just-54- wines.html

The Case for Italian Wine

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, USA

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update

21.04.10: As a wine lover, I came late to the Italian party. Schooled in the precepts of the noble grape varieties and the predominance of France, it wasn't until the late '90s that I was introduced to the startling array of styles and flavors found in this ancient, bucolic country. I was a young wine merchant at the time, plying my trade in London. Having just left an establishment on St. James's Street that imported a great deal of Bordeaux for another in Belsize Park that had a preference for Italy, I was swiftly taught to direct our customers toward Chianti rather than Claret. More than a decade of tastings and numerous visits to Italy later, the country's wines still excite me, perhaps more than any other. Why so?

Familae Piccini Chianti Riserva 2007

The answer is twofold. Many Italian grape varieties are still relatively obscure. Names such as Fiano, Piedirosso and Aglianico don't roll off the tongue as easily as, say, Chardonnay, or Shiraz. Second, the sheer diversity of styles and flavors continues to inspire me. From the gently rolling hills north of Venice, where sparkling Prosecco is produced, to the slopes of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, particularly those that border the former Yugoslavia and produce perfumed Pinot Grigio, from the intense beauty of the Tuscan landscape to the of Barolo in the north west, there are delights at every turn. In Piedmont, a handful of producers in the wine-making regions of Barbaresco, Nebbiolo and Barolo mirror the style of red Burgundy with the Nebbiolo grape. In recent years there has been a concerted effort by the authorities to categorize Italian wines in a workable structure. In this, the tried and tested French Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée system, which is a marker of quality, was emulated in the Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) and the Denominazione di Origine Controllata et Garantita (DOCG), which is a more stringent mark of quality. Below these two denominations lies Vino da Tavola, or , the lowest class, which adheres to few rules of winemaking. It has been known for some of the top producers to label their wines Vino da Tavola simply to avoid the complication involved in qualifying for DOC or DOCG status. ...

At its best, old Chianti, particularly Riserva, is reminiscent of the traditional style of Claret. With a lightness of texture and a distinctive, earthy, cherry aroma, De Marchi's wines are characterized by violets and cedar. But at its worst, Chianti can taste a little rough, chewy with a lack of fruit and a slightly acidic undertone. Even good Chianti when first sipped, without food, can taste astringent or bitter. But it is almost always improved with food. This is largely because Italian wine is designed to be served with a meal and drunk in small quantities, rather than knocked back on an empty stomach. Among my favorite Chianti are Isole E Olena, Carpineto, Fattoria di Felsina and . And it's worth noting that makers of nearby Brunello di Montalcino use a clone of that performs better in the hotter, drier local conditions. As a rule of thumb, Brunello benefits from cellaring for at least 10 years, evolving supple, smoky notes. There isn't a white Chianti, but those who know Tuscany well will have tracked down what is said to have been Michelangelo's favorite white wine, Vernaccia di San Gimignano. At its best and served with food, it is salty, citrus and dry, but uncannily refreshing.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704448304575196290291314732.html?

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update

We want to be the best in wine says Oddbins boss

OFF LICENCE NEWS, UK

19.04.10: Oddbins’ managing director Simon Baile has vowed to make the once- struggling chain “not the biggest, but the best national wine retailer”. The pledge came as Oddbins reported its longest sustained period of growth since 2004 and introduced sampling machines in some stores to allow customers to try before they buy. Baile said the past year had seen “double-digit retail sales growth and a consistent increase in footfall at more than 5%”. Average basket spend was up 8%. Oddbins is yet to return to the black but Baile predicted it would do so by the end of the current financial year. The company lost £6.4 million in the year before the acquisition from Castel in August 2008. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do, but we have to be relentless,” he said. “Our target for this year is to see if we can get over the finishing line. We think we can do it.” sales were up 68.3% in the past 10 weeks, with Italy 15.3% ahead, France up 18.6% and Champagne increasing by 12.5%. “My focus is to be at the forefront of the industry in terms of opinion-setters. That’s where Oddbins’ place is, not to be the biggest, but to be the best national wine retailer,” he told OLN. He said the high street was a “great place to sell wine” after the collapse of First Quench. “There are now very clear, distinct lines of difference between the different operators,” he said. …

http://www.offlicencenews.co.uk/articles/82368/We-want-to-be-the-best-in-wine-says- Oddbins-boss.aspx?category=257

Discover South Australia's wine country

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, AUSTRALIA

22.04.10: Winsor Dobbin takes a poetic journey around Australia's premier grape state.

South Australia is the undisputed capital of the industry - regions such as the Barossa, McLaren Vale and Coonawarra are familiar to aficionados around the globe. While South Australia produces more wine grapes than any other state, it also has great variety. From the crisp, dry of the Clare Valley to the inky cabernets of Coonawarra, there are styles to please all palates. Visiting the vineyards of South Australia is a rare pleasure. Whether you want to test your palate by doing a blending exercise at Penfolds or Wynns (and take your own wine blend home with you) or maybe just pop into a small cellar door in the Adelaide Hills, you'll be greeted with enthusiasm. South Australians are passionate about their wine and keen to share their knowledge with visitors.

With a range of influences - from German settlers to French - and a food and wine culture that dates back generations, South Australia is an enticing destination for anyone with gourmet tastes. Diversity is the key. While the Barossa, Adelaide Hills, Langhorne Creek and Fleurieu Peninsula are all within a short drive of Adelaide, their wines and ambience are different. Venture further - to the Clare Valley in the north, Coonawarra in the east and the vast expanses of the Riverland - and there's a whole world of wine to discover.Tiny pockets such as Kangaroo Island and Wrattonbully offer wine tastings at

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update their most basic - and most honest.The person doing the pouring is also likely to have tended the grapes and made the wine. In the Barossa and McLaren Vale, you can visit 10 or 12 in a day and sample wines that have gained acclaim from international experts.Several of the best country restaurants in Australia are in South Australian vineyards and cellar doors; names such as Bridgewater Mill, Penfolds Magill Estate, The Lane, Skillogalee and d'Arry's Verandah are famous for offering country hospitality matched with excellent food and wine.The first wines were crafted in McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills in the early 1840s. Almost 170 years on, South Australia remains the engine room of the industry in Australia and Adelaide is home to the National Wine Centre. Where there are wineries, cooking schools, gourmet retreats and farmers' markets have thrived. …

Leading British wine writer Robert Joseph describes South Australia as "where huge quantities of many of Australia's more affordable wines are made, as well as some of the smallest batches of cult-status red".

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-feature/discover-south-australias-wine-country- 20100422-tb6r.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.

Battle lines draw up over proposed US shipping bill

DECANTER, UK

19.04.10: America's wine producers and wholesalers have begun high-stakes political warfare. Producers are mobilizing to kill a new House of Representatives bill they fear would block wineries' direct shipments to consumers. The measure, introduced on 15 April, is backed by distributors' powerful lobby, the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America. As battle lines are shaping up, two Congressmen, a Democrat and a Republican representing key districts, have denounced the bill. Tom Wark, a Californian who is executive director of the Speciality Wine Retailers Association, warned in his personal blog, Fermentation, that the wholesalers are 'trying to pass the most onerous consumer wine law since the passage of the 18th Amendment' to the Constitution 'and the onset of Prohibition.' To become law, the bill must go through a complex procedure. Passage in its offered form, or any form, cannot be foretold. The political battle may take place largely under the public's radar because it involves constitutional issues that might seem unrelated to economic concerns besetting the nation. When the Constitution's 21st Amendment ended Prohibition in 1933, it gave each state full control over regulating alcohol inside its borders. However, the Commerce Clause, a fundamental Constitution provision, empowers Congress to regulate commerce among the states. When the Supreme Court declared in May 2005 that states must allow out-of-state wineries to ship directly to customers if their own wineries do so, this landmark anti-discrimination ruling was grounded in the Commerce Clause. The ruling triggered five years of legal challenges to shipping laws, resulting in legislation permitting various forms of direct shipments in some 37 states. Such sales bypass wholesalers' monopolies in standard three-tier regulatory systems, under which

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update producers must sell to middlemen, who sell to retailers. Wholesalers and their allies in state capitals say their bill would, as the wholesalers' CEO Craig Wolf put it, enable states 'to fend off litigation' that might 'destabilize or destroy' states' regulatory authority. An aim of the House bill, its opponents say, would be to impede wineries' and consumers' ability to bring lawsuits against states' wine-shipping laws they consider discriminatory. Mike Thompson, co- chairman of the Congressional Wine Caucus, told fellow Congressmen that the measure would 'devastate California's and other states' wine industries, stunt economic growth, and harm consumers by allowing discriminatory law and regulation to be passed and go unchallenged.' One result might be reduced choices for consumers, especially from artisanal producers whose wines wholesalers won't handle.

http://www.decanter.com/news/news.php?id=297076

New tax on cheap wine puts Ontario vintners in a sour mood

THE GLOBE AND THE MAIL, CANADA

16.04.10: These are the days of wine and taxes, at least in Ontario, and the resulting struggle is ripening into a battle over economic policy, greenbelts and even environmentalism. The province has set up a huge greenbelt around Toronto, and now, through a selective tax increase on low-cost blended wines made partly from foreign wines, is trying to encourage people to sip pricier products made entirely from local grapes. The goal: to boost the fortunes of grape growers while ensuring the future of agricultural land – to keep it from sprouting subdivisions.But the big wineries aren’t convinced. They say the tax will lead consumers to buy even cheaper, totally foreign wines instead of their blended varieties, damaging their business and undermining farmland preservation.“It will be catastrophic, putting the majority of the province’s grape and wine industry at risk,” Andrew Peller Ltd. and Vincor Canada, two of the largest wineries, asserted in letters to grape growers in February.The issue is so divisive that the companies selling blended wines recently bolted from the Wine Council of Ontario, an industry group that backs the tax move, to set up a rival trade organization.The new tax amounts to about 62 cents on an $8 bottle. It goes into effect on July 1, and the $12-million to be raised annually is being earmarked for promoting upscale, locally sourced wines. The levy is based on the view of the government and boutique wineries that there is no future for agricultural land in peddling cheap wine – plonk. To prosper, they believe, vintners should specialize in brands with a better pedigree, those labelled Vintners Quality Alliance, the appellation for premium domestic wines using 100 per cent Canadian content.In announcing the tax, Ontario’s Ministry of Consumer Services said is a key to “Ontario’s award-winning greenbelt, and it is crucial that the industry have a long-term plan that focuses on wine made from Ontario grapes.”Environmentalists are raising a glass to that. “By drinking Ontario wine, you’re preventing the greenbelt from being paved over and you’re kicking back at rampant urban sprawl,” contends Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence, a conservation advocacy group.The tax increase applies on a category of wines designated as “cellared in Canada.” Despite a name with overtones of rustic Canadian basements, the product is actually 70 per cent made from foreign wines, topped off with

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update a modest government-mandated 30 per cent Ontario content. …

Wines made entirely from Ontario grapes retail for an average of about $14 a bottle, although price doesn’t seem to have discouraged buyers recently. VQA sales volumes are up 17 per cent in the past year. Not all wineries sell cellared wines. Four large producers of the approximately 100 in the province dominate the market because they have grandfathered rights under the free-trade agreement to run about 300 off-site wine stores. There, Ontario’s big markup on alcohol in government liquor stores doesn’t fully apply, providing an attractive profit margin.Vincor, the biggest winery, is also irked that the government has earmarked the money from the new levy to fund programs supporting wines made entirely from local grapes. That will aid the small and medium-sized craft wineries specializing in the upscale end of the market.It “does not make sense” to tax one winery to give to another, according to one letter the company issued to grape growers. Vincor, a unit of U.S. international wine giant Constellation Brands Inc., also makes premium Ontario wines and would benefit from their promotion, but proportionally less than smaller rivals. It didn’t respond to a request for comment.Others in the industry accuse the big wineries of exaggerating the harm of the tax. “We haven’t exactly found it compelling that they’re going to be absolutely devastated,” says Hillary Dawson, president of the Wine Council of Ontario, long the established voice of the province’s wine industry.Among boutique wineries, support for the tax is broad. “I think it certainly would help maintain the land base. We have so little land in Canada that we can grow food or grow wine on, that we need to protect it,” says Donna Lailey, proprietor of Lailey Vineyard Wines in Niagara-on-the-Lake.Ms. Lailey has watched many of Ontario’s prime fruit farms turned into housing subdivisions and says that based on cheap wines, it is “not economically viable having land in agricultural production.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/new-tax-on-cheap-wine-puts-ontario- vintners-in-a-sour-mood/article1537805/

Bordeaux Vineyard Land Prices Indicate Disparity between Appellations

WINE SPECTATOR, USA

21.04.10: The word Bordeaux summons images of fabulous châteaus and wines that sell for hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars. But Bordeaux is also one of the world's largest wine regions, producing an average of 800 million bottles a year. For every first-growth, there are dozens of small farms in appellations most wine drinkers have never heard of.

And over the past two decades, the gap between the price of the region's prestigious vineyards and their less-renowned counterparts has only grown. A new report by the regional Office for Food, Agriculture and Forests looking at changing land prices has found that the five leading Bordeaux appellations account for just 5 percent of the vineyard land in the region of Aquitaine, but represent over 50 percent of its value. Those appellations—Pomerol, Margaux, St.-Julien, St.-Estèphe and Pauillac—exported 10 percent of the wines from the region by volume in 2008 but 50 percent by value.

Since 1991, the value of the area under vine in Pomerol, Margaux, St.-Julien, St.-Estèphe and Pauillac has increased fourfold, to an average price of 800,000 euros per hectare. Set the top five AOCs aside and the average price for a hectare of one of the other 39 appellations is about 34,000 euros, a decrease of 16 percent compared to 1991. ...

If many vineyards are up for sale, potential buyers are few and far between. "Some sellers are

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update simply taking up retirement, but others are in dire straits and just want out," said real-estate agent Olivier Vizerie. "Many vineyard owners have opted for tenant farmers as a provisional solution as finding clients for properties that aren't viable is extremely difficult."

Bonotaux indicated that the region's vineyard prices have decreased further still since 2008, in line with the dropping bulk-wine prices of some Bordeaux appellations. But he felt they had finally hit the bottom. "Now is the time to invest for companies with long-term objectives."

This is good news for the owners of a horseracing track in Pomerol who plan to put it on the market soon. Although it is unlikely to be sold for the appellation's average price per hectare of 1 million euros, it is still drawing a lot of interest. "The plot represents around 14 hectares, so it is a welcome addition to the Pomerol appellation area, currently limited to 800 hectares," said Jean-Marie Garde, president of the local winegrowers association and owner of Clos René. "We have intervened to make sure it can only be used as farming land."

http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/42544

Southern hemisphere wine yields down

ABC, AUSTRALIA

22.04.10: A drop in southern hemisphere grape production is expected to lead to a recovery in global wine prices.The value of Australian wine exports has fallen by 20 per cent since 2007, due to oversupply and strong competition from cheap producing countries. But Rabobank's Marc Succio says early 2010 figures show falling yields from all major southern hemisphere producers. He says that will help Australia's struggling industry. "What we're seeing in the southern hemisphere at the moment is Chile seems to have a little bit of a lighter crop, they've been impacted by the earthquake that occurred some months ago," he says. ...

The Winemakers Federation estimates the industry must remove about 20 per cent of vines across Australia, with the worst hit regions needing to cut production by about 70 per cent. Mr Succio says the industry is making slow progress and, in many instances, vines are being removed from the wrong regions. "Most of it seems to be coming in those warm inland regions ... but this is the quandary we're in, that those regions, really their markets are still intact." "They're very capable of growing into the future when global conditions improve and we're likely going to need that fruit.

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201004/s2879834.htm

Debut New World collaboration at ProWein declared a success

HARPERS, UK

22.04.10: The five member countries that collaborated under the Down to Earth@ProWein banner at the ProWein trade show in March, will repeat the partnership next year after it was declared a success. The show which was held in Düsseldorf, Germany, saw generic wine-marketing bodies for Argentina, California, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa working together for the first time to present findings on common

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update themes such as eco-sustainability and marketing. Wines of South Africa, chief executive officer, Su Birch, said members drew capacity crowds and long waiting lists to their joint in-depth series of lectures, panel discussions and tastings. Speakers included; Prof Hans Reiner Schultz, director of Germany's Geisenheim Research Centre, economist and wine writer Jürgen Mathäß, and Dr Josef Schuller and Lynne Sherriff, the chairman and vice- chairman respectively of the of the Institute of Masters of Wine and UK wine writer, Robert Joseph. …

http://www.harpers.co.uk/news/news-headlines/8946-debut-new-world-collaboration- declared-a-success.html

The Bordeaux Wine Council unveil £1m advertising campaign

HARPERS, UK

22.04.10: The Bordeaux Wine Council (CIVB) has unveiled an advertising campaign that aims to celebrate the natural relationship between Bordeaux wines and food. Developed specifically for the UK market, the £1 million campaign will focus on giving consumers the simple yet compelling reason to buy: Good Food Would Choose Bordeaux. The print and poster launch will primarily targeted at ABC1 35+ adults and will demonstrate the versatility of Bordeaux's wines and highlight the fact that there is a perfect Bordeaux for every type of meal, whether haute cuisine and elaborate, or homemade and simple, also that its wines are produced to complement rather than overpower food. Douglas Morton, spokesman for the CIVB, said: "Overwhelming feedback from existing drinkers confirmed that, alongside the quality and tradition associated with Bordeaux, its great gift lies in its ability to produce wines that enhance any meal. "In a period of unprecedented general interest in the preparation and enjoyment of food we hope that this campaign will encourage more consumers to discover this relationship for themselves. The message is very simple: if you love food, you'll love Bordeaux."

http://www.harpers.co.uk/news/news-headlines/8948-the-bordeaux-wine-council-unveil- p1m-advertising-campaign.html

Supporting Earth Day in the Wine Industry

WINE SPECTATOR, USA

22.04.10: Unfiltered highlights a few of the many wineries making an effort to go a little greener this Earth Day As today marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, Unfiltered is this week recognizing those wineries that are greening things up this month in honor of the annual environmental awareness day. Earth Day 2010’s main focus is climate change and support for a healthy clean-energy economy; as the wineries listed here reveal, there’s no limit to the ways in which you can contribute to the cause. We couldn’t possibly list everyone pitching in this week, so please add your own Earth Day efforts to the comments section below.

• Benziger Family winery recently got a facelift that was anything but superficial. For Earth Day, the winery announced it will be adopting new packaging for its wine, for both bottles and labels, that will lighten its impact on the environment. …

• Today through Sunday, every guest tasting at Sonoma’s Rodney Strong Vineyards

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update will take home a compact florescent light bulb as part of the carbon-neutral winery's Green Light Pledge for Earth Day. Each bulb creates the opportunity to reduce CO2 emissions by 277 pounds per year; if all of Sonoma were to change just one bulb, 50 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions would be prevented from entering the atmosphere.

• The non-profit Central Coast Vineyard Team organization, which promotes sustainable winegrowing, got an early start on Earth Day this past weekend, ringing in the ecological holiday with their annual Earth Day Food & Wine Festival at Santa Margarita Ranch. The three-day binge on locally cultivated and sustainably produced fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, olive oils and wines ended as the previous such bacchanals have, with virtually zero waste and a negligible carbon footprint thanks to heady doses of solar power, recycling and ride-sharing to and from the festival. Last year, 1,000 guests generated just two bags of trash. ...

Few luxuries pair better than fine wine and fine art.

• Finally, in an equally philanthropic albeit non-green gesture, Italian fine-wine producer Tenuta dell’Ornellaia is celebrating the release of the 2007 vintage with a collection of artist-designed special-edition large-format bottles to be auctioned at a gala dinner at the Whitney Museum of American Art next week. Artists Ghada Amer and Reza Farkondeh collaborated on the series of hand-painted, stitched and printed artist labels, the theme for which is “Happily Ever After.” Twenty-three bottles in all will be up for auction, including a 9-liter salmanazar, four imperials and 18 double magnums; 100 percent of the proceeds will benefit the Whitney. Bottle Shock star Alan Rickman is expected to be on hand at the April 28 gala at the museum, but those not fortunate enough to secure a seat may still bid online by registering at www.sothebys.com/ornellaia.

http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/42550

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.

Bordeaux 2009 - right bank and white wine overview

JANCIS ROBINSON, UK

17.04.10: Interest in the 2009 vintage recently shown off in Bordeaux to the trade and commentators is so great that when London's leading fine-wine traders Farr Vintners sent out an email a week last Thursday alerting their customers to the fact that they had just published their report on the vintage, Farr's website crashed and remained offline for several hours. See the picture below of Denis Durantou's plan of visitors' visits during primeurs week at Ch L' Église-Clinet in Pomerol for an indication of interest in this vintage - perhaps partly fuelled by the fact that no one was especially interested in 2006, 2007 and 2008 rather than purely by the quality of 2009.

This is the queasy, uneasy interregnum between the moment when cask samples of these infant, unbottled wines are shown off in the hope of adulation and high scores and when the

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update

château owners announce their prices. Thanks to unprecedented demand from Asia, not least China, where thousands of well-heeled newcomers to wine would happily pay vast sums for multiple cases of super-fashionable Ch Lafite, prices of the first growths are likely to be several thousand pounds a dozen. The rumour mill has it that most prices of the 2009s will be announced at the end of next month to coincide with the international wine fair Vinexpo to be held in Hong Kong then.

During the first quarter of this year, incidentally, Hong Kong overtook the US in terms of the total value of fine wine auctioned there. London, until recently the most important location for fine wine auctions, is now trailing ignominiously in third place - and many UK merchants and traders now depend heavily on their Hong Kong outposts for turnover.

Americans may be buying older trophy wines in the saleroom but they have largely withdrawn from the primeur market. The 2003 vintage was the last in which the US was a major player. There were a few American trade buyers in Bordeaux at the beginning of this month but, despite the strong dollar, few are confident that the US will represent a major market for 2009s, however delicious the wines may be, and however lavishly praised by the leading American commentator Robert Parker.

The signs are from all UK fine-wine merchants and traders I have quizzed that there is considerable demand for 2009s among British connoisseurs, however. I suspect that they, like those who chiefly sell to them, will be particularly interested in the better value, favoured left-bank reds below first-growth level, but this should be a year when everyone pays a little more attention than usual to sweet white bordeaux.

Growers in Sauternes and Barsac are cock a hoop over the quality of the 2009 vintage. Usually producing a fine sweet white in Bordeaux is a nerve-racking process of sending pickers through the vineyards time after time to pick individual grapes that have the desired level of concentrating botrytis mould on them. This is usually a stop-start process that can last into November but in 2009 the timing of showers, intense sunshine and warmth was so propitious that botrytised grapes were picked, often by the whole bunch, in one extended period of glorious concentration at the end of September and beginning of October.

As in almost all 2009s, acidity levels were quite refreshing enough too so that 2009, although super-luscious, is looking like a Sauternes vintage that may rival the great 2001. But, as usual, these sweet marvels tend to be overlooked by both amateur and professional buyers. The most famous Sauternes of all, Ch d'Yquem, is rather different from usual in 2009, no less intense than it is in a top-quality vintage, but much more tense and vibrant. I suspect this change of style has led some observers to decide that the 2009 Sauternes in general are not concentrated enough to be great.

The team in charge of one of the most famous dry white bordeaux of all, Pavillon Blanc de Château Margaux, have also tweaked the style of this wine in 2009. Having watched alcohol levels of this all-Sauvignon icon rise to over 15% in recent years, they deliberately took early steps in the vineyard to encourage full phenolic ripeness at an earlier stage so that Pavillon Blanc is also much more vibrant than usual. But it is an exception. In general the dry white bordeaux are just a little soft and lacking nerve in 2009 - very pleasing and ripe but probably not designed for a particularly long life, with the perennial exception of Domaine de Chevalier.

As for the hundreds of right-bank reds that are likely to be offered en primeur from

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update the 2009 vintage, few generalisations can be made about the very varied wines of St-Émilion and Pomerol. Unusually, the latter appellation seemed rather less successful than the former - perhaps because the early-maturing Merlot grape on which Pomerol is so dependent, ripened too fast to keep its definition and refreshment value. ...

I particularly enjoyed what I tasted from the coolish Fronsac appellation in 2009, and there were many good surprises in the fringe appellations of the right bank carrying the appellations Bordeaux and Bordeaux Côtes. As with the simple Médoc appellation, this is the territory for bargain hunters, who will need all the luck they can muster.

http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/a201004141.html

Rabobank says wine sector must speed up

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, USA

21.04.10: The Australian wine industry must move faster to address an over-supply of grapes to help restore competitiveness with other wine-producing countries, says food and agribusiness bank Rabobank. Rabobank said in its quarterly report on trends and outlook for the international wine market that the Australian wine sector was under severe stress as a result of rapid supply growth, greater competition, drought, global recession and unfavourable exchange rates. Rabobank wine analyst Marc Soccio said Australian grape growers were starting to remove vineyards from production to ease the oversupply, but the process was slow. The pace of vineyard removal in the temperate climate (cooler) regions where the supply/demand imbalance is most acute, has been particularly slow," he said."More is needed, particularly in these regions which are less price-competitive in core markets." The Rabobank report said the Australian Bureau of Statistics had estimated that the Australian vineyard estate had declined by almost 1,000 hectares to 157,290 hectares in 2008/09. Current estimates were that another 8,000 hectares of vineyards were likely to be removed in 2009/10. But this was still short of the 20 per cent reduction, or 30,000 hectares, that the Australian Wine & Brandy Corporation and other industry bodies had estimated was needed to bring supply into balance with demand.

The report said that three-quarters of vine removals were believed to be occurring in warm inland irrigated regions where growers' profits had been adversely affected by drought, and growers had less income from sources not related to farming.

The government had also made irrigator exit grants available to smaller farmers.

But adjustment was less apparent in temperate regions and this would continue to place pressure on grape prices so long as demand for higher value wines remained depressed. …

Another strategy involved "traditional" players in the Australian wine sector, such as Yalumba, Brown Brothers and Tahbilk, joining together under the umbrella "First Families of Wine" to emphasise their longevity and credentials in wine-making. Mr Soccio said it was hard to determine how long the Australian wine sector would have to re-invent itself. "We needed to be doing this prior to the global financial downturn, which has made things worse because we don't have the demand growth that we really need to turn things around," he said.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-business/rabobank-says-wine-sector-must-speed- up-20100421-sw5o.html

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update

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 protects brain from damage

THE INDEPENDENT,UK

23.04.10: Red wine can add "protects the brain from damage following a stroke" to its list of health benefits following a new discovery by researchers at Johns Hopkins University. On April 21, Johns Hopkins announced that Sylvain Doré, PhD and a team of researchers "discovered a pathway in mice for resveratrol's apparent protective effect". Resveratrol is a polyphenol found in red grapes' skins and seeds and Doré recommended not taking resveratrol supplements as the benefits are unknown and pointed out that "it's the alcohol in the wine that may be needed to concentrate the amounts of the beneficial compound" and highlights mild-moderate consumption as "drinking alcohol carries risks along with potential benefits. "The mechanism of action is not clear but "resveratrol itself may not be shielding brain cells from free radical damage directly, but instead, resveratrol, and its metabolites, may be prompting the cells to defend themselves," suggested Doré.He speculated that, "it's not likely that brain cells can have high enough local levels of resveratrol to be protective," as "resveratrol is needed to jump-start this protective enzymatic system that is already present within the cells" however "even a small amount may be sufficient." The study is currently in press but can be accessed in the online edition of the journal Experiment Neurology: http://bit.ly/8ZnKJy http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/yet-another-healthy-reason-to- drink-red-wine-1952055.html

Wines from Greece Publicity Monitor

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

The magic of May wine

NJ.COM, USA

20.04.10: Much of what I know about popular music, I’ve learned while listening to Jonathan Schwartz, a WNYC radio host with an encyclopedic knowledge of the American songbook. He draws from all genres and all periods — from the Gershwins to the Grateful Dead, from Bing

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update

Crosby to Bob Dylan. Whenever I tune into his show on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, I inevitably discover something new. A few years ago, I discovered a lyric that not only introduced me to an unfamiliar songwriter, but also taught me something about wine. I was cruising along the Garden State Parkway on a lovely spring afternoon when Tony Bennett’s voice came over the radio: ...

For thousands of years, people have been adding flavorings to wine. One of the oldest traditions is retsina, a Greek wine flavored with pine resin. Originally, flavorings were added to make spoiled wines palatable, or to give life to thin, dull- tasting wines. The best-known example of an herb-flavored wine is vermouth.

May wine essentially is an herb infused wine punch with three basic ingredients: a light German wine such as a Moselle (although any good would do), fresh sprigs of woodruff, and some kind of fruit for garnish. Most recipes also call for sugar, and some suggest adding brandy for a kick or soda water or champagne for sparkle.

A handful of German and American wine companies bottle a version of May wine, but I’d recommend starting from scratch; the storebought kind are notoriously sweet. Recipes can be found on the internet, but also in old cookbooks such as “Joy of Cooking” and Craig Claiborne’s “The New York Times Cook Book.”

The toughest part about making May wine, I discovered, was finding a source for woodruff, also known as sweet woodruff, an herb with reputed medicinal qualities. I called several grocery stores but got nowhere. Finally, I found some at a farm market that also sells plants — not in the produce section, but among the perennials. ...

http://www.nj.com/insidejersey/index.ssf/2010/04/the_magic_of_may_wine.html

Locanda Greca – Classic Greek on the Navigli

SPOTTED BY LOCALS, USA

20.04.10: As the weather is “slowly” getting warmer, more people are heading to the Navigli area of the city for the outside lifestyle. The Locanda Greca has outside eating area at the back of the restaurant. Actually, it’s situated in the courtyard of a great example of old style Milanese housing, “Vecchia Milano”. The menu is classic Greek, dips, feta, moussaka, feta, kebabs, feta and feta! They also have some Greek wine but I can’t say it was anything special but the price is honest. It’s a great place if you want to escape the crowds milling up and down the canal. This restaurant is situated on “Navigilo Grande” which attracts hoards throughout the summer period but you can’t be enjoy the energy the area has. A Thursday night is usually a good night to go, not as crowded as the weekend, but still plenty happening.

http://www.spottedbylocals.com/milan/locanda-greca

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update

Blogosphere Monitor

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

Are You A Wine Lover? Then Call Your House Representative. Now.

VINOGRAPHY, USA

16.04.10: I've been known to spout an opinion now and again about the Three Tier alcohol distribution system in this country, and the maddening array of ridiculous regulations that govern our ability to purchase alcohol. Mostly, however, I stay out of the fray because I'd rather write about, and I'm sure you'd rather read about, fantastic wines. But something happened yesterday that sent chills down my spine, and made it imperative that I broadcast to as many of you as possible the urgent need to call your Congressional Representative immediately. When you get one of their aides on the phone here's what you need to say: Under no circumstances should they vote for a house bill HR 5034: The Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness Act of 2010. This bill, introduced by representatives Bill Delahunt (D Mass) Mike Quigley (D Ill.), Howard Coble (RN. C.) and Jason Chaffetz (R Utah), was purportedly authored by the National Beer Wholesalers Association.This bill, which you can read in its entire three short pages, is available here (PDF).The bill is insidious in its simplicity. It would make it effectively impossible to challenge any state's laws about alcohol distribution or direct shipping by forcing the challenger to prove that any particular law "has no effect on the promotion of temperance, the establishment or maintenance of orderly alcoholic beverage markets, the collection of alcoholic beverage taxes, the structure of the state alcoholic beverage distribution system, or the restriction of access to alcoholic beverages by those under the legal drinking age.''In other words, as long as any state can prove that its laws produce tax revenues or prevent children from buying alcohol, those laws, no matter how discriminatory, anti-competitive, or anti-consumer cannot be overturned by a legal challenge by any party or any act of Congress.Under their usual guise of trying to "protect the children" from an "epidemic of alcoholism" the liquor wholesalers lobby has introduced a bill that effectively keeps the alcohol laws of this country an affair to be settled by state legislators and their wholesaler lobbyist friends.This bill must be stopped. It effectively prevents any progress towards fixing the antiquated and consumer unfriendly alcohol shipping laws in this country. Please call, write, e-mail, and otherwise hound your Congressional Representative and tell them to vote against this bill. Here's the easiest way to find, and contact your congressperson. This is serious business. If this bill passes, consumers will have lost the ability to fight in the courts for laws that allow them to buy the wine they want, where they want.

http://www.vinography.com/archives/2010/04/are_you_a_wine_lover_then_call.html

St Peter's Organic Ale

WINE ANORAK, USA

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update

20.04.10: Back to the International Wine Challenge today. This week we are judging the wines that passed from last, awarding them medals, and in a few cases demoting some. Had another great panel today. The wine trade is full of interesting and friendly people, it seems. I’ve been working hard this evening, so it’s time to begin unwinding with a glass of ale. The beer in question, St Peter’s Organic Ale, is one of my favourites, and hails from Suffolk (www.stpetersbrewery.co.uk). It’s a golden ale with a lovely fresh, gently malty, nicely hoppily bitter character. Lots of flavour, not too fizzy, and not at all heavy. This would be a great food beer. Widely available at just under £2 a bottle (I got this from my local Asda).

http://www.wineanorak.com/wineblog/

H.R. 5034: a threat to wine shipping

DR VINO, USA

20.04.10: On April 15, a motley coalition of first-year and retiring members of Congress from both parties introduced a bill. The proposed legislation would restrict legal challenges to the interstate shipment of wine. Tom Wark, head of the Specialty Wine Retailers Association, described it as “the most onerous consumer wine law since the passage of the 18th Amendment and the onset of Prohibition.” Wine Spectator obtained a copy of a draft bill written by the National Beer Wholesalers’ Association and compared it to H.R. 5034 and deemed them “largely identical.” (See the bill’s text here.) Of course, bills get introduced all the time as fobs to political contributors and then they don’t make it very far down the arduous path to becoming law. We have devised a threat-meter for this particular bill. Normally a bill like this would have zero chance in becoming law before the 111th Congress adjourns. But right now we are one notch above zero (neck level) with a “high shoulder” rating. Why? A few reasons that all boil down to the deep pockets and skill of those behind the legislation. One worrisome aspect is that in order for the bill to become law, it must get voted out of committee. The bill has been assigned to the House Judiciary committee, chaired by John Conyers from Michigan. Tom Wark has described Michigan as one state whose elected officials are “completely controlled” by wholesalers through their campaign contributions. (Michigan was the losing plaintiff in Granholm v. Heald, the 2005 case that liberalized wine shipments.) Indeed, the National Beer Wholesalers Association was one of the top 5 donors to John Conyers for the past two election cycles. Hopefully, legislators will see this as the gross overreach that it is on the part of distributors. It would be great if reaction from wine enthusiasts turned the initiative in to the wholesalers’ last stand, legislatively. But that is unlikely. We will keep you posted here if the threat level changes. You can also join the Facebook group Stop HR5034 (over 1,500 members already) for updates. And in case this bill does go anywhere, hit the comments with your thoughts about who we can send a huge amount of corks to–or other possible steps to effectively make our voices heard. RH.R.5034 – Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness (CARE) Act of 2010. Sponsors are Rep. Bill Delehunt (D) MA; Rep. Howard Coble (R) NC; Rep. Mike Quigley (D) IL; Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R) UTRelated: Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update

http://www.drvino.com/

WSJ: “Alcohol delivers flavors”

DR VINO, USA

19.04.10: “Alcohol delivers flavors.” So writes Lettie Teague in her debut column “Wines that Pack a Little Extra” for the Wall Street Journal on Saturday. What does she mean by “alcohol delivers flavors”? She seems to be implying that higher alcohol translates into more flavor. But is that really true? One of the hottest hot-button issues in the wine world is rising alcohol levels. Although alcohol itself is tasteless, elevated levels of it in wines often accompanies enhanced polyphenols, which can make for big, showy wines, such as a Martinelli that weighs in at over 16% alcohol. But high alcohol actually often crowds out flavors (or vineyard specificity), and, at elevated levels, its searing heat can dominate a wine’s aromas. Although Teague quotes Aldo Sohm, at Le Bernardin, to support her case in the story, in a follow-up email to me, Sohm said that high-alcohol tends to come at the expense of refinement and complexity. And that’s just it: does Teague really think that the wines of Christophe Roumier or Noel Pinguet (Domaine Huet) or Manfred Prum (J. J. Prüm) lack flavor compared to Martinelli zin or El Nido Clio? I would think not. So why does she present such a black-and-white view in her story, where “flavors” only arrive in the rarefied vapors north of 14% alcohol?

The piece also portrays who champion low alcohol wines to be insufferable snobs. She even goes to far as to wonder if the word “balance” is “actually a code to keep out wines that they don’t like or styles that don’t fit their personal taste.” Teague then plays “gotcha,” discovering cabernets above 14% on the list of RN74, a San Francisco restaurant whose wine director is quoted in the piece against high- alcohol. …

http://www.drvino.com/

Wine Wholesalers Push for Deregulation with H.R. 5034

FERMENTATION, USA

22.04.10: As the three tier system's traditional structures failed to address a growing consumer demand for fine and artisan wines, one of the most important points wineries and retailers regularly made is that they would willingly accept significantly increased levels of state regulation. Wineries and retailers who sought to expand their markets and get wines to collections of enthusiastic consumers across the country that wholesalers chose not to serve knew that significantly increased regulatory oversight by states would be necessary to assure the developing direct sales market benefited the state and met community standards for safeguarding minors.

Given this, it should be no surprise that since the Granholm v. Heald Supreme Court Decision that served to overturn the "reciprocity wine shipping agreements" between states and open up direct shipping in many states, there has been a significant increase in the amount of wine and alcohol regulations across the country.

What is surprising is the effort now under way by alcohol wholesalers to tear down

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update a remarkably successful regulatory system that has been put in place and worked well for years.

H.R. 5034, the bill crafted by the National Beer Wholesalers Association and enthusiastically supported by the Wine and Spirit Wholesalers Association, would lead to the demolishing of a regulatory framework that assures state taxes are collected, minors don't obtain alcohol and that producers and retailers produce a paper trail for every bottle of wine the moves through the national marketplace via direct shipment.

What's notable about the significant amounts of new regulation that came into being post- Granholm is that the wineries and retailers actively lobbied for it and still do. The Model Direct Shippers Bill, sample legislation designed by wineries and retailers, has been promoted by shippers in nearly every state they've worked to obtain shipping rights. This legislation calls on all taxes to be paid to the state, a licensing fee, regular reporting to the state, requirements that adult signatures be obtained before delivery of any wine, and that all shippers submit themselves to the legal and regulatory jurisdiction of the state.

To get an idea of the amount of new regulations that have been put in place since Granholm, consider the changes noted at the Wine Institute's long-standing wine shipping website.

The Internet Archive page of the Wine Institute's direct shipping page for January 1, 2004 (a year and a half before the Granholm Supreme Court decision) shows that only 10 states had a permit/regulatory structure in place for direct shipment of wine. Today, 35 states have in place a permit/regulatory structure for direct shipping. In fact, in order to manage the three fold increase in alcohol regulations across the country that wine shippers have asked for and obtained, an entirely new compliance industry has grown up around the direct shipping market. wholesalers from competitio. …

http://www.fermentation.typepad.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.

Art Unearthing Georgia's wine heritage icle title

CNN, USA

20.04.10: CNN's new series i-List takes you to a different country each month. In April, we visit the Republic of Georgia focusing on changes shaping the country's economy, culture and its social fabric. Tbilisi, Georgia (CNN) -- The first time I saw how Georgians make their wine was in 2008, in a village high up in the mountains called Chaituri. I was interviewing Mamuk Kevlishvili, a young father, husband and former Georgian infantry soldier who had ended up after only a few months of training, trapped behind enemy lines during Georgia's short and bloody 2008 war with Russia. After spending an hour discussing his harrowing escape from the war zone and his struggle to overcome the lingering psychological damage from the trauma, Kevlishvili invited me to the backyard of his mother's modest house where he said he would fetch a pitcher of homemade wine for lunch. His long-

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update deceased father had planted several rows of vineyards on a hillside. The 23-year-old plunged a broom handle with a plastic jug tied to the end of it to the bottom of the tank. He explained to me that the grape juice is traditionally fermented in these underground vats, which Georgians call "kvevri." ...

Test your knowledge of Georgia

Patalashvili had just spent 15 minutes digging away the sand seal that covered a kvevri at a small winery, owned by a new Georgian vineyard called "Pheasant's Tears." The wine was a 2007 vintage made from Georgia's indigenous saperavi grape. After Patalashvili gave a long and heartfelt toast, I took a deep gulp of the stuff. It was slightly effervescent and also slightly creamy -- having just been ladled from the kvevri. Simply put, it was delicious. "In Georgia there are 540 endemic varieties of grapes known. There are only 3,000 known in the world," said John Wurdeman, a resident American artist and founder of Pheasant's Tears. The winery is located near a 16th century monastery in the Kakheti Valley, country. "When you have 540 unique that don't grow anywhere else, that are aborigines to this territory," Wurdeman added, "You need to explore that, and that will be very exciting to the outside world." Pheasant's Tears is just one of the many wineries that have cropped up across Georgia in recent years. After shipping their wine for decades to markets in the former Soviet Union, Georgia's winemakers are now struggling to introduce their products and their unique wine-making techniques to the rest of the wine-drinking world. Since Russia slammed an embargo on Georgian wine several years ago, Georgian wines have started appearing for the first time on store shelves in neighboring Turkey. In all honesty, however, sipping Georgian wine from a long-stemmed glass cannot compare with the experience of drinking homemade wine at a table groaning with local food, amid endless heartfelt toasts; the wine alive on the taste buds, freshly ladled from the family kvevri.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/04/20/georgia.wine.heritage/

Global wine lovers make own Bordeaux blends with top expert

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, FRANCE

18.04.10: Not even airspace paralysed by volcanic ash could keep Do-It-Yourself wine enthusiasts from across the world from their first Bordeaux cru and a chance to blend with the palate behind the world?s most famous wines. Fifty-five intrepid DIY winemakers from 10 countries and three continents made their way to Chateau Teyssier in Saint Emilion where Crushpad, the San Francisco-based micro winery, set up its first overseas operation a year ago. This was the first sip of their foray into Bordeaux winemaking, which they have been overseeing from their day-jobs around the globe. They seem to be quite pleased with the 2009 vintage, the only thing they have to complain about is a little volcano, reported Stephen Bolger, president of Crushpad France. But while a handful of clients remained stranded in airports, others made superhuman efforts to get here, he added. The big draw was a chance to make the final blend with Eric Boissenot, Crushpad?s consultant. As wine insiders know, Boissenot is the consultant and master blender for A-list wines, including Lafite- Rothschild, Mouton-Rothschild, Margaux, Latour, Pichon, Palmer, and nearly every other Medoc wine of fame. The DIY winemakers were here because they have paid 6,750-13,500 euros (9,110-18,200 dollars) a barrel to Crushpad for the opportunity to produce their own barrel of wine from plots of land and grape variety they have chosen and make their own blend. They

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update are personally involved as far as they wish, down to picking their grapes, or managing every detail from a distance using a computer programme. And they are passionate about what they are trying to achieve. Some give the finished product to friends; some enter prestigious competitions and may win prizes; some sell their wine; and other just drink it.

The average cost per bottle between 22.50 and 45 euros.

Landing Boissenot was nothing short of a coup for Bolger.

"These people are dreaming of becoming winemakers, they want to evolve their wine experience with winemaking," said Bolger. "For them it?s a real pleasure to work with someone who is mythical in winemaking." Boissenot?s expertise, honed after 20 years of tasting the results of minute changes in how a vine is handled or a grape is transformed into wine, makes him invaluable to First Growths, who need an objective perspective -- and a boon to a start-up operation like Crushpad France. …

So far the blending had exceeded expectations.

"We blended the white wine this morning and it was very exciting," said Rudo Autner, a financial consultant from Slovakia, who is producing four barrels. "I would never expect that the blending could be so emotional, but that is what happened for me this morning." Alison Deighton, London-based property developer with a hotel in Italy, also found the experience surprisingly emotional. "We had a?moment? this morning while blending our white wine," said Deighton. "We decided on more steel and less barrel, it created the most fabulous white wine." Everyone agreed the experience was worth travel hassles. "I come from a country with a long wine history but I have never had this kind of experience of emotion linked with wine," admitted Autner, who has bought a chateau in Slovakia and plans to make high-quality wine in his own country. "It?s funny that I had to travel across Europe to find my emotions vis-a-vis the vine."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jYgvzub-V3NNVocQVAkmpNxzqF0g

Also published:

Wine Lovers Can Now Make Their Own Bordeaux Vintage - ABC, AUSTRALIA http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/wireStory?id=10422104

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.

Rosé attracts male following

OFF LICENCE NEWS, UK

20.04.10: More men are starting to drink rosé wine as drier styles become more fashionable, according to leading supermarket buyers and suppliers. The growing popularity of food and wine matching is also helping the rosé category to attract more male drinkers, according to Pierpaolo Petrassi MW, Tesco’s senior product development manager for wine, who said the chain’s new Great With initiative

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Global Wine Trends 23/04/2010 Weekly Update sought “to include a rosé wine for each food type”.

Petrassi said: “The cliché of rosé being a female drink is still prevalent, but less than it was, so we’re moving in the right direction. The sweet, fruity style still dominates in volume terms, but many customers are also discovering drier, more refreshing styles.” Vicky Wood, category development manager for BWS at the Co-op, said: “There has been a shift in male drinking habits towards rosé over the past 12 to 18 months, which I think has been helped, in part, by the introduction of ciders over ice and initiatives from other categories.” She added that while “the sweeter white and White Grenaches are still extraordinarily popular” in the Co- op, sparkling rosé and still pinks from France, South Africa and Argentina “are also selling well”.Peter Crameri, UK manager for LGI-Alain Grignon Wines, added: “The girly effect has somewhat diminished and it is acceptable for males to drink rosé because of the introduction of serious styles.”Despite a recent surge in men buying rosé, more should be done to ensure this trend continues, according to Antoine Leray, UK sales director for Mont Tauch. “Suppliers should be doing more to point the male consumer in the right direction, with clear style descriptions and food-matching recommendations,” he said.

http://www.offlicencenews.co.uk/articles/82370/Rosé-attracts-male- following.aspx?categoryid=245

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