More than 12 million bottles of Riesling sold in the United States this year will feature a Riesling Taste Profile on the label. It's hoped that the description will assist consumers in their understanding of the degree of sweetness of the wine. The Profile will be divided into four categories: Dry, Medium Dry, Medium Sweet, and Sweet and was created by the International Riesling Foundation (IRF), a non-profit industry group formed to promote the white wine grape variety. Wineries in the five largest Riesling-producing US states have signed up along with producers from other countries including Germany and Canada. Nicolas Quillé of Washington's Pacific Rim Winery has been using the scale on his back labels since late 2008 and saw his business grow 50% in 2009.
Wine News
New Riesling Tasting Profile Added to Labels
Friday, February 26th, 2010Bordeaux Announces Intention to Become World Leader in Sustainability
Friday, February 26th, 2010Bordeaux is aiming to be a world leader in winemaking sustainability with the launch of an Environmental Management System. Bordeaux wine body the CIVB announced its commitment to radically reduce carbon emissions by 2050. A 2008 study found that the Bordeaux wine industry produces 200,000 tonnes of carbon per year. CIVB pledged to reduce this by 25% by 2020 and by 75% by 2050. The aim of the new system is to reduce the environmental impact of wine production from the vineyard to bottling and transporting with a focus upon recylcing technologies.
CIVB will provide training to help companies set emissions levels, set up alert systems for reducing impact, and run efficiency audits. The CIVB will be running a pilot study with 20 companies this year to troubleshoot the issues.
Second Growth Bordeaux Producer Launches Second Wine
Friday, February 26th, 2010Bordeaux second growth Chateau Leoville Las Cases has announced it's intention to produce a second wine. Yorick D'Alton of the Delon family, owners of the St Julien property, said this week it was the wish of Leoville Las Cases director Jean-Hubert Delon 'to make a real second wine.' Currently the property produces two wines, the grand vin from the original walled 'clos' vineyard, true storied and collectible wine, and Clos de Marquis, from a separate plot to the west of St Julien, with very different terroir. D'Alton said, 'This will be a common second wine from both vineyards, made from young vines and vats that are not of the right quality level for the grand vin.' The first release of the new wine, to be called Petit Leon de Léoville, will be from the 2007 vintage. This more entry level wine should be more affordable than its older brother, allowing wine enthusiasts to enjoy Bordeaux from a top notch producer.
South Africa Wine in Lighter, Environmentally Sensitive Bottles
Friday, February 26th, 2010As South Africa continues to defy the global economic downturn by increasing the export of its packaged wines each year, it is also making concerted moves to lower the weight of its wine bottles and so maintain its status as an ecologically sensitive winemaking nation. According to the industry's public relations organisation, Wines of South Africa, 750ml wine bottles closed with screwcaps and weighing only 350 grams will be available to local wine producers from this year. These compare with an average bottle weight of over 500 grams just four years ago.
"As we raise our export volumes of mostly bottled wines, we also increase our carbon emissions, so it becomes a delicate balancing act to enhance our sustainability profile while pushing up our output," explained Su Birch, Wines of South Africa (WOSA) chief executive. "On the face of it, one solution might be to ship more of our wines in bulk directly to their export destinations for off-shore bottling. However, this poses a major problem in that many jobs would be lost during what must rank as the worst recession in current memory." She said the wine industry body, SA Wine Industry Information Systems (SAWIS), had calculated that for every 10 million litres of wine shipped in bulk, just over 107 jobs would be lost.
New Local Wine Events Segment Launches!
Monday, February 15th, 2010We have moved our Local Wine and Food Events section under the Home Page header: Local Wine Events. When clicked, you will have the choice of scrolling through The Wine Inquirer calendar or clicking on to Localwineevents.com.
The Wine Inquirer calendar is easy to use. You simply move your arrow across the calendar dates to view what events are upcoming on that date and click for further information. The most timely 4 events are also listed just to the right of the calendar. You can also click on to any given date for event details of that date or the month which will list the month's activities.
Owner of Bianco Pizza in Phoenix Steps Aside…Temporarily
Friday, February 5th, 2010Bordeaux Chateaus Offer En Primeur Public Tastings of the 2009 Vintage
Friday, February 5th, 2010For the first time, Bordeaux chateaus will be offering “en primeur” or futures tasting samples for the public of the highly acclaimed 2009 vintage. The 2009 vintage is still 18 months away from bottling
The event is being organized by the shop Sampler in north London. While industry experts routinely have access to pre-bottled samples from the barrel, this is the first time that chateaus have offered such tastings to the public. The samples will be represented by many of the Bordeaux chateaus, at least 12 of which have confirmed their participation in this event. While the timing is yet to be finalized, it's likely to be after the industry tastings in March. What a fantastic marketing concept……..allow the public to sample the product long before it’s widely available. Perhaps the California wine producers should do the same??
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