Australian Winery Sues Franzia Cos Over New Australian Wine Chad Bray – Dow Jones Newswires NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–The Australian winery that produces [yellow tail] wine has sued two companies affiliated with Fred T. Franzia, the vintner that produces an ultralow-priced wine nicknamed “Two Buck Chuck,” over the introduction of a low-cost Australian wine. The [...]
Vineyard Near Glen Ellen Brings in Season’s First Pinot Noir By Kevin McCallum – Press Democrat GLEN ELLEN — Kicking off the annual North Coast grape harvest, a dozen workers plunged into a dark Sonoma Valley vineyard before dawn Monday and emerged with a surprising find — a far larger than expected crop. If the [...]
I’ll Take a Venti Beer, Please – Starbucks adds booze to menu By Olsen Ebright After building an empire based on caffeine, Starbucks is mixing it up and giving beer and wine a shot. Taking a page from Europe’s coffeehouse playbook, Starbucks is hoping alcohol may be the silver bullet to boost its stagnant stock [...]
Wine critic Shizuku Kanzaki boosts Japanese wine sales Entire 20,000-bottle shipments of burgundy sell out within hours in Tokyo if he so much as looks at a glass, South Korea’s biggest film star is lined-up to play him in a TV drama and he has converted thousands of Asian women into the most discerning oenophiles. [...]
Antonio Banderas Buys Spanish Vineyard The latest trend in the entertainment industry these days is buying wineries. The most recent transaction was by Hollywood actor Antonio Banderas, who has bought the Bodega Anta Natura in Ribera del Duero. Banderas is thought to have acquired 50% shareholding of Bodega Anta Natura, located in the town of [...]
Beaujolais ‘sugar ring’ fined heavily as supermarkets escape with light sentences The wine producers in the Beaujolais sugar case have been found guilty of illegally adding sugar to their wine and fined up to US$27,000 each – much higher than originally demanded by the prosecution. The state prosecutor had originally requested between US$950 and US$2,000 [...]
The 100-Point Question You can’t please all the people all the time. For example, when it comes to judging wines, some people think I give out too many high scores, while others consider me stingy because I have so rarely given out 100-point ratings. I have rated many wines 98 or 99 in blind tastings. [...]
Message in a bottle: Sting’s vineyard to sell ‘rock star wine’ The rock star Sting – whose best known songs include Message in a Bottle – is to produce 30,000 bottles of Chianti a year from his 300-hectare estate in Tuscany. The singer, 57, whose real name is Gordon Sumner, made the announcement at a [...]
The French Wine Industry vs Parisian Bureaucrats While the French wine industry is reeling from same economic downturn as the rest of the world, members have had to defend themselves in the National Assembly against Bachelot’s Law, which would have forced wine writers to state a warning that “the consumption of alcohol is detrimental to [...]
Hong Kong The Hong Kong Government abolished it’s excise tax on wine last year. Previously it was 80%. In 2007 it cut the tax in half – to 40%, and then, last year they eliminated the tax completely! The Chinese taste for wine is growing and Hong Kong wants to be the Asian hub for [...]
