Aussie wine grape woes continue

If you're paying top dollar for Australian wines, you may want to consider patronizing a different wine merchant.

The ongoing economic woes are continuing Down Under. According to Mark McKenzie of the organization Wine Grape Growers Australia:

"Really it's more around the fact that that lower volume coupled with the worst price position for wine grape growers in terms of the wine grape prices they're receiving in real terms which are the worst in living memory, that is what's causing the financial crisis in the wine grape sector at the moment."

In an effort to stabilize grape supply, nearly 20,000 acres of vines have been uprooted in the Murray Valley and Riverland areas. In the past two years, an oversupply and a dip in prices has wreaked havoc with the industry.

Australia has an estimated 95 million cases of unsold wine.

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Ontario tax may impact NY grapegrowers

Any New York wine grape growers who have been selling their produce to neighboring Ontario winemakers might find that revenue source endangered.

“The Ontario provincial government 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,” reports the Toronto Globe & Mail newspaper.

“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.”

The issue has caused such a rift that Canadian companies selling blended wines have withdrawn from the Wine Council of Ontario, an industry group that backs the tax move, and created a rival trade organization.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 expected to be raised annually is being aimed at promoting locally-sourced, upscale wines. The view of the government and boutique wineries is that to prosper, vintners should specialize in brands with a better pedigree, those labelled Vintners Quality Alliance, the appellation for premium domestic wines using 100% Canadian content.

You can read the complete Globe & Mail story here.

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Bill aims to halt direct alcohol shipping

• From the Wine Spectator website:

The battle over whether consumers can order wine directly from wineries is moving to the halls of the U.S. Capitol.

Members of Congress yesterday [April 15] introduced a bill, HR 5034, that could end direct shipping of wine and other forms of alcohol in the United States, or at least put major roadblocks in front of lawsuits by consumers and wineries trying to reduce restrictions on direct shipping.

Wine Spectator obtained a copy of a draft of the bill on Wednesday [April 14], which was crafted by the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA). It would strengthen state governments' control of alcohol sales, allowing them to protect the three-tier system of distribution while putting a much greater burden on people challenging it. ...

"The whole idea [behind the bill] is to make it prohibitively difficult for wineries and consumers to challenge discriminatory and irrational laws that have little or nothing to do with the protection of the public," said Kirkland & Ellis attorney Tracy Genesen, who has been the lead attorney on many direct-shipping lawsuits that have resulted in state alcohol laws being overturned.

[Go here for the full story.]

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VT winery fills GOP's 'office supplies' order

Forget the strip club party expenses that have made the news after a Republican National Committee expenditure filing with the Federal Election Commission. How about nearly $1,000 for "office supplies" from a Vermont winery?

The name of Boyden Valley Winery, located in Cambridge in rural northern Vermont, showed up in the expenditures column to the tune of $982. It was for 60 bottles of its Swedish-style Glogg, a spiced red wine, and was listed as "office supplies."

Boyden Valley Winery, which operates on a crossroads in the small town of Cambridge in rural northern Vermont and specializes in ice wines, turned up on a Republican party filing of expenditures with the Federal Election Commission.

"I'm a little annoyed that I'm tied to such an article," Boyden said in a Tuesday interview with the wire service. "We've worked really hard to ... have a wholesome image."

The winery is located in a restored 1875 carriage barn on the Boyden family farm. It encompasses 8,000 grapevines and 100 acres of maple trees tended by the family for four generations in the Lamoille River Valley.

Boyden Valley Winery is open year-round and welcomes visitors. Presumably, even Republicans.

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Inventor of wine box dead at 92

• From the Melbourne, Australia, Herald-Sun:

Winemaker and businessman John Angove remembers telling his father it was crazy to think anyone would buy wine sold in a plastic bag held inside a cardboard box.

Fortunately for consumers and perhaps the wine industry at large, Thomas Angove (right) didn't listen to his then-15-year-old son and pressed ahead with his idea to make wine cheaper.

The result was the early versions of the wine cask, a packaging concept that revolutionized wine marketing and has since spilled over into other sectors.

But Thomas Angove, 92, who passed away at his home ... on March 30 ... was much more than just the 1960s inventor of the wine cask. He will also be remembered as the man who introduced significant wine grape varieties to the Riverland and as a leading figure in the Australian brandy industry for much of his life.

[Go here for the full story.]

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Highway threatens Germany's Mosel wine region

• From the New York Times wine blog

An ungainly highway project will put a four-lane, mile-long bridge right through some of the finest and most historic vineyards of the Mosel (or Moselle) wine region in Germany.

By all rights nature’s annual season of rebirth ought to inspire feelings of optimism and excitement. This year, however, thoughts of spring and the Mosel are bringing sadness instead, because of an ungainly highway project that would put a four-lane, mile-long bridge right through some of the finest and most historic vineyards of the Mosel.

It’s not just a proposal, either. Work on the highway has already begun, and several protests over the last couple of years have not deterred the supporters of the project, including Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. Another protest, led by the British wine writer Hugh Johnson, is planned for Berlin on April 11.

[Go here for the complete story.]

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Another lawsuit over 'fake' rare wines

Last winter, I posted an item on billionaire wine collector William Koch's ire over what he claims are fake wines.

Koch (right) this week filed another lawsuit as part of his four-year-long crusade, claiming the auction house Christie’s International in New York ignored evidence of fakery in the 1980s when it marketed several bottles supposedly once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

Christie’s denies the charges, calling them "incorrect."

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King of the Wine Frontier

• The death this week at age 85 of Fess Parker (right), the former iconic actor (Davy Crockett, Dan'l Boone) who became a major name in the California wine industry, has been lamented by legions and chronicled by many. One of the more interesting articles, however, came in a first-person article by Maureen Orth for Vanity Fair -- more of an inside peek than a standard obituary. It begins:

"Fess Parker, who died yesterday at 85, was a childhood hero of mine as the star of the TV series 'Davy Crockett.' I got to know him, however, because he was a neighbor of Michael Jackson’s.

"We first met in 1993, as the zoo animals were being evacuated from Jackson’s Neverland Ranch during a vicious wildfire. A courtly six-foot-six, Parker had retired from acting years earlier but maintained his fame by creating a successful winery and picturing himself in his trademark coonskin cap on the labels of his bottles. He was the unofficial mayor of Los Olivos, the beautiful winemaking town in the Santa Ynez Valley north of Santa Barbara, and he presided over the luxurious Fess Parker Wine Country Inn and Spa with his charming wife of 50 years, the chanteuse Marcella Rinehart.

"Fess and Marcella held community sings around the piano in the lobby of their inn on Thursday nights, and they were a few of the more memorable evenings I spent while covering Jackson’s child-molestation trial for Vanity Fair in 2005. When I was first invited to attend, I thought it was just going to be a campfire-type sing-along with a group of neighbors, but it was actually a night of carefully rehearsed performances. The hills were alive with onetime stars."

[Go here for the full article.]

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Indiana eases alcohol restrictions

Indiana has become the latest state to loosen some restrictions on its alcoholic beverage sales.

Under legislation overwhelmingly passed in the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Mitch Daniels, the state's bars, restaurants, microbreweries and liquor stores will, as of July 1:

• Be allowed to extend Sunday drinking hours to 3 a.m.
• Sell alcohol on Election Day.
• Conduct Sunday carryout sales at microbreweries.

The legislation, known as Senate Enrolled Act 75, also requires any establishments that have carryout sales to card all customers who appear younger than 50.

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Invasive moth just one California problem

• From SFgate.com:

A huge swath of [California] Wine Country, including vineyards where some of the world's best grapes are grown, was quarantined this week after an invasive moth was discovered.

The European grapevine moth has already destroyed at least one vineyard's harvest and damaged other prime vineyards in the Napa Valley, prompting the California Department of Food and Agriculture to place under quarantine 162 square miles of land, mostly in Napa County but including parts of Sonoma and Solano counties.

"This is a serious threat to grape growing, not just in Napa County but throughout California," said Greg Clark, the assistant agricultural commissioner for Napa County. ...

The grape-gobbling pest has long been the scourge of winemakers in Europe, but the discovery of moth larvae in a Napa Valley vineyard in September marked the first time the insect had been seen in the United States.

[Go here for the full story.]

Meanwhile, Business Week's Dan Levy writes:

"That sound you hear is not the uncorking of a cabernet, it's the popping of California's wine country bubble.

"Crumbling land prices and a newfound popularity of cheaper wine may turn 2010 into a vintage year for Napa Valley foreclosures. As many as 10 premium wineries and vineyards in the area -- home to the nation's priciest grapes -- will change hands in distressed sales or foreclosures this year and next, according to an estimate by Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB). (In 2008 there were none.) Property loan defaults in January were up fourfold from a year ago. Says Bill Stevens, manager of the bank's wine division: "We have 250 vintner clients saying this downturn is the worst in 20 years."

Suffering the most are newer arrivals, some of whom made their fortunes in real estate and finance.

[Go here for the full story.]

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Chilean wine loss less than feared

• From Decanter.com

Earthquake damage to the Chilean wine industry is not nearly as bad as feared, the country's biggest producers say.

After a board meeting Wednesday at Vinos de Chile and Wines of Chile, the domestic and international operations that represent 95% of the industry, the verdict is that some 12.5% of the country's cellared wine has been lost.

That is about US$250 million worth of wine -- a figure that will not represent actual loss as the wine is insured, and moreover the country's wineries were overstocked, Rene Merino, president of Wines of Chile told decanter.com.

The meeting consisted of the heads of Concha y Toro, Errazuriz, Santa Rita, San Pedro, Undurraga, Montes, Veramonte, Casa Silva and Tamaya, as well as the country's biggest bottle manufacturer, Cristal Chile.

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Quake compromises Chile's wine industry

• Excerpted from news service

As the death toll in Chile climbs to near 800, the toll from Saturday's 8.8-magnitude earthquake on one of its largest exports, wine, still is being assessed.

"The impact on the infrastructure was considerable as the earthquake severely affected the heart of the Chilean wine industry: Maipo, Cachapoal, Colchagua, Maule and Bio Bio wine regions," Salvador Domenech, managing director of Santa Rita wines said. "We don't see major impact on the vineyards, so we are maintaining the enthusiasm regarding the quality of the upcoming grapes."

Viña Concha y Toro SA, the major wine producer, has halted operations for at least a week due to damage to its facilities caused by the Saturday quake.

Most of the fatalities so far have been in the wine-growing Maule region that includes the port city of Talcahuano, which also was devastated by a post-quake tsunami.

Luis Mayol, president of Chile's National Agriculture Society, told Chilean business daily Diario Financiero the industry is likely to suffer some significant losses from the earthquake, which seriously damaged the country's infrastructure, including wine storage facilities.

Antonio Larrain, general manager of the Chilean Wine Corporatin, said 70% of the country's vineyards are located in quake-hit areas.

He said the country has 900 million liters of wine in stock at the moment. A first analysis suggests that 20% of that amount might be "compromised."

The start of the harvest season was to have begun in parts of Chile last weekend.

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King Family is Virginia wine royalty

RICHMOND, VA -- The King Family Vineyards crew undoubtedly will always remember the 2010 Virginia Wine Expo.

The event, which culminated Friday night at the Richmond Convention Center, saw the King enterprise rack up a few honors:

• Governor's Cup and a category gold medal for what the judges said was the state's top wine, a 2007 Meritage. It was accepted by winemaker Matthieu Finot.

• David King (above right), head of the Crozet, VA, operation located a 15-minute drive from Charlottesville at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, was named the state's "Wine Grower of the Year."

• Silver medals for King Family's 2008 Cabernet Franc and its 2007 Merlot.

More than 200 wines were entered in the competition. Virginia has 157 licensed wineries.

The Governor's Cup-winning Meritage -- which earlier won double gold in the 2009 Monticello Cup -- is a blend of 56% Merlot, 20% Petit Verdot, 16% Cabernet Franc, and 8% Malbec. It was aged in French oak for 18 months, and just 615 cases were produced.

The Meritage sells for $25.95 a bottle. Go here for purchasing information.

[Go here for my tasting notes report on the Meritage.]

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Calif.'s North Coast wine industry in trouble

• From the Santa Rosa, CA, Press-Democrat:

The North Coast wine industry, home to the highest concentration of high-end wineries and vineyards in the nation, is reeling from the impacts of a recession that has made it chic to drink cheap wine.

Few are immune from the sea change sweeping the industry, from ultra-luxury brands fetching over $100 a bottle to high-volume supermarket wines struggling to keep prices above $10 amid a flood of inexpensive imports and deeply discounted domestic wines.

"This is beyond a recession. This is a complete resetting of the clock," said Sebastopol winemaker Tim Olson (left), co-owner of the boutique Olson Ogden wine brand.

Falling wine prices have affected everything from the value of vineyard land, to how much money banks will lend wineries, to how much wineries will pay for grapes. Layoffs have hit even the strongest wineries, while the very viability of others is in doubt.

[Go here for the full story.]

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With DeNiro, is the medium the message?

Was Robert DeNiro sending a message, albeit a mixed one, in “Everybody’s Fine”?

The film — the story of a man trying to build connections to his grown children whose only connection with him had been through his late wife — includes a scene (shown above) in which DeNiro’s character is shopping at a local supermarket for wine.

The problem with that? His character lives in Elmira, NY, where, as we all know, it would not be legal to sell wine in markets because the state currently prohibits it.

Perhaps the actor, who also has/had interests in several New York City restaurants (Nobu, Tribeca Grille, Locanda Verdi), was making a point about what he thought the availability of wine should be.

Then again, when he asks a supermarket employee if he was knowledgeable about wine, the actor E.J. Carroll replies, "I stock the shelves." He goes on to explain "We have English wine from France ... and Italian wines from all over Europe."

That could be read as a message about the lack of knowledge we might have to confront if wine sales were expanded beyond their current venues -- wine and spirits shops only.

Was art imitating life, or what the moviemakers think life should be?

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French wine producers guilty of mislabeling

• From the Reuters news service:

CARCASSONNE, FRANCE -- A dozen wine producers and traders were found guilty of having supplied an American trader with mislabeled "Pinot Noir" wines, and six were handed a suspended prison sentence.

In a rare case pitting local producers from the southwest of France against the big U.S. trader E&J Gallo, the president of the criminal court ... said ... "there has been fraud."

In 2008, French customs found that during three years some 13.5 million liters, or about 3.6 million gallons, of mislabeled wine had been sold to Gallo. The producers and traders were accused of deliberately mislabeling the wine with a more expensive variety of grape.

[Go here for the full story.]

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More Illinois wineries, less Illinois wine

Go figure. The number of wineries in Illinois has risen to 91 from 68 in 2005, but overall production is down.

According to the Illinois Grape Growers & Vintners Association, annual production fell from 500,000 gallons to 367,000 in the same period, according to the latest statistics available.

"Initially, there was a lot of overproduction, so there was kind of a correction to meet the demand,” said Megan Presnall, association marketing director.

The study also noted a lower-yield crop in 2007 contributing to the decline.

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Subway plans beer and wine in Colorado airport

GRAND JUNCTION, CO -- Burger King, which recently opened in Miami the chain's first burger-and-beer bar, has nothing on Subway.

The sandwich shop chain will be offering both beer and wine at a new Subway sandwich shop under construction at the Grand Junction Regional Airport.

The Grand Junction Regional Airport Authority this week approved the franchise store's plans to serve alcohol when it opens on the airport terminal's second floor in May or April.

Kevin Kane, spokesman for Subway in its Milford, CT, headquarters, said alcohol is not served at stores that have street access, but there are exceptions when it's part of the lease agreement with the landlord. The airport will hold the liquor license.

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French wine and spirits exports dip

• From the Associated Press

PARIS -- French exports of Champagne and Cognac suffered a record drop last year as people drank less and switched to cheaper brands in the United States and Britain, its biggest foreign markets.

Exports of wine and spirits fell 17% to $10.5 billion last year, according to figures released Thursday by the Federation of French Wine and Spirits Exporters.

It marked the largest ever one-year drop and first annual decline since 2004, said Renaud Gaillard, a spokesman for the industry group. France is the world's biggest wine and spirits exporter.

[Go here for the full story.]
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Wine/beer-in-markets: OK in WA, No in OK

While politicians and market forces are slugging out the matter of selling wine in New York supermarkets, a measure that would have allowed grocery stores in Oklahoma to sell wine and high-alcohol beer has failed.

The Senate Business and Labor Committee killed Senate Joint Resolution 62a measure on Monday. If it had passed, it would have gone to a public vote.

Meanwhile, in Washington state the House passed a measure Saturday night, 72-22, to allow grocery stores to offer wine- and beer-tasting events. The bill now goes to the Senate, which passed a similar measure earlier in the day. A pilot project for such tastings expired last September.

The bill passed Saturday allows grocery stores to continue to offer the tastings. Under the measure, wineries and breweries can conduct pouring, bottle signing, and other similar activities in conjunction with a tasting.

In Oklahoma, the measure was introduced by Sen. Andrew Rice of Oklahoma City, the Senate Democratic minority leader-designate. He cited the potential for economic development.

He said Oklahoma's liquor laws are antiquated and predicted his bill would have been passed in a public vote. Because the measure was killed in committee, it cannot be inserted into another measure.

Sen. Dan Newberry, R-Tulsa, said the measure had a number of problems, among them a potential increase in young people's access to alcohol. Sen. Randy Brogdon, R-Owasso, said the measure was discriminatory because it was limited to Oklahoma and Tulsa counties. But, he said, he would have voted against it even if that had beem remedied.

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