Wine Atlas

FINANCIAL strife at Western Australian winemaker Evans & Tate proves again that it is a drinker's market at the moment.

Evans & Tate executive chairman Franklin Tate.

E&T halted the savaging of it shares yesterday with an announcement it would sustain its first ever loss and slash the value of its stock by nearly 10 per cent.

There had been fears that the winemaker was on the brink of collapse, prompting a massive 50 per cent slide in its share price over the past week.

By HEATH ASTON

Continue reading : dailytelegraph.news.com.au

The village of Ditchling in the South Downs in East Sussex may sound like an unlikely location for the production of wines to rival the best that France can offer in vintage champagnes.

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Training your sniffer is the most difficult and demanding task for any wine enthusiast. But it also is the most rewarding. Flavor begins and ends here.

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This land is your land, this land is my land, all 9.97 million square kilometres of scenic beauty and natural resources.

We count our blessings amid colourful fishing villages, snow-capped mountains, endless wheat fields, green valleys and ice-covered islands.

People speaking every language from all countries in the world are proud to call themselves Canadians.

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Doug Wagner is baffled. When he opened ClearWeather Winery in Missoula two years ago, he expected his wine-tasting room to attract mostly local residents.

Instead, tourists are the ones who find his place, off North Reserve.

Mike Greener Missoulian - Judy Chapman, owner of the Lolo Peak Winery in Missoula, tastes a glass of Strawberry Wine from a 500-gallon tank. The winery makes more than seven different wines, all from fruit bought from local vendors...

Maybe that makes sense after all. On vacation, we play. We stop to wander through antique shops or take a hike and stop at an out-of-the-way grill on the way home. In short, it is time to enjoy simple pleasures, sometimes even the ones in our own backyards.

Continue reading : helenair.com

Don't take it on my authority alone - but there's increasingly widespread respect for the products of English grapes in the media.

And, if you still don't believe us, take a trip into English wine country and find out for yourself.

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LONDON - Jacob's Creek has become the first wine brand to introduce temperature-sensitive labels that will indicate when the wine is cool enough to drink.

The Pernod Ricard-owned brand is introducing the labels on bottles of its sparkling Chardonnay Pinot Noir, Sparkling Rose and Shiraz Rose to advise consumers when the wine is at its optimum temperature to drink.

Source : brandrepublic.com

Paris - Groupe Taittinger, best known for its Champagne but also a force in the luxury products and hotel sectors, said on Monday that it had instructed French banks BNP Paribas and Rothschild to study approaches made by potential buyers.

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It is an historical irony that the wines of Southern Italy have been piquing the interest of connoisseurs in recent years. In fact, the vineyards of Puglia, Sicily, Campania and Basilicata are some of the oldest and most productive on the face of the earth. When the Greeks first ventured into Italy centuries and centuries ago, they called the lower peninsula Oenotria, land of wine. But discerning imbibers are to be forgiven if they have paid less attention to this region in years past. The winemakers in the bottom of the boot have generally been more interested in quantity than quality, sending tankers of grape juice around the world to form the base of mass market wine products and wine-based beverages such as Vermouth.

There has been a sea change in the viticulture of the region in the past few years, with a growing number of vintners marketing their wares to a more sophisticated international market. Instead of trying to compete with the famous wines to the north, including Tuscany's Chianti, and the fabled reds of the Piedmont, Barolo and Barberesco, the new wave of Southern Italian wine makers are often embracing the traditions of the region. The climate there is warmer than is ideal for wine grapes, resulting in robust, fruity flavors that tend to lack the subtlety and layers of wines produced in cooler regions. But when the vintners resort to tenting vineyards to reduce the heat, or simply moving the plants to higher elevations, these grapes produce wines of unique and intriguing character.

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Pernod Ricard SA on Friday secured European Union antitrust approval to buy Allied Domecq PLC for $14 billion after agreeing to sell certain brands.

The European Commission, the EU's regulatory arm, cleared the purchase after Pernod Ricard agreed to sell Glen Grant, Old Smuggler and Braemar whiskey and the 1920 and CR&F brandy.

The companies also agreed to end certain distribution agreements in Portugal for the Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey brand and Moet & Chandon and Dom Perignon champagnes, the commission said...

Bloomberg News Published June 25, 2005

Source : chicagotribune.com

Five years ago, I predicted here that Spain would enjoy dramatic gains during this decade in consumer appreciation of its wines.

This prediction is faring quite well at this point, but Spain must now respond to a major new challenge.

In 2004, total Spanish wine sales in the United States were 72 percent higher than in 2000, according to U.S. Department of Commerce figures. A major obstacle has arisen, however, in the form of a steep decline in the value of the dollar against the euro. This has inevitably translated into higher shelf prices for all European products. Particular Spanish wines that looked inexpensive a couple of years ago now look notably less affordable.

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Twenty-eight local charities received checks totaling $268,000 from Cincinnati International Wine Festival treasurer Barry T. Oppelt at a reception at Kenwood Country Club. The funds were raised at this year's wine festival in March.

Some 75 guests, including wine festival board president Connie Wiles and executive director Michelle Egbers, were on hand for the celebration.

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AUSTRALIAN wine producer Palandri is drawing up plans to hire a Scottish broker to grow its investor base north of the Border. Palandri, which is based in Perth in western Australia, is understood to be ready to ditch its house broker, Panmure Gordon, and replace it with a Scottish company.

Darrel Jarvis, Palandri's chief executive, and Gordon Grant, chief operating officer, were in Edinburgh last week for a series of meetings with fund managers, private client brokers and stockbrokers, including Bell Lawrie White...

By GUY DIXON

Source : business.scotsman.com

Laws that will mean Australian taxpayers will pay New Zealand wine producers a small subsidy have been introduced into parliament.

Assistant Treasurer Mal Brough introduced a series of tax law amendments, covering the child care rebate, deductible gift recipients and a schedule that will help the Australian Bureau of Statistics access more information from the tax office.

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Australia's wine industry is being warned to look to new markets or risk further price drops.

Production has peaked at 1.3 million litres of wine, with the UK our biggest customer.

But while exports are on the rise, the value of wine is falling, to average $4.19 a litre.

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