Wine News - August-September, 2009 |
YOU ARE HERE >>
|
Welcome to
VOLUME VII,
NUMBER 7 of Wine News, the e-Letter from the WineCountry.IT network. (Would you
rather see the e-Letter on your favorite browser? Use
this link. Usa il link seguente se vuoi leggere
le News in italiano).
August is gone, school has re-opened and the fire season in California is one of the worst in many years. Hundreds of thousands of acres of national park forests are burning and threatening hundreds of houses and dozens of communities.
The fire may also compromise the California wine production because of the high temperature and heavy smoke, which can damage the grapes not harvested yet.
In Italy the harvest is expected to be abundant, though lower than 2008 because of the uprooting of thousand of hectares of vineyards, but most importantly, it is expected to be outstandingly good.
France is set to become once again the largest grape producer in the world after having been surpassed by Italy in 2009. French wine exports though, dropped over 25% worldwide in the first half of 2009.
In the meantime, a team of US scientists is developing a tiny sensor to measure water stress in grapevines, and the economic recession continues to affect the markets world wide leaving most wine professionals, as well as consumers, wondering and scrambling.
A wealth of other articles are available for your pleasure below. Please, enjoy!
Loris Scagliarini, WineCountry.IT President |
| ADVERTISEMENT |
|
|
Articles |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Real-Time Glimpse Into Water Stress in Plants |
| |
 Alan N. Lakso, a fruit crop organism physiologist with the Department of Horticultural Sciences at Cornell University, first sought to enlist the university nanofabrication laboratory to develop a tiny sensor to measure water stress in grapevines 15 years ago.
Continue...
|
|
|
| France is the Top Wine Producer Once Again While Sales Drop 25% |
| |
 On Thursday, August 27, 2009, the Federation des Exportateurs de Vin et Spiritueux de France (FEVS, or Federation of French Exporters of Wines and Spirits) announced that in the first half of 2009 exports totaled €3.28 billion, down from €4.35 billion (see values in other currencies) in the same period last year, with a plunge of over 25%.
Continue...
|
|
|
|
Forum Spumanti D'Italia |
| |
 On September 5, 6, and 7, 2009, at Villa dei Cedri in Valdobbiadene, in the province of Treviso, the event Forum Spumanti D'Italia takes place, under the patronage of the Presidency of the Republic of Italy.
Preceding the Forum, a group of restaurants of the Altamarca Trevigiana area offer menus created expressly for the event, pairing different types of cuisine to sparkling Italian wines and live music.
Continue...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Global Wine Industry Leaders to Meet at Wine Future-Rioja 09 |
| |
 Mel Dick (President of Wines for Southern Wine & Spirits), Dan Jago (Director of Wines for Tesco), Troy Christenssen (Constellation Europe), Robert M. Parker, Jr., Jancis Robinson, Oz Clarke, Miguel Torres, Don St. Pierre (CEO and managing director of ASC Fine Wines), and Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library TV) among the 35 speakers featured at Wine Future-Rioja 09, in Spain.
Continue...
|
|
|
|
|
|
San Martino in Cantina 2009 |
| |
 San Martino in Cantina (St. Martin in the Cellar) is Italy's annual celebration of the new grape harvest, which takes place Sunday, November 15, during the weekend closest to St. Martin's Day, which falls on November the 11th. For the occasion, wine cellars all over the country will open their doors to wine lovers for the tasting of newly made wines, called Vino Novello.
Continue...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Inventory Control a Must in Today's Economy |
| |
 About 18 months into the current sluggish economy, wines which retail for under $10 a bottle are the best sellers, those selling for $10 to $15 have a modest success, and those retailing for over $25 a bottle are struggling. Thus, from consumer cellars, to store shelves, restaurant wine lists, and importer and distributor warehouses, the buzzword is inventory.
Continue...
|
|
|
|
Cork a Key to Success in US Market |
| |
 Amorim, the world's leader in the production of natural cork wine closures, welcomes recent news indicating natural cork remains the wine closure of choice in the United States. This fact has been underlined with the release of two new studies, as well as the outstanding success of a cork-sealed New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc in the US market. Leading US trade publication Wine Business Monthly again highlighted the positive perceptions of natural cork among US wineries in its 2009 Closure Report.
Continue...
|
|
|
|
360 Green Revolution |
| |
 Lorenzo Fasola Bologna is the CEO of Monte Vibiano, a commercial farm producing wine and extra virgin olive oil in one of the most pleasant, evocative landscapes in the world. On October 11, 2008 the farm launched the radical project 360 Green Revolution, to make the production more ecologically sound. The ambitious objective is to bring carbon emission to zero by the end of 2009.
Continue...
|
|
|
| Vino Italiano 2009 |
| |
 The spectacular view of the San Francisco Bay, from Alcatraz to the sandy beach which runs from the end of Fisherman's Wharf to the Fort Mason compound, provided an evocative frame to the event, for the pleasure and enjoyment of the roughly 250 young wine lovers and connoisseurs who pre-paid $45, or $50 at the door.
Continue...
|
|
|
|
France: AOC for Bugey Wines |
| |
 The Institut National des Appellations d'Origine (INAO, or National Institute of Appellation of Origin) has approved the plan to allow the areas of 'Bugey' and 'Roussette du Bugey' to become AOCs (Appellation d'Origine Controlé, or Controlled Appellation of Origin).
Continue...
|
|
|
|
Red Wine Increases Women's Libido |
| |
 A scientific study by researchers of the hospital Santa Maria Annunziata in Florence, has found that one glass or two of red wine increases women's libido. According to the experts, the the study results show that chemical compounds found in red wine may improve sexual functioning by increasing blood flow to key areas of the body.
Continue...
|
|
|
|
New Wine Guides: La Romagna da Bere and L'Emilia da Bere |
| |
 The two wine guides entitled La Romagna da Bere (Romagna to Drink) and L'Emilia da Bere (Emilia to Drink) year after year are turning out to be the essential manuals for wine lovers who want to be in the know about wines, wineries and typical products of the Emilia Romagna region. In fact, the 2009/2010 edition has selected 65 labels, 39 from Romagna and 26 from Emilia, as the Eccellenze del Territorio (Excellent Ones from the Land), choosing from among 1,000 wines produced by 300 wineries, that is, almost twice as many labels as those tasted for the previous issues of the guides.
Continue...
|
|
|
| Five Ancient Roman Shipwrecks Found Off Italy Coast |
| |
 On Friday, July 24, 2009, Italian officials said that much of the cargo found in five shipwrecks between 1,600 and 1,900 years old, submerged below 100 to 150 meters (about 330 to 490 feet) of water off the tiny island of Ventotene, between Rome and Naples, is largely intact
Continue...
|
|
|
|
Italian Wine Output to Slow as Producers Uproot Vines |
| |
 The EU wine reform which took effect in August 2008, offers cash to dig up vines and cut back the output of less competitive wine types, with the goal of limiting Europe's production of "wine lakes." According to the three-year-plan, the cash premium is highest in the first year and decreases the following two. The EU reform aims to remove 175,000 hectares (around 432,435 acres) of vineyards out of the existing 3.6 million hectares (about 8.9 million acres).
Continue...
|
|
|
|
|
|
The wines of Cantina Ritterhof, owned by 
In a recent article published by Seattle's Puget Sound Business Journal, journalist Steve Wilhelm wrote that Washington state's vintners expect a record harvest of grapes to fuel the local burgeoning wine industry.
Gianni Zonin, chairman of the Banca Popolare di Vicenza and head of wine producing enterprise Zonin, proposed that banks accept expensive, quality wines and prosciutto 
The 18th annual of the Mostra Assaggio (Tasting Exhibition) of wines from the 
The project entitled 
