Dr Vino's wine blog

“It’s a marvelous creature, with hair flying everywhere, which launches itself over the vineyards.” – Frank Gehry on the Marques de Riscal winery, which he designed. [EiTB]

“Wine is done for what? The public! Wine is a business. They want to make wine to sell wine. In the U.S. they are honest enough to tell you they want good ratings. They don’t want loser wines.” – Michel Rolland [NYT]

“Given that new markets take time to develop, I would say the next 12 to 24 months will see continued pain before things get better.” -Spokesman for the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation [UPI]

“Synergies and mix from the Vincor acquisition added to operating margin improvements but were mostly offset by competitive market conditions in the UK that did not allow us to pass on the increase in UK duty costs, and the impact of stock compensation expense recognition.” Constellation’s recent earnings [Bev Daily]

“We wanted something special, and we really did it. I don’t know how to top it. This guy’s a living legend. I don’t know if it will ever happen again,” Bruce Cohn said of Willie Nelson’s charity performance at his winery.

Related: “Meeting Michel Rolland” [Dr. V]

tags: wine | Michel Rolland | willie nelson

Wineau RIP: R.W. “Johnny” Apple’s obit in the NYT.

Wine glut: merlot hangs on the vine [Sonoma Press Democrat]

Wine glug: Americans drank 2.1 percent more wine last year polishing off 273.7 million 9-liter cases according to Adams Beverage. Imported wines overall grew 5.6% while domestic wines rose 0.9%.

Wine truth: Sonoma in the brand name now must be 75 percent from Sonoma. [Sac Bee]

Wine woot: I got the loot. All arrived safely and promptly.

Holy wine: Jesus turned water into wine. The Church of St Mary in Christchurch, NZ is turning it into cold, hard cash selling its own brand of wine to fund building work. [stuff.co.nz]

Wine bling: C$30,000 for a half-bottle of ice wine from Canada. Only 5 cases produced. Yikes.

Ice wine: Dan Aykroyd gets into the ice wine action with Dan Aykroyd Signature Reserve Vidal Icewine 2005, due out next year. Not expected to be $30,000 a bottle.

tags: wine | wine news | icewine

Holy goose: A Chicago Rabbi invokes the wrath of God if the City Council’s two Jewish members vote to overturn the ban. The measure was passed 48-1 earlier this year. [Sun-Times] Related: Goose gitmo

French women do get fat: A study finds that a third of French woman are overweight. Is it the foie gras? Or fast food? [Daily Mail]

British wine writer Hugh Johnson is against “bodybuilder” wines calling them “boring, without any useful purpose.” They remind him of “steroid-packed bodybuilders, merely made to win competitions.” But what would the Governator say? [Sunday Times]

Getting bigger: the AOC Coteaux de Languedoc also had its boundaries extended taking it a step closer to a regional appellation. But with a new regional AOC Languedoc due to be approved in a few weeks, one wonders why the duplication? [vitisphere]

Four more: The national committee of INAO, the French appellation regulatory body, has granted four more AOCs in the Loire. Enough already with the far-flung regions! How about adding varietal labeling too?

tags: wine | France

St. Emilion announced the brand new 2006 clasification yesterday (see my backgrounder). Stephen Brook, author of Bordeaux: People, Power and Politics, sums it up for Decanter.com. The garagistes were excluded.

In a twist, W. R. Tish critiques the critics and rates the magazines that rate wines. Wine and Spirits ends up smelling like a rose–with a hint of pipe tobacco and blackcurrant. Oh wait, points! He rates it a 91. [Wines & Vines]

With 14.8 million visitors in 2003, tasting rooms are bulking up the bottom line for California wineries. More evidence that wine by the glass is highly profitable to those doing the pouring. [SF Chron]

Does Sonoma mean Sonoma? Jess Jackson and the California legislature say yes; Korbel and the Wine Institute say no. It’s up to Gov. Schwarzenegger to sign the bill, as he should. [Press Dem]

UPDATE: Pete Wells, James Beard Award-winning author and NOT on the staff of the NYTimes, has been named the new editor of the Dining section of the Times. An outside hire? A great writer? Sounds excellent to me! [Eater]

tags: wine | wine news | St. Emilion classification

Foster’s, the Australian brewing co that swallowed Southcorp wine for A$3.2 billion last year, announced quarterly results. Beer bolstered sagging wine and management can’t think of anything better to do with their cash than buy back A$200 mln worth of its own shares. Now there are rumors that the “world’s top two” are eyeing Foster’s–the big two brewers that is, InBev and SABMiller. Hmm, what would happen to the wine assets? More turbulence could be expected. [Sydney Morning Herald]

Also down under, but riding the wave better than their neighbor, New Zealand wine exports rose to record levels in June. We recently learned about Australian researchers using worms, this week kiwi researchers are studying how to keep that “cat’s pee” smell in their sauvignon blanc. [NZ Herald]

As Labor Day approaches, many California wineries may have trouble finding labor for harvest. [SLO]

With new tax deductions for conservation easements, will vineyard owners swear that it will be forever condo-free? One already said yes. [WBM, SPD]

Michael Mondavi finds he can’t use his own name for his new wine venture. [ModBee] A sign of the times: this is becoming so frequent that Eponymous is already taken.

Want a snack? How about a foie gras Pop-Tart? No, it’s not available at your local supermarket aisle–it’s only available at the bar at the Four Seasons in NYC. “The process was to come up with a finger-friendly way to eat foie gras,” chef Brooke Vosika told Time Out New York. Foie gras baked in piecrust and served with port wine jelly $28. Sauternes extra.

tags: wine | wine news | foie gras

The National Highway Safety Administration launches a new marketing campaign against drunken driving. Will it crimp wine sales the way a similar campaign has in France? [NYT]

Speaking of Washington (were we?), blogger Winesmith has contacted all the candidates for DC mayor and posts their wine preferences. The leading candidate likes Australian (!) Shiraz (!!) under $10 (!!!). He also gets the faves for DC’s non-voting Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton and her recent interviewer, Stephen Colbert. [winesmith]

In New York City, Eater blogs about the closing-before-opening of Liquor Store Bar in Tribeca as a latest chapter in what they call “the drying of NYC.” [Eater]

You can’t say Mosel-Saar-Ruwer? Don’t worry, it’s being shortened to Mosel. [Decanter]

Steve De Long has thrown up an interactive map of Lonon wine shops–check it out before your next trip and find some wines to drink there since you can’t bring them back (in your carry-on). [De Long]

The Guardian says that wine producers play a mark em up just to mark it down game in the UK. [Guardian]

And finally, next summer will see the release of Ratatouille, a Pixar movie about an epicurean rat who lives in the sewers of Paris. [movie trailer]

tags: wine | wine news | google maps

Does Vijay Mallya like champagne? Apparently so since he offered $750 million for Taittinger, the sixth biggest house in Champagne. However, like his fellow Indian businessman Laksmhi Mittal who has also been recently outbid while trying to buy a French (steel) company, Mallya, who heads United Breweries of Bangalore, withdrew his bid. Credit Agricole, a French bank working with some members of the Taittinger family, sealed the deal by offering $850 million. The Economist reports that reaction in Champagne was not hostile to Mallya since locals saw India as an excellent market for growth and actually were more afraid that the house ending up in the hands of Bernard Arnault of LVMH. In the end, Starwood, the seller, benefits the most from the higher selling price. (background)

The Economist’s summer “Intelligent Life” issue is out now with an article on “bubbles and bling” tracking who, over time, has been able to afford the most expensive cuvees from Champagne. Check out my pink picks.

If you’re looking for bargain bubbly, I recently was amazed to see 1999 Moet on sale at Garnet Liquor in Manhattan for $33–less than the nonvintage right next to it! But then I found it online at PJ’s for $29.97. Wow. I’m going to party like it’s 1999. (click here for store info)

Greenpeace says that radioactive waste from a nearby power plant is a “threat” to the Champagne region. Um, cheers!?!? [Decanter]

Christian Delpeuch announced that he won’t serve an extra third year as head of the Bordeaux wine trade council. He arrived two years ago in the rotating presidency with a reform agenda and has been frustrated in his efforts to implement it. [Sudouest]

Finally, are you wondering how best to deploy your cash into Bordeaux 2005 futures? A wine enthusiast in Amsterdam has compiled a lot of info on Bordeaux into a single, neat and tidy web page. Functionality includes the ability to sort by various categories, including price, critic, and even winemaker. BordOverview.com

tags: wine | wine news | France | Champagne

“Whitehead would market his red strangler by taking it and a dozen bikini-clad women to clubs via his band’s tour bus.” Sure wine needs marketing but would this be a winning approach? Michael Whitehead, rocker, hopes his approach will get him cast in the new PBS reality wine show set to start filming this September in Paso Robles. [Bloomberg]

The Economist discovers the joys of Walla Walla wines: “Yet they are also elegant; unlike California’s wines, they do not overwhelm. Mr [Serge] Laville smiles. ‘“We all try to put the French touch in our wine,’” he says, ‘but not too much! Because we make wine for the American market.’ [Economist]

Helicoptere volant? Randall Grahm scopes out vineyard land from above–in England! [Decanter]

“No bottle of wine is worth more than $10, in my opinion.” Which California wine maker said this–and more!–at a press conference last week? Click to find out [SF Gate]

Georgian wine banned in Russia–except in the Kremlin cafeteria! [Daily Telegraph; background]

Hungarian monkeys drink almost 14 gallons of red wine a year–more than the per capita consumption rate in the US! Heck, it rivals France! I’ll have to add that to my cross-national tables…[CNN]

Moore Brothers opens in New York City! My full report soon…33 East 20th Street near Gramercy Park. See it on the nyc wine shop map.

tags: wine | wine news | monkeys