Archive for October, 2011
• Oregon wins top spot in International Pinot Noir blind tasting
Germany scooped seven of the top 10 spots in an International Pinot Noir blind tasting held last week in London, but it was Oregon which took the top spot. The Antica Terra 2009 Pinot Noir was awarded first place, a wine produced on 40 acres in the Eola-Amity Hills of the Willamette Valley. In addition [...]
• Tequila ventures into vintage and terroir
Tequila ambassador Tomas Estes is using his Tequila Ocho brand to explore the implications of vintage and terroir for the category. With the first vintage produced in 2007, Tequila Ocho is the result of a collaboration between Estes, official Tequila ambassador to the European Union, and the Camarena family, who produce Tequila Tapatio. The family [...]
• Walmart buying into craft beer craze
I know this is going to make all you craft beer haters groan, but the upscale end of the suds market is the only sector showing significant growth in these dreary times. Perhaps it’s driven by a new philosophy: hey, if you’re gonna drown your sorrows in beer, why not make it a good one? [...]
• The Hops Ceiling
Women in craft brewing are challenging the stereotype of the brawny brewmaster. Ask someone to imagine a brewmaster and the image that may come to mind is a barrel-chested fellow in overalls, maybe even lederhosen. Brewing is currently seen as a male field, but it wasn’t always this way. What’s believed to be the world’s [...]
• The power of wine awards
Big wins at international wine competitions will only improve sales if they are properly communicated, according to winemakers and retailers. “You can’t win a medal and expect your wine to walk off the shelf. It’s a lot harder work now; you really have to let your customers know about it,” Gary Jordan of Jordan Wine [...]
• Craft Beer Bottle Sizes (Rant)
Can craft brewers please stop with the bombers and 750s of strong beers? Why is it that the same brewery will put their pale ale in 12 oz bottles while their barleywine goes into bombers? Why would I want a beer with a higher alcohol content to come in a larger serving size? When I’m [...]
• Drinking regularly may help women recover from heart attacks
Boozenews: Can we stand all the good news about boozing? Women who regularly drink alcohol are more likely to live longer after suffering a heart attack than women who abstain, according to a new study. More than 1, 200 women hospitalized for heart attack were interviewed about how many alcoholic drinks they usually consumed, as [...]
• Wineries see gains since N.Y. shipping law
A 2005 law that allowed New York wineries to ship products directly to customers and permitted other states to send wine to the state has led to millions of dollars a year in tax revenues for New York. Before 2005, individual customers in New York could get shipments from in-state wineries, but not from their [...]
• Torre may ban alcohol from MLB clubhouses after Red Sox drinking debacle
Joe Torre says MLB may ban alcohol from all big-league clubhouses after Red Sox drinking debacle. In the wake of the revelations that Red Sox players were drinking beer in the clubhouse during games during their September collapse, Major League Baseball is looking into the idea of banning alcohol from all big-league clubhouses. Joe Torre, [...]
• Why is craft beer so expensive in Washington?
Talk about liquid assets. At the new Big Board burger joint on H Street NE, you can watch beer prices rise and fall in real time on a large digital screen mounted to the wall. The more pints you buy of any particular brew, the farther its cost will drop. So you’re left standing there, [...]
• Get ready! San Diego Beer Week comin’ up next week
This is the kick-off event for San Diego Beer Week and the ultimate craft beer festival. This event showcases all of the San Diego breweries. It’s a great way to kick-off Beer Week, try award-winning local beer, and meet your favorite brewers. Stay tuned for a complete list of participating breweries and what beers will [...]
• Good news for champagne lovers – Veuve predicts top quality non-vintage
Veuve Clicquot has stated that it expects its base wines from 2011 to be excellent despite a year of extremes. Dominique Demarville, cellar master for the house, said: “It’s been a very challenging year, yet exciting too. The yield is good and nature has provided us with healthy grapes, especially the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. [...]
• Chinese buy their favourite Bordeaux by the vineyard
With its fairytale turrets and a 15th-Century tower, Chateau Latour Laguens is surrounded by vineyards in a region steeped in European tradition. But this chateau, south-east of Bordeaux, is also at the cutting edge of Asia’s growing economic might. The staff who tend the vineyards and make the wine are still French, but this is [...]
• Consumer Reports: Wine you can get when you spend $100
Consumer Reports’ Ratings of wine, available to subscribers, primarily aim to identify fine values: pleasing bottles that typically cost $8 to $15. But it’s instructive—as well as fun, of course—to survey, occasionally, what you can get from bottles that cost 10 or so times as much. That’s what Maxine Siegel, who leads Consumer Reports’ wine-testing [...]
• Grüner Veltliner The Wine Grape of Austria Comes to America
Gourmets in the USA call it “Grooner” and it is sipped in the chic, top restaurants from New York to San Francisco. Grüner Veltliner is now finding its way into American vineyards as well. “Unique. Versatile. A culinary genius. The last of the great European grape varieties!” Ten years after its successful breakthrough in the [...]
