Happy Weekend, friends. First, if anyone’s had trouble viewing or navigating the site lately, I apologize, I’m currently working out some bugs. Second, hopefully you’ve been keeping up with my latest WSET Diploma posts—there’s been a flurry of them, so make sure to scroll through the past few weeks.
Personally I’ve been keeping very busy (as well as distracted by current events as I’m sure you all are as well). But I’ve still managed to pull together my weekly roundup of wine newsworthy stories. Hopefully there are a few things of interest for you here.
Cheers.
Decanter: Bordeaux wine returns from space mission
Bordeaux wines and vines that were blasted into space a year ago have returned to earth, and now scientists plan to see what has changed.
Twelve bottles of Bordeaux red wine and 320 vine canes aboard a SpaceX ‘Dragon’ cargo craft plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida this week after a year at the International Space Station (ISS).
Rather than merely providing a hobby vineyard for astronauts, the wines and vine canes were blasted into space in November 2019 as part of a scientific research project led by start-up firm Space Cargo Unlimited. READ MORE…
Wine Spectator: Why Is the Trump Administration Punishing U.S. Wine Companies with Final Move in European Trade War?
The White House has placed tariffs on more French and German wines; importers and retailers hope President-elect Joseph Biden will bring relief, but it won’t be soon
The presidential inauguration is two weeks away, but the pain is not going away anytime soon for many European winemakers and the American businesses that sell their wines. As a parting gift to them, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced additional tariffs on New Year’s Eve, part of the ongoing fight with the European Union over subsidies to airplane manufacturers.
When Lighthizer imposed 25 percent tariffs in October of 2019 on wines from France, Spain and Germany, he only applied them to wines under 14 percent alcohol. No more. As of next week, French and German wines 14 percent and higher will face 25 percent duties. (Airplane parts will continue to face 15 percent tariffs.) READ MORE…
Wine Spectator: Williams Selyem Owners Sell Stake in Winery to Burgundy’s Faiveley Family
The owners of Williams Selyem, one of Sonoma’s best-known Pinot Noir producers, announced that they have sold a minority stake in the winery to the Faiveley family of Burgundy’s Domaine Faiveley. The price and share of ownership were not disclosed.
John and Kathe Dyson plan to maintain control of the winery for at least the next three years, at which point they will reexamine the partnership. The Faiveleys will then have an opportunity to acquire a larger stake or even full control of the winery. No changes are expected in the day-to-day operations. Williams Selyem director of winemaking Jeff Mangahas and other key employees will remain. READ MORE…
SFGate: French Laundry chef Thomas Keller deletes his Twitter account after online criticism
Eric Risberg/Associated Press
French Laundry celebrity chef Thomas Keller has departed Twitter. On Tuesday, after tweeting praise for the recently deceased Sheldon G. Adelson, one of President Donald Trump’s biggest donors who was also a patron of Keller’s restaurants, he immediately saw backlash.
Some called Keller tone deaf due to the recent storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters, or expressed disappointment in him for making money from “evil people.” As of last night, people began noticing that Keller had deleted his Twitter account. READ MORE…
Meninger’s: The future of en primeur
One of the most traditional wine regions in the world, Bordeaux, faces a new normal. How to fit the long history of the en primeur tastings into this new world of distance? James Lawrence reports about how the industry shifts
Strolling through the vineyards of Pauillac and St-Emilion in Bordeaux, it seems inconceivable that such a tradition-bound region could willingly embrace change. The great estates have continued to blend and market – their wines throughout the pandemic, having made a concerted effort to keep the cogs of the global fine wine market turning.
Dig a little deeper into this business, though, and there’s ample evidence of a cultural shift a necessity bourne out of selling wine at a distance. After years of suspicion and reluctance, Bordeaux’s châteaux have been forced to recognise the value of the digital space, finally catching up with other industries. En primeur 2019 was carried out under this new normal, with samples sent to global press and tastings conducted via zoom. Will En primeur 2020 follow the same model, and is this a more pragmatic way of organising such an important event in Bordeaux’s calendar? READ MORE…
The Drink Business: Heavy Snow Collapses Roof of Leading Priorat Winery
Spain is currently experiencing very heavy snowfall right across the country including in Priorat and Terra Alta in Catalonia.
Snowfall there has reached half a metre in depth in places and the buildings of the region are not designed to support the additional weight – especially older buildings more used to Mediterranean summers.
On the morning of Sunday 10 January, the roof of Vall Llach buckled under the weight, bringing the roof down down on the vinification, storage and bottling area of the winery. READ MORE…
ABC7 News: Be the Change Initiative inspires social change in the wine industry through diversity and inclusion efforts
Industry leaders Lia Jones, Rania Zayyat, Cara Bertone and Philana Bouvier have created a powerful platform to drive social change in the wine industry.
As founders of Be the Change Initiative, they seek to create a place where diverse candidates can feel welcome, as well as feel seen and heard in the job market. The founders also find it imperative to give employers the opportunity to implement diversity and inclusion initiatives and practices within their companies. READ MORE…
Grape Collective: Natural Wines of the Aube—Turning Champagne Upside Down
Champagne is a region with a well defined and often strictly adhered-to identity. Its brand is luxury, built on the backs of large negociant houses making large amounts of very consistent sparkling wine in a region that is one of the world’s most challenging areas to grow ripe grapes. Champagne is famous for cold fronts, hail, and rain, causing mildew, rot, and many other vine diseases which are the enemy of the grape grower. Because of this most Champagne has historically been a blended wine – multi-varietal, multi-vintage, multi-vineyard – in order to achieve a reliable product year in and year out. While the obvious successes of these tactics may prove them a triumph to many, others yet criticize these practices for homogenizing a region of rich potential. READ MORE…
Decanter: Brexit deal offers boost for wine but concerns linger
Measures that could have cost millions and led to higher wine prices have been avoided, says the UK trade, but there is still extra admin and also uncertainty about how Brexit will play out.
Good news for the UK’s 33 million wine drinkers was buried in the detail of the 11th-hour Brexit deal signed in December, according to the Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA).
‘The deal means that wine produced in either the UK or EU will not require the much feared, costly VI-1 certificate,’ said the WSTA’s chief executive, Miles Beale. READ MORE…
Wine Intelligence: Wine Packaging and the Rise of E-Commerce
How will the rise of e-commerce impact wine packaging?
At the end of 2020 – which now feels like a long time ago – I had the pleasure of sharing a session with Eladio Araiz of La Rioja Alta at a Rioja Marketing Club event called Wine Land 2020. The topic of the discussion was wine packaging.
How consumers enjoy products has long fascinated me as it is as much about technology as it is about consumer adoption. Take hot drinks, for example. Tea is commonly available in individual bags, but we rarely find coffee that way. In fact, we had to wait for George Clooney to popularise pods for us to purchase coffee in single units. Instant coffee, on the other hand, is very popular, but instant tea never caught on. READ MORE…
Blogs Worth a Read
Taken from the list of Blogs I follow regularly, here are just a few posts from this past week I think are worth a read. Shoot me a note if you have suggestions of blogs to follow or want your blog included on that list.
Vino Joy News: Pandemic threatens Hong Kong’s role as a wine hub
Pandemic and border closure have spelled more pains for Hong Kong’s wine market, as trade data shows the fine wine hub’s role is quickly diminishing, a somewhat thorny and sensitive subject that will split wine crowds in Hong Kong.
Pandemic and border closure have spelled more pains for Hong Kong’s wine market, as trade data shows the fine wine hub’s role is quickly diminishing, a somewhat thorny and sensitive subject that will split wine crowds in Hong Kong.
The data released by Hong Kong government showed that the city’s wine imports in the first nine months of 2020 dropped by 23.2% in value to HK$ 5.1 billion, while its volume tumbled to 25.49 million litres, a year-on-year decrease of 20.9%.
The set of data would be read with caution and degrees of understanding as the coronavirus pandemic decimated on-trade wine sales and drove away deep-pocketed visitors. READ MORE…
Science & Wine: Measuring Wine Industry Efficiency with Wine Industry Network Evaluation Model (WINE-Model)
Studies of wine industry performance have largely focused on derivation of key performance indicators and efficiency indicators. However, no two wine industries have similar operating environments, managerial competency, innovation, institutional set up, and government support. As such, comparing the wine industry performance of different countries would not be meaningful without greater transparency of data. Furthermore, the wine industry forms part of dynamic global market undergoing constant supply and demand shocks. The dynamic nature and mobility of production centers, from procurement of primary and intermediate inputs to production to distribution of final products, is constantly affecting the costs of wine producers and competition between them.
The wine industry does not exist within a vacuum. Therefore, measurement of wine industry performance should not occur in a vacuum. However, fundamental information such as efficiency and production cost rates is shrouded under commercial confidentiality. READ MORE…
Corkscrew Concierge: New Year, New Wines – Where To Explore Now
Many of us were telling 2020 not to let the door hit it in the ass on the way out, and who could blame us?! Talk about an utter shit show! And since we’re so thrilled to see a new year – though admittedly this year is starting out on a sucky note as we lost a dear family member to COVID-19 amongst other fuckery – why not embrace the year with some new (to you) wines?
Don’t get me wrong, I will always love the classic regions like Champagne, Bourgogne, the Rhône, Piedmont, etc, but there is something exciting about discovering a new favorite or at least a new wine to add into the rotation. Even better if it comes at a great value. People say life is too short to drink bad wine, but I also say life is too short to drink the same ole, same ole. READ MORE…
The Wine Economist: Wine 2021: The Good News is the Bad News Could Be Much Worse
As the door to 2021 slowly swings open, the landscape looks both familiar and transformed at the same time. When the U.S. wine industry entered 2020, for example, the problems seemed to be stagnant demand on one side and excess wine grape supply on the other. Not a good situation for the world’s largest wine market, but not something beyond our ability manage, either.
Those problems are still with us, although they’re a bit lost in the fog. Structural wine production capacity is still too large, but this is disguised a bit by a smaller 2020 harvest in California and widespread smoke damage, which took some grapes off the market. READ MORE…
bw166: Indicators on Supplier Closures and Trends in 2020
The past year has been chaotic. Between pandemic-related shutdowns and wildfires in California, the beverage alcohol industry has faced a gamut of challenges across all three tiers. With this article, we wanted to look at the effect on the supplier tier superficially. With many smaller suppliers dependent upon on-premise sales (through tasting rooms, brewpubs, and distilleries), it’s logical to surmise the industry would see increased supplier closures similar to the results in the on-premise.
Using bw166’s Label Inquiry tool, we’ve compiled data on how many suppliers have submitted COLAs to the TTB from 2016 through 2020. This data allows us to identify suppliers that have consistently filed COLAs year over year, when suppliers have first filed COLAs, and identify suppliers that filed previously but not in the current term. While there are limits to this dataset (i.e., not all beer products require a TTB COLA), the consistent measurement over time allows for a reasonable degree of confidence in the results. READ MORE…
A Balanced Glass: How To Put Mindful Drinking On Your 2021 List
Who’s ready for a “new habits” plan for the year ahead?
For many wine lovers, this can include reducing alcohol as a healthy way to reset for the year ahead. Not much of a Dry January believer myself, January is when I reevaluate my relationship with wine and drinking, and how it plays into my career and personal time.
If you find your drinking habits can get a little slippery, you might also find it helpful to consider your relationship with alcohol and how it fits into your year ahead. How does it turn up in your life? Do you turn to its comforts in difficult times? How does that excess sneak in when you least expect it, outside of “work”?
Then, consider how a more mindful approach to drinking may fit into your lifestyle.
Maybe it fits under the headline of “be healthier,” or “drink less.” READ MORE…
Press Releases
These are some press releases I received this week that I actually thought were interesting…enjoy!
Tonnellerie Baron: First Cooperage to Guarantee That 100% of Its Barrels Are TCA Free at the Completion of the Production Process
The latest innovation from Tonnellerie Baron comes as a response to an often-neglected issue which can nevertheless pose a serious threat to the final product and to the trust between producers and consumers; the presence of Haloanisole molecules (TeCA, TCA, PCA, TBA), but also their precursors HaloPhenols (TeCP, TCP, PCP, TBP) in barrels. These particular molecules are responsible for the much maligned «cork taint» which compromises the integrity of a wine. Most often attributed to a contaminated cork itself, the molecules can also be transported in cellar environments or manufacturing workshops, by water and cleaning products, and also directly by the source wood used in barrel making. READ MORE…
Silicon Valley Bank: Silicon Valley Bank Predicts the Wine Industry Will See a Spike in Demand When Consumers Celebrate Postponed Life Events in 2021
20th annual report indicates changes to wine sales in a post-COVID world
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the bank of the world’s most innovative companies and their investors, today released its 2021 State of the Wine Industry Report. Now in its 20th year, this authoritative annual report assesses current conditions in the wine industry and provides a unique forecast for the year ahead based on proprietary research and economic and behavioral trends.
Highlights and predictions from the 2021 wine industry conditions survey and report: READ MORE…
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