The latest in Wine

Chile Faces Major Destruction After Massive 8.8 Earthquake

2010-03-12T14:34:25Z

SANTA CRUZ, CHILE - MARCH 12: Grapes hang from the vine at the Montgras winery which continues to operate after the recent earthquake damaged its facility on March 12, 2010 in Santa Cruz, Chile. The winery is working at about 80 percent of capacity due to the damage. The quake caused damage to the heart of the country's largest wine production areas causing substantial damage in areas including the Cac...

Grape moth threatens Napa Valley growing method

2010-03-10T16:16:18Z

<div id="subtitle">Vintners worry destructive moth threatens low-impact growing methods in Napa Valley</div><div><p>When a voracious pest triggered a quarantine this week across much of Napa Valley — the nation's premier grape-growing region — it threatened more than the grapes themselves.</p><p>The spraying of pesticides needed to control the European grapevine moth threatens to undo decades of low-impact ...

Bordeaux newcomer outshines region as a whole

2010-03-10T13:17:24Z

<div><p>A new classification of Bordeaux wines outperformed the region as a whole in 2009 sales, a wine producers' association said on Wednesday.</p><p>The so-called "appellations" of Blaye, Cadillac, Castillon and Francs decided in 2004 to join together under the Cotes de Bordeaux label to improve performance in the international market by playing on the famous Bordeaux name more clearly.</p><p>In 2009, the first year of sales under the new label, 46 million ...

A tipple a day keeps obesity at bay: study

2010-03-08T09:17:17Z

<div><p>Women who drink a couple of glasses of red wine, beer or spirits a day are better at keeping the pounds off than women who do not drink at all, according to a study published Monday.</p><p>Researchers at Brigham and Women?s Hospital in Boston asked more than 19,000, normal-weight US women aged 39 or older how many alcoholic beverages they typically drank in a day, and then tracked the women for around 13 years.</p>...

Chile's wines spilled, production delayed by quake

2010-03-04T15:16:11Z

<div><p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - Some 125 million liters of Chilean wines worth roughly $250 million were spilled during the 8.8 magnitude earthquake last Saturday that killed more than 800 people and demolished cities and towns, a U.S. importer said on Thursday.</p><p>"They estimated that they lost 12 percent of the 2009 vintage," which had been in now-overturned stainless steel vats, broken oak barrels and bo...

US wine drinkers file lawsuit over fake Pinot Noir

2010-03-03T20:15:58Z

<div><p>A California lawyer has filed a class action lawsuit against French wine producers and a US importer over the sale of millions of bottles of wine falsely passed off as Pinot Noir.</p><p>"A class action complaint has been filed seeking to represent all California consumers who purchased falsely labeled wine," said Brian Levine, an attorney with Californ...

Food and Frams Dairies to Vineyards

2010-03-03T09:34:17Z

Bill Hopkins, owner of Hopkins Vineyard, right, and his daughter Hilary H. Criollo, president of Hopkins Vineyard, pose for a photograph outside a barn that once housed cows and now stores wine in Warren, Conn., Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Chile's important fish and wine sectors</div><div><p>The tsunami that hit this coastal city sent 50-ton fishing boats crashing onto land and demolished its port — wiping out the $40 million in business that courses through the local economy from the annual anchovy and sardine catch.</p><p>Less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) away, Chile's economy took an...

Cows to chardonnay: Can Conn. dairy farms change?

2010-03-03T02:15:25Z

<div id="subtitle">Cows to chardonnay: Can dwindling Conn. dairy farms convert to grape-growing and winemaking?</div><div><p>A winter breeze rustles through the brittle and dormant vines twisting along the hills of Bill Hopkins' vineyard, the latest transformation of a Connecticut farm that since 1786 has been keeping up with changing agriculture, markets and cons...

Quake damages Chile's wineries, production delayed

2010-03-02T14:00:28Z

<div><p>NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - As the death toll in Chile climbs to near 800, the toll from the 8.8-magnitude earthquake on one of its largest exports, wine, was still being assessed on Tuesday.</p><p>"The impact on the infrastructure was considerable as the earthquake severely affected the heart of the Chilean wine industry: Maipo, Cachapoal, Colchagua, Maule a...

World's biggest wine brand created in southern France

2010-02-28T16:16:17Z

<div><p>In the sun-drenched south of France, the world's largest vineyard has launched a new, simplified brand called "Pays d'Oc", creating the number one French wine export to compete against New World brands.</p><p>Languedoc-Roussillon covers 35 percent (or 260,200 hectares) of all French vineyards, making it the biggest producer worldwide.</p><p&...

Paso Robles: The best wine region you may not know

2010-02-26T06:45:27Z

<div id="subtitle">Paso Robles transforms from sleepy cow town to one of the world's most vibrant wine regions</div><div><p>The February issue of a respected wine industry trade publication gives only one of the world's wines both a rarefied 98 score and the top spot in the "highly recommended" section.</p><p>Near perfection came from Saxum, a well-regarded but obscure winery in Paso Robles, a one-time

Tasting Panel Meets To Judge Local Wines

2010-02-25T09:31:17Z

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - FEBRUARY 25: Empty wine glasses are left behind at the end of tasting for the Best Value wine competition on February 25, 2010 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Wine has been produced in the Holy Land since biblical times. Today, Israeli wine is made by hundreds of wineries, ranging in size from small boutique enterprises to large companies, altogether producing some 30 million bottles annually. (...

New booze on the block -- 'natural' wines

2010-02-25T00:17:00Z

<div><p>When Marcel Lapierre took over the family vineyard in Burgundy decades ago, the pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and other chemicals used in farming had made the wine "simply horrid".</p><p>"I couldn't drink the wine on the table," said Lapierre, an easy-going man who goes about in a worn, country-style corduroy and hat. "So I decided to rethink the whole process to produce the kind of wine my father ...

Italian vintner likens wine to men who improve with age

2010-02-23T03:30:32Z

<div><p>NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Elisabetta Fagiuoli's elegant appearance, grey-hair and bright brown eyes, conceal a steely firm commitment to ancient methods of cultivating grapes and a belief that women traditionally make the wine.</p><p>When she was growing up in Custozza, not far from Verona<...

Foster's urges Australia vine clearing to counter wine glut

2010-02-21T00:15:35Z

<div><p>Australian drinks giant Foster's Sunday warned one quarter of the nation's grape vines needed to be pulled up to reverse a damaging wine glut forcing growers to let their fruit wither on the vine.</p><p>Chief executive Ian Johnston said global wine growers were experiencing a "very painful period" due to the global economic downturn, and a significant amount of Au...

Georgia Luger Dies

2010-02-20T00:15:51Z

Relatives of the family of Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Georgian luger killed in a practice run at the Olympics, pour red wine and dig a grave for his funeral in Bakuriani, Georgia, Friday, Feb. 19, 2010. It's a tradition to pour red wine into a grave before the funeral. Nodar Kumaritashvili's funeral will be held on Saturday. (AP Photo/Shakh Aivazov)

Constellation still selling wine from convicted supplier

2010-02-22T08:17:31Z

&lt;div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Constellation Brands, the world's top wine group, said Friday it was still selling wine bought from a French supplier convicted this week of sending fake pinot noir to the United States.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The US group said it had bought 10 percent of the 18 million bottles of...

French plonk scam spreads to world's top wine group

2010-02-22T08:38:19Z

<div><p>One of the biggest scandals ever to hit the wine trade spread on Thursday after it emerged that Constellation Brands, the world's top wine group, bought some of the fake French pinot noir sold in tanker-loads to the United States.</p><p>Constellation's implication in the massive transatlantic sw...

World's top wine group hit by French scam: officials

2010-02-22T08:38:21Z

<div><p>Constellation Brands, the world's biggest wine group, was another recipient of some of the 18 million bottles of fake pinot noir sold by French winemakers, US officials confirmed Thursday.</p><p>Constellation's involvement in the massive transatlantic swindle emerged in court documents seen by AFP after 12 wine-makers and dealers were convicted on Wedn...