Champagne yields are on the increase to meet demand.
Champagne producers have been given the green light to increase yields as a future insurance policy against bad harvests.
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Wine News Archive
French primary children to get wine education!
Along with learning how to read and write, French primary schoolchildren could soon be having wine appreciation classes as part of their curriculum.
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Foster's vineyards in the Yarra Valley hit by Phylloxera
Phylloxera, the insect pest that decimated Bordeaux’s vineyards in the 1860s, has hit Australia’s Yarra Valley.
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The wine diet book explains healthy wine drinking
A wine diet might sound like an oxymoron but a new book, published this week, argues the case for drinking moderate amounts of red wine every day as part of a healthy lifestyle.
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Which Magazine loves own label fizz but not Moet and Chandon
The best supermarket own-label champagnes have beaten many well-known and more expensive brands in a blind tasting test.
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Oak chips are ok for Europe but not for France
Two months after the EU finally legalised the use of oak chips in winemaking, the French have taken the decision to go against the grain by banning their use for appellation controlee wines.
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Court rules against lower duty for web wine
Shoppers hoping to buy cut-price alcohol from other European countries via the internet were disappointed last week when judges in Luxembourg ruled that the tax laws which have benefited British cross-Channel customers won’t be extended to web ones.
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Oddbins offer free ferry trip
Boozecruisers who want to stock up before Christmas are being offered a free return ferry daytrip across the Channel by Oddbins.
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Zinfandel under the microscope
A team in the US is conducting research into the diversity of the Zinfandel grape.
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Champagne reports an excellent harvest
Champagne has reported a wonderful harvest in quality as well as quantity. The news is a relief to producers who need to meet a continuing growth in sales, up seven per cent on last year.
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Fine wine sales in the UK are on the up
Wine drinkers are getting a taste for fine wine, according to recent sales figures. Majestic has seen sales of bottles at £20 and above soar.
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Resveratrol in red wine may help fight obesity and diabetes
The component in red wine that has been shown to protect against heart disease may offer other health benefits too.
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Wine writer goes independent
The Independent on Sunday has scrapped its drinks column, which was written by Richard Ehrlich for almost a decade.
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Eastern consumers developing a taste for wine
With the Asian wine market growing by leaps and bounds, the rest of the wine world is looking to getting a piece of the alcoholic action.
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New Zealand Pinot Gris production is growing fast.
Up until now New Zealand wine has been synonymous with Sauvignon Blanc but a new grape pretender is waiting in the wings. The white Pinot Gris, looks set to take the world by storm.
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English wine harvest is a corker
The UK wine harvest looks set potentially to produce an excellent vintage. English producers were upbeat about the results.
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Robert Parker hires Essex boy for a British view on wine
The world’s most influential wine critic Robert Parker has hired a little-known English writer to comment on wine from a UK perspective.
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Croatia the home of Zinfandel!
A virtually unpronounceable grape variety has answered the question about whether Zinfandel and Primativo are one and the same. The Croatian crljenak kastelanski has been found to be genetically identical to both California’s Zinfandel and Italy’s Primati
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London's first Fairtrade wine tasting
The first-ever Fairtrade Wine Tasting takes place in London this week. Oz Clarke will be on hand to talk to visitors at the event, which is hoped will become an annual one.
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The Wine Show caps last years event
The Wine Show held in London last weekend was the successful second show and had 18 per cent more visitors than last year, which, say the show’s organisers, ‘reflects consumers’ increasing interest in wine.
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Canadian wine maker advertising to satellites.
Jost Vineyards in Nova Scotia Canadian has woven the company name and a wine bottle into the vineyards in a crop-circle like incarnation so that it can be seen on Google Earth’s satellite views of the area.
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Thresher employ chef to show they know about wine
Gordon Ramsay has become the face of wine chain Thresher. The Michelin-starred superchef and TV star will appear on posters in the stores’ windows alongside the strapline ‘Wines you can swear by’.
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New World winemakers go carbon zero
The New Zealand Wine Company has become the first in the world to produce totally carbon-neutral wines. The makers of Grove Mill and Sanctuary in Marlborough wanted to minimise the environmental impact of carbon-dioxide emissions from all aspects of their
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South Africa applies to start research into GM Wine
Stellenbosch University has applied to the South African Government to grow genetically modified grapes in field trials. The hope is that GM grapevines will produce grapes that are resistant to fungus.
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Beaujolais gets Nouveau campaign
Beaujolais wine is set for a big new promotional campaign to be launched at this year’s London Wine Show.
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Italians say ciao to Tocai
This year’s Tocai vintage is the last one allowed to be called Tocai because from next year Hungary has exclusive rights to the name. This was part of Hungary’s agreement on joining the EU in 2004.
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Spirits switching results in fine
A Thai restaurant in Cambridgeshire has been fined after passing off cheap booze as Smirnoff and Barcardi.
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No wine please, I'm pregnant & French!
French wine bottles are to carry health warnings telling pregnant women of the dangers of drinking alcohol.
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Wollaston, the oldest UK vineyard?
The first proven Roman vineyard has been discovered in Britain at Wollaston in Northamptonshire. The site dates from the 2nd century AD.
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Vin de Constance a hit with Napoleon and chef Michel Roux
Michelin-starred chef Michel Roux has written a cookery book with all the recipes designed to go with one single wine - Vin de Constance.
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Italians in a tizz over canned fizz
Paris Hilton was caught up in a row in Italy last week as she promoted Rich Prosecco, a canned version of the country’s traditional sparkling white wine.
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Ozzies discover ways to control grape ripening by using steriods.
Australian scientists have discovered that they can control grape ripening by using steroids. Australia’s national science agency, found that applying brassinosteroids to grape skins speeded up the ripening of the grapes.
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Banrock Station introduces a lower-alcohol red wine
Banrock Station has introduced a lower-alcohol red wine to the UK. Crimson Cabernet Sauvignon arrives here, following its successful launch in Australia, with only nine per cent alcohol by volume.
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Cabernet Sauvignon study into Alzheimers
Drinking moderate amounts of the red wine Cabernet Sauvignon may help reduce the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease.
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Screwcap taint very low but does exist
A survey by the world’s biggest wine competition has shown that screwcaps can taint wine.
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Aussie wine makeovers for Rosemount and Peter Lindemans
Two big Aussie brands are undergoing changes designed to broaden their appeal. Rosemount, the brand that four years ago was the biggest-selling wine in Australia, has seen sales drop globally by nearly a quarter
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White wine may be as good for you as red wine
A new study now suggests that white wine might be just as good. Previous research put the grapes’ heart-healthy benefits down to antioxidant compounds primarily found in their skins but not normally associated with white wines.
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Hot house grapes grown in cool Britiania
One English wine grower has found a way around the vagaries of our weather by putting his vines under glass.
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China starts to produce ice wine.
China, the 11th largest wine producer in the world, is to start making ice wine.
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Wine tasting robot
A robot that can ‘taste’ wine has been developed by researchers in Japan
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Threshers in education and sales drive
Threshers has launched a season of country festivals accompanied by leaflets to help consumers understand more about the wines they are buying.
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Last of the summer wine
If only the weather had been as dry for this year’s English Wine and Regional Food Festival as the winning wine of the show was!
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Last of the summer wine
If only the weather had been as dry for this year’s English Wine and Regional Food Festival as the winning wine of the show was!
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A cybernose for wine
Australian scientists are aiming to build an electronic nose that can objectively measure the aroma and flavour of grapes and wine.
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A good year for Russell Crowe?
Following the success of Sideways, comes a new movie with a wine theme – this time set in France. Directed by Ridley Scott, A Good Year stars Russell Crowe and Albert Finney.
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Mosel gets name change
The laborious Mosel-Saar-Ruwer is going to become simply ‘Mosel’ from the 2007 vintage. The change comes after years of lobbying by the region’s growers’ organisation.
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Lebanese harvest
Chateau Musar harvested a vineyard before the ceasefire in Lebanon. Local villagers helped rescue one of Musar’s trial vineyards in the Bekaa Valley.
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Tesco expand fine wine
Tesco intends to put more fine wine into more of its stores.
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Zin must win over Arnie
Zinfandel looks set to become California’s official state grape. A legislative bill proclaiming it as the sunshine state’s ‘historic wine’ and is now awaiting Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s signature.
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Great value down under
Consumers can take advantage of some great-quality Australian wine at very reasonable prices right now as a result of companies being able to buy grapes cheaper than they could a couple of years ago.
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