The atmosphere is buoyant as some 5,000 wine professionals prepare for the opening of the annual futures sale in Bordeaux, France. The event, organized by the Union of the Grands Crus (UGC), plans to kick off the sale with barrel tastings of Bordeaux’s premium wines. The event will be attended by wine lovers and private investors as well as professional wine brokers.
The good news coming out of Paris is that an additional 0.7 percent of the world’s population are now enjoying the pleasures of wine. Based on those figures, wine drinkers are sipping approximately 1.7 million hectoliters more than they did in 2010. As France represents the world’s largest wine market, the French wine drinkers did their fair share in raising the drinking volume as the annual per capita consumption went from 46.1 liters to 47.4 liters.
Although the quantity of wine consumed in Germany increased, the average overall consumption in Europe decreased by 500,000 hectoliters, as consumption declined in Italy, Spain, Britain and Portugal.
Evaluating wine involves understanding all the nuances including how it smells, its color, how it feels in your mouth and identifying the flavors. There are different ways of coming to a conclusion and one is to simply decide whether you either like it or you don’t. When pushed by wine snobs to give a specific reason for your judgement, your answer might be something like, “it tastes too much like cranberries” or that you “like the tinge of vanilla that makes it go down smoothly”.
As with all fruits, grapes produce aromatic compounds. During the fermentation process, chemical reactions cause the grapes to develop additional aromas. The way the fermented juice of the grape interacts with dead yeast, grape stems or oak during the process of making wine results in an even more complex bouquet, which continues to mature as the wine ages. Whatever your reasoning, judging a wine can be accomplished in two ways. Making a random decision and then backing it up with personal conjectures is one way. Another more complicated route is learning to appreciate the particular aromas and describing them in a way that the seasoned wine connoisseur can relate to. Read the rest of this entry »
Following a 15-year experiment in organic farming, the Chateau Guiraud 2011 was just awarded with the “grand cru”, which is the highest level of wine classification. The wine that was selected for the award was a Bordeaux Sauternes, which is a sweet wine consisting of a blend of semillon and sauvignon blanc grapes. This same type of wine has been grown in the southwestern area of France for hundreds of years, but today’s production methods do not use artificial pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. Read the rest of this entry »
While research has shown that a cold winter season might lead to seasonal depression, it seems the general public has little to worry about since the weather this winter has been particularly mild.
Good news right? Not for ice winemakers, who take advantage of the colder winter weather to make their delicious ice wines.
For those that have never tried the sweet stuff, ice wine is a dessert wine that comes from frozen grapes on the vine. While the sugars don’t freeze, the water does and makes a concentration that is taken from the frozen grapes resulting in a sugary sweet wine. Ice wines aren’t cheap, though.
The process is difficult. Results are typically incredible, albeit pricey. More difficulties arise—temperatures must be low enough (17 degrees at most) to be able to harvest the grapes in a particular way.
Ice wines are usually made in areas like Ontario, Canada, Germany and the Upper Midwest United States, where the climate can be cold. But what happens when the weather is warmer than usual as it has been in those areas lately.
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It’s ok to have a sweet red Bordeaux wine
with dinner. You’ve heard it many times before. Red wine is good for your health. Yet, the issue never gets old because new information is coming out all the time about the benefits of a good glass of Merlot or Pinot Noir. So what exactly is the truth about these so-called health benefits? Does wine actually cure ailments? And if so, does that mean we have to make it more a part of our everyday lives?
Here’s the scoop from some of the top science journals and news publications in the world.
Since the dip in the world markets that began in the fall of 2008, the wine market has not only bounced back but is still on a steady uphill rise. The market in fine wines has become so reliable and with such potential for growth that no respectable financial portfolio should be without a select stock of first growth Bordeaux. Along with an increased awareness of fine wines for investment purposes, there are some other trends that seem to be gaining strength as the old year ends and the new one begins.
A Step Back in Time to More Natural Wine
The movement that is hoping to replace modern and commercialized wine making techniques with the old fashioned methods is strong in Europe, but just coming of age in the US. Advocates of natural wine are working towards getting rid of the commercial pesticides, fertilizers and chemicals used in growing the grapes as well as banning tractors from the fields. Horse-drawn plows and hand picking the grapes do less damage to the vines and help to preserve the soil for future years. The movement towards Natural Wine is making slow advances in the US but is likely to catch on in 2012.
Direct Buying Online Wine
The online wine market is still in the midst of taking off, but did quite well in 2011. Consumers and investors alike are enjoying the wide choices of wines available online as well as the options of direct buying from the wine merchant. Investors also take advantage of the advice, shipping, storage, insurance and resale services offered through many of the online wine dealers. The wine marketplace in the US is especially slated to flourish in the coming year, partially aided by the easing of restrictions placed on non-licensed third party wine marketers in California.
December is the time of year where a tremendous amount of time and attention is spent on gift shopping for friends, family members business associates and neighbors. If we know the particular size socks these people wear, what their favorite color is or their best-loved author then shopping for a perfect gift will be a real no-brainer. But it’s more likely that we are not privy to these details and after weeks of hitting the racks with no results we’re still clueless, which isn’t a nice feeling as we get closer and closer to holiday parties and gatherings. We can safely assume that many on our list appreciate nice wine, so there are several inexpensive gift choices that will wow even the person who has everything.
One of the challenges of drinking wine from nice stemware is the cleanup afterwards. Throwing a fine crystal goblet or a fluted champagne glass into the dishwasher is not something many of
us would consider doing, but hand washing brings its own set of spotty issues. Ideally a soft sponge that can reach the bottom of the glass along with some hot suds would do the trick, but that still leaves the problems of drying. In answer to this serious wine-drinking dilemma, someone had the foresight
to create the dimple glass drying matt, which turns an ordinary counter top into an ideal drying space for stemware. Once unrolled on the counter, the finest wine goblets can stand upright to dry without risk of water spots, slip sliding around on the counter or streak marks from a tea towel.
The global economic slump that began in 2008 has put a real damper on the traditional wine markets across the globe, but China surprised everyone as it began to emerge as one of the world’s most important wine markets. Wine sales are showing a steady rise as Chinese consumers are revealing their tastes for Western wine as a sign of status, for health benefits and for investment purposes as a hedge against inflation. According to the Bordeaux Wine Industry Association’s recent announcement, China has stepped up to the top of the list as the largest export market for wines originating in Bordeaux — passing up Germany and the UK. Latest reports indicate that China’s wine consumption could double by the year 2016.
Sophisticated Wine Consumption in China
Wine enjoys the reputation of being a wise addition to the daily menu of health conscious individuals and with the new wine awareness that is sweeping across China, the health benefits of wine are a major draw. As a way of showing off social status, nothing says sophistication and upscale urban lifestyle better than an appreciation of fine wine.
