Bottle Juice

Mudgee Wine Grape Growers Association president Drew Stein said the third collaboration between Mudgee and Pyrmont had been a great success, following the biggest yet Pyrmont Festival public tasting in Pirrama Park. The City of Sydney estimated that 20,000 visitors attended the event over Saturday and Sunday, which included food, wine, music, cooking demonstrations and the festival's first sculpture garden. Mr Stein said the tasting included the biggest contingent of …

• Topics: Mudgee, Growers Association, Sydney, Festival, San Francisco
• My Vine Spot: Pink Out 2011 with Taste-Live
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• The Wine Front: Tinja Preservative Free White 2012
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• On the Road with the Grape Guy: Report from ... Australia Day Dinner - January 24, 2013

Juice Box globalization was one of three wine market scenarios that I proposed in a talk I gave in January 2013 at the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium in Sacramento (you can read a brief summary of my remarks here ). I was inspired by the Minute Maid apple juice box pictured in the slide above.

You think of Minute Maid as an American brand and goodness knows that we grow lots of apples here, but in fact it has become a globally sourced product. The generic apple juice …

• Topics: Barefoot, California, American, Gallo, Argentina
• The Wine Curmudgeon: Barefoot and the wine magazines
• Wine Economics: Trading Down: Wine and Recession
• Oregon Pinot Noir Notes - From Robert Wolfe, The Pinot Guy at the Oregon Pinot Noir Club: The Barefoot Bistro Bash
• WineSpiritsDaily.com - Wine & Spirits Daily: Barefoot Still on Fire
• STEVE HEIMOFF| WINE BLOG: My Christmas at Marilyn's
• Box Wines: Kenwood Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

…consolidation in the wholesale market A preview of a talk I gave to the Unified Grape and Wine Symposium in Sacramento, in which I represented smaller wineries and shared some of the essentials of keeping yourself viable in a crowded, noisy market with an ever-shrinking number of wholesalers and an ever-growing number of wineries.

The costs of state alcohol franchise laws I only put up one post this year focusing on the labrynth of legislation a winery has to navigate …

• Topics: Journey, Hunter S Thompson, Santa Fe, Assistant Winemaker, Tripadvisor
• 1 Wine Dude: Get Yer Vote On! (Pick The Winners For The 2011 Wine Blog Awards)
• The Wine Curmudgeon: The wine world has finally gone wacko -- but vote for me anyway
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• Wine Conversation: Born Digital for the best online wine content
• blog.Cellarer: Best wine websites as of July 2012
• Notes From The Cellar: Five Months In The Books

…Italian, " Nero d'Avola" translates as "The Black [ Grape] of Avola" - Avola being a town at the southernmost tip of the island of Sicily near the city of Syracuse. The varietal is less commonly referred to as " Calabrese" - meaning "from Calabria," the Italian province straight across the Strait of Messina from Sicily.

Nero d'Avola grows best in hot, Mediterranean climates. Sicily certainly falls squarely into that definition. …

• Topics: Nero d'Avola, Italian wine, Bordeaux, Shiraz, Avola
• Daily Wine News: Deep red Sicilian and devilishly good
• Blue State Carpetbagger's Purple(?) State Wine Blog: 2008 Planeta CERASUOLO DI VITTORIA (Sicily)
• Off The Presses: Imbibe Names 25 Most Influential Cocktail Personalities of the Past Century
• The Good Wine Guru: Big House Red 2010
• Bigger Than Your Head: Wine of the Week
• Sommelier - Harpers.co.uk: The Pink Pound

The Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation ( GWRDC) will present the latest insights on Chinese consumer wine preferences in the first INseries events kicking off in May. ‘China Insights' will be the first topic addressed in the INseries breakfast workshops, taking place in five of the top Australian wine regions exporting to China - McLaren Vale (23 May), the Barossa Valley (24 May), the Hunter Valley (27 May), the Yarra Valley (28 May) and Margaret River (30 May).

• Topics: McLaren Vale, Insights, Yarra Valley, China, New South Wales wine

…Gomberg Fredrickson's Jon Fredrickson told the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium earlier this year, " California ran out of wine."

The result? Higher prices. The trend is especially notable at restaurants , where by-the-pour prices are inching up. It's curious that all this is happening just as the country (and world) seems to be emerging from the Great Recession, putting a little more money into the average consumer's pocket. Are consumers willing …

• Topics: California, United States of America, Europe, Mother Nature, China
• The Wine Curmudgeon: Wine of the week: Gruet Brut NV
• Brooklynguy's Wine and Food Blog: Stony Hill - A Visit to the Iconic Napa Valley Winery
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• Bigger Than Your Head: Weekend Wine Sips: "Have a Super Sparkly Day!"
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I was reading the other day that Ningxia, the Chinese autonomous region (roughly equivalent to a U.S. State) in north-central China, "will introduce the first winery-based classification system in China within the next few months."

The article explains how there will be "6 classes in this classification." The director of the governing body [of the] Ningxia Development Bureau for Grape and Flower Industry explained its rationale this way: "In …

• Topics: China, Ningxia, California, Jim Laube, Flower
• JancisRobinson.com: China's most promising wine province? (Free for all)
• Daily Wine News: Yealands winemaker secures trip to China (NZ)
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• Bordeaux Undiscovered - Nick's Blog: Wine Producing Regions in China
• Sour Grapes: Chinese wine: Chang Yu Cabernet d'Est 2010

…Brazil nuts are just the worst. The only reason you'd buy Brazil nuts is if you're filled with self-loathing, or want to give someone the worst, most hateful present imaginable. Brazil nuts are a cancer on the planet and should be eradicated as soon as possible.

Deeez Nuts - The nuts that are here.

Grape Nuts - You Open It Up, No Grapes, No Nuts! WHAT'S the Deal?

• Topics: Brazil Nut, Nuts, Feel, Gourmet, Open
• Chocolate & Zucchini: Ginger and Almond Chocolate Clusters
• On the Road with the Grape Guy: Report from ... Rhone Valley Tasting and Lunch - January 27, 2011
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…Pinot Noir. It could hardly be as difficult as growing The Heartbreak Grape.

The only reason I can think of for the pitiful state of rosé in this country is that most consumers don't know the difference between good rosé and bad. Otherwise why in the world would they keep drinking Merlot that is only one or two shades of red lighter than the wine it was pulled out of a few days earlier? Or maybe it's just that most American winemakers are too lazy to be bothered with learning …

• Topics: Virginia, American, United States of America, Brix, Alder
• Santa Cruz Mountains and Santa Clara Valley Wines: Welcome To Paradise
• East Coast Wineries: The Best Books on East Coast Wine
• Virginia Wine Time: I Tasted My Way Through the Wines of America
• Bigger Than Your Head: Cookbooks and Wine Recs
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• ShipCompliant: Wine Shipping Blog: Wine Retailers Can Only Ship to 14 States

I'm thrilled to report that on Friday night in New York Wine Grapes , the tome on 1,368 wine grape varieties written by me, Julia and José Vouillamoz, won the coveted James Beard Award for the best 'Beverage' book published in English last year. We all feel very proud, and delighted that Julia.

• Topics: Julia, English, José Vouillamoz, James Beard, New York City
• Pinotblogger: the Capozzi Winery blog: Keller's Under Pressure, With Pinot Pt.1
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• 4488: A Ridge Blog: Julia Child and Paul Draper!