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Statistics |
| Unique Visitors: 0 |
| Total Unique Visitors: 6285 |
| Visitors Out: 397 |
| Total Visitors Out: 397 |
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| French wine exporter borrows some new world tricks |
| 2008-08-13 05:31:00 |
PARIS (Reuters Life!) - A small French wine exporter is seeking to raise the game for southern French regional wines by taking a page out of the new world wine marketing book. LGI Wines in the southwestern city of Carcassonne invents catchy names, designs trendy labels and produces wines targeted at regional tastes just like competitors in Australia, New Zealand, California and Latin America. Their wines may have names like Tortoise Creek, labels with pleasing pictures and a clear description of the grape varieties just like their new world competitors, but don't be fooled.
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| St Emilion classification finally ruled invalid |
| 2008-07-04 13:17:00 |
A Bordeaux court yesterday ruled that the 2006 St Emilion classification is invalid and can no longer be used.Chateaux must now remove the classifications of Premier Grand Cru Classé A or B, or Grand Cru Classé - which should have applied from the 2006 vintage up to 2016 - from labels on wines dating from the 2006 vintage.'The commission decided that the wine tasting mechanism was not an impartial system,' said Philippe Thévenin, the lawyer who acted for the châteaux that fought the new classification.
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| Wines of France sweepstakes offers the chance to live life in vino veritas |
| 2008-06-23 04:47:00 |
The wine-centric trip involves six days each in Bordeaux and Burgundy, the holy grail of wine regions. The winner will be exposed to harvesting grapes that make the world's most famous wines and will get to experience vinification with a range of reputable wine producers. It won't all be work, though. There will be plenty of time doing what the French do best: enjoying life, eating and drinking, with a special focus on all things local. Plus, an essential stopover in Paris will span two days of more epicurean heaven, where they will visit gourmet markets, fine wine shops and eat at the city's bustling bistros and brasseries. Master of Wine and Wines of France spokesperson, Sheri Sauter Morano, has spent time in both ...
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| French legal tangle souring wine on web |
| 2008-06-11 03:00:00 |
BORDEAUX, France (AFP) — Lingering uncertainty over whether or not wine ads on the Internet are legal in France is angering wine professionals in Bordeaux."It is ridiculous not to be able to use the Internet, the law must be adapted," said Alain Vironneau, president of the Bordeaux Wine Board (the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux, or CIVB)."It's an extraordinary communications tool and it would be idiotic for the development of the wine business not to be able to use it."
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| Top ten French wines |
| 2008-05-20 15:24:00 |
prices in Bordeaux and Champagne continue to rise, with modestly-priced examples in either region hard to come by, but elsewhere in France fascinating and rewarding wines are easily found.Alsace remains a particular favourite of mine, with tasty, aromatic, food-friendly whites of a style and charm that you simply won't find anywhere else. The Rhône Valley is hard to beat for reds of real character and value, while Languedoc-Roussillon and the more obscure appellations of the Loire, southwest France and Provence are home to some delightfully quirky and individual wines, made both from the classic varieties as well as from rediscovered and revitalised local ones.
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| Making sense of French wines |
| 2008-05-06 04:38:00 |
Chablis - This is a region in northern Burgundy well known for Chardonnay. It's a restrained, elegant and minerally style of wine. Pouilly-Fuissé - Is another style of Chardonnay, from central Burgundy. Sancerre - Situated in the eastern Loire valley, the wines are mainly Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. While not as aromatic as New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, the dry minerally texture of Sancerre makes it an ideal food wine. Pouilly-Fumé - Another wine made from the Sauvignon Blanc grape, except from another part of the Loire. Champagne - Made from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. The wines are often blended with different ratios of each grape and some - such as Blanc de Blanc are made from 100 per cent Chardonnay. Alsace - Very close to the German b...
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| Bordeaux wine exports surge in 2007 |
| 2008-04-23 10:30:00 |
Export sales for Bordeaux wines in 2007 sets a new record of 1.4 billion Euros for a volume of 1.93 million hectolitres. Export sales represents 41% of total Bordeaux wine sales in 2007 and show a 9% rise compared to 2006 (+ 7% in volume) and 30% compared to 2005, therefore an additional 322 million Euros (+7% in volume). This increase is the result of: - the evolution of Bordeaux wine supply towards the 4.5 Euros to 15 Euros price bracket (a rise of 8% compared to 2006), to the detriment of lower-end-range wines.
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| Bordeaux News, wine magazine, published in China |
| 2008-04-15 11:26:00 |
For the third year in a row, BORDEAUX NEWS will be directly promoted and distributed in China as follows: the 27th, 28th and 29th of May 2008 in Hong Kong, the 3rd, 4th and 5th June 2008 in Canton, and the 17th, 18th and 19th of June 2008 in Shanghai.With an introduction written by His Excellency, the French Ambassador in Beijing, the 2008 issue will be distributed to visitors at the entry to the trade fair and also sold at news stands. Furthermore, the magazine is distributed to wine professionals throughout the Bordeaux region.This publication has been bilingual (French and English) since the first issue in 1993.
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| French wine becomes popular in China |
| 2008-04-10 15:46:00 |
For years, traditional Chinese spirit has been a must on many dinner tables in China. But now Chinese drinkers have more choices, as the grain alcohol has met with competition from overseas. Yuan Xiaoyuan takes a closer look at the rowing interest in tasting and collecting French wines.
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| French river cruise: wine and water |
| 2008-04-01 16:10:00 |
What should one wear on a French barge holiday? A Breton sailor’s cap with jaunty neckerchief? Floaty linens in a sensible shade of oatmeal? Silk pyjamas and a feather boa? And what if it’s a chartered barge, with a heated pool, enormous bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, flowing Champagne and a handsome crew of six catering to eight passengers? “Bright, stripy tops and bedazzling white trousers,” suggests my wife, Alice, who designs clothes. She packs seven pairs of shoes – not bad for a six-night cruise through the Burgundy and Rhône wine regions, where much of our day is spent reading and snoozing on the teak decks, barefoot.
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| Deep in the south of France, in the world-famous Languedoc-Roussillon region |
| 2008-03-26 06:51:00 |
Yves Delmas, owner of Domaine La Noble, and Dan Kravitz, an American importer, found the special terroir here to be perfect for yielding classically proportioned Bordeaux grape varietals such as cabernet sauvignon and merlot, but also Rhone varietals such as syrah, mourvedre and grenache. But this particular bottle of La Noble is a clean and straight merlot. A French wine must have 100 percent of the varietal in the bottle to be able to have its name on the label, and this in turn makes for easier marketing in the United States.
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| French wine magnate Bernard Magrez has expanded the boundaries of his wine empire further |
| 2008-03-18 14:46:00 |
Since 2005, Magrez has been making a small amount of wine in the area from purchased grapes, which is what convinced him of the quality of the terroir. In three to four years, he plans to make two cuvées from his own vines: an entry-level wine and a "cuvee d'exception" made from lower yields, all manually harvested and sorted and destemmed. As part of his diversification, Magrez is selling three of his Bordeaux properties—Châteaux Bois Pertuis, Haut Mouleyre and Bois Chantant. All three produced entry-level Bordeaux AOC wines. "The deal is not finalized," Magrez said. "We want to sell these three because they are no longer part of our strategy. We are refocusing on high-quality vineyards."
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| Wine: The Purest Pour |
| 2008-03-12 02:47:00 |
"The French wine world seems to have been bitten by a bug," observed food writer François Simon in Le Figaro recently. The pest in question is a tiny but evangelistic movement devoted to vin naturel — wine made completely without chemical intervention. It's an approach that "flies in the face of the practices widely used in viticulture," says Dominique Lacout, author of a natural wine-lovers' guide.Pioneered in the 1960s by Beaujolais enologist Jules Chauvet, natural wine-making strives for a pure expression of the vintage and land through organic farming and the banning of modern cellar practices like adding laboratory yeasts, chaptalization (adding sugar to increase alcohol content) and filtering.
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| Wine flavor can depend on barrels |
| 2008-03-05 16:28:00 |
The main purpose of the wine barrel is to add the vanilla and oak flavors that many consumers enjoy.French oak is widely accepted as the best barrel to use in winemaking because of its long history with the process, the quality of the oak used and the techniques utilized by the French coopers in constructing the barrels. French oak barrels are popular because they are known to provide the most flavors.Unfortunately French wine barrels are becoming very expensive. Taransaud, a noted barrel producer, is offering their best barrel for more than $1,400. Most French barrels are in the $800 price range. American barrels are half that cost. The typical barrel holds only 59 gallons or 25 cases of w
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| Global champagne exports pop all-time record |
| 2008-03-02 07:16:00 |
Only 33,500 hectares (83,000 acres) of vineyard are dedicated to champagne production, all in the Reims region of northeast France, under the country's strict Appellation d'Origine Controlee (AOC) wine classification system.By comparision, the Bordeaux wine-growing region alone has more than 120,000 hectares of grapes under cultivation.But the champagne world is bracing for a mini-revolution as French wine officials prepare to accept 40 new towns into the AOC, which currently counts 317, allowing dozens of new producers to market champagne wine.
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| French wine makers sail towards a greener future |
| 2008-02-26 14:21:00 |
French shipping firm Compagnie de Transport Maritime à la Voile (CTMV) has revealed plans to begin exporting wine by sail boat as part of the industry's attempts to cut its carbon footprint. According to reports in The Guardian, the company is preparing to ship 60,000 bottles from Laungedoc to Ireland using a three mast 19th Century barque. The voyage is expected to last four days, but will save 4.9oz of carbon per bottle, delivering a total reduction in carbon emissions of 18,375lb.
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| French Wine Exports Set for Slowdown, After Record in 2007 |
| 2008-02-22 16:11:00 |
Sales of Cognac, which remains an overseas favorite, climbed 12 percent, down from the first half's 23 percent. France sold 1.7 billion euros worth of Cognac in the year. Sales of wine from regions such as Languedoc, Bordeaux, Loire and Burgundy rose 8.9 percent in the year. The Burgundy region gained the most, with 21.5 percent. Bordeaux added 8.8 percent. Volumes rose less than prices for most wines, the survey showed. Foreign consumers choose high-end products and seek out wines with simple labels that leave out detailed regional information, studies by a wine producers' association showed last year.
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| Bordeaux's upcoming wine futures campaign |
| 2008-02-17 17:56:00 |
The Bordeaux primeur system, which offers wine for sale two years before it is bottled, is unique in the wine world and has always attracted much attention, both positive and negative.In the last two years, prices paid for top wines have reached record wholesale prices of 400 to 500 euros per bottle, as demand exploded, with customers paying per bottle retail prices of up to 1,000 euros for a few of the most sought after wines like Petrus, Ausone and Cheval Blanc.
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| The Greatest Wine on the Planet |
| 2008-02-13 23:52:00 |
Château Cheval Blanc, which dates back to the 1830s, is located in Bordeaux's Saint-Émilion appellation, on the right bank of the Gironde River. Although Saint-Émilion is mainly Merlot country, Cheval Blanc normally contains a high percentage of Cabernet Franc, which has always made for a very distinctive wine.That's because the '47 Cheval is probably the most celebrated wine of the 20th century. It is the wine every grape nut wants to experience before he dies, a wine that even the most jaded aficionados will travel thousands of miles to taste.
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| French farmers attack Spanish wine lorries |
| 2008-02-10 03:44:00 |
Around 50 members of the young farmers’ group, Jeunes Agriculteurs, blocked the lorries’ path at a toll station just outside Montpellier on Tuesday.Moments later, protestors cracked open four lorries’ vats and sent more than 100,000 litres of red and white wine pouring onto the motorway floor. Other lorries carrying fruit and vegetables were also attacked.
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| New french wine shops open in Shanghai, |
| 2008-02-05 15:34:00 |
French wine imports at 15,517,251 litres in the twelve months to the end of 2007 more than doubled their 2006 values, which were already twice those of 2005 (3,424,764l). Although not quite as strong in growth, but nonetheless soaring by 90%, Australia remained in second place on the charts with a total volume of 8,783,927 litres, again more than four times the figure for 2005 (2,260,360l).
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| Cotes du Rhone: French wine at a nice price |
| 2008-02-02 04:25:00 |
We find ourselves trying more and more Cotes du Rhones because of their value — they are among the most underpriced wines in France. Unfortunately, you never know what you will get: a complex wine that can be aged or a limp wine with raging acidity and little fruit.An appellation since 1937, Cotes du Rhone is most often made in southern Rhone. However, wine producers often use the name to identify wines that don't meet the standards required to use a label identifying a top-level appellation, like Hermitage or Chateauneuf du Pape.
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| French wines make a comeback |
| 2008-01-29 02:32:00 |
French wines are quietly making a comeback thanks to a New World market that is exhibiting the kind of smugness that first had the French on the run. Drought, consolidation, the dumb-it-down factor and sweet-tasting, high-alcohol wines are tiring out New World drinkers, in effect driving them right back into the hands of the French.In the right place at the right time are Rhone Valley producers where, according to the folks at Sopexa Canada, some 16 per cent of winemakers are under 35 years old, or three per cent more than the national average.
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| Wines of Val de Loire area |
| 2008-01-29 02:23:00 |
Founded in 1947, the Friedrich company is the result of one man’s will to devote himself to improving the market position and standing of Loire wines. In 60 years, thanks to the efforts of André Friedrich, this company has developed from a business trading and bottling wine in the Val de Loire to being the undisputed leader in the French Bag-in-box wine market.
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| Planning a Wine Trip to France Just Got Easier |
| 2008-01-29 02:21:00 |
The main wine regions of France have been broken down into smaller sections, enabling a real focus on the most attractive towns, villages and tourist sights in the area. Connoisseur wine lovers will appreciate the hand-picked selection of wine producers who will provide a great welcome and tour of their cellars along with an interesting wine tasting. Newcomers to wine will enjoy the careful mix of wine and tourist attractions. A recent subscriber wrote to say: "I have just returned from a 5-day holiday in Bordeaux - the guides are excellent and a great addition to the pleasures of the visit."
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| Riesling on the Rise |
| 2008-01-28 09:32:00 |
But being British, our palate is sharpest when it comes to the semiotics of wine: whenever an Englishman opens his mouth to glug back a glass, he's saying something about himself. A drinker of French wine is signalling “I'm sophisticated, have a lover stashed away, and I'm so insouciant that I shrug off the loss of €5 billion as mere bagatelle”; a drinker of zippy Australian wines is saying “I like wine but I'm no girly-man, indeed, I'm going to change a tyre straight after lunch”; and dinner-party drinkers of Argentinian numbers are, between the chat about house prices, letting you know:
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