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Sweet Valley Wines in Walla Walla claims to be the 500th winery in Washington State. The state has 31,000 acres of wine (13,000 hectares). Production has grown steadily from not more than 20 wineries in

What will happen with the prices on the primeur wines (“release prices”) from Bordeaux? Many people, both buyers and sellers, seem to look at it with a certain concern. And many chateaux seem reluctant to

In contrast, in Australia this year’s harvest will be the smallest since 2000 – only 560,000 tonnes (~400 M litres of wine). It is almost 30% less than last year. Perhaps not entirely unwelcome though,

The harvest volume in Argentina 2007 is expected to increase with 6.5% compared with 2006. It will be the largest volume since 10 years. A contributing factor is that many new plantations in the Mendoza

The European Union has recently officially recognised the denominations “Napa” and “Napa Valley” for wine in a way similar to the European appellations of origin for wine. The president of Napa Valley Vintners comments “It

Austria aims to become the leading producer of organic wine. There are today 467 organic wineries in the country, representing 4% of the total production. In 2006 the produced volume of organic wine reached 652,000

On May 11 the official text for the new Vin de Pays du Val de Loire was published. It covers the departements Allier, Cher, Indre, Indre-et-Loire, Loir-et-Cher, Loire-Atlantique, Loiret, Maine-et-Loire, Nièvre, Puy-de-Dôme, Sarthe, Vendée, Vienne

It’s not officially released yet, but we can give you a sneak preview. On February 13-17 we will organise an exclusive Truffles Hunting, Wine and Gastronomy tour (including foie gras) to the Perigord district in

Wine Tours 26-30 September: Côte d’Or, the heart of Burgundy Over the course of a long weekend we will take a close look at the heart of Burgundy: la Côte d’Or de Bourgogne, the Golden

Here in Paris we had a wonderful month of April. We sat on the balcony until late in the evenings enjoying 20+ centigrade. Then May arrived with the total contrast: cold and rain. In our

Some wine sites that you might enjoy visiting: On Italian Syrah wines: sfgate.com On Hans Vinding-Diers, a Danish-South African-Italian wine maker: winespectator.com Wine comments from the US, including some Wine Spectator videos: vin-cache.com One of

Gigondas is a small appellation in the southern Rhône valley that has almost become a little bit forgotten. For a while it has perhaps not been among the most dynamic of wine regions but more

A year or two ago Laroche opened a wine bar and restaurant in an old renovated mill and now (after quite a long wait) it’s time for the hotel. It is a very small and

Sometimes one thinks that it’s a pity that one can’t afford to drink some really nice wines in a restaurant. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to bring with you to the restaurant that

Vinisud in Montpellier is a trade show focusing on wines from the Mediterranean basin. It has grown rapidly in recent times and is today a must for those who are interested in wines “from the

During Vinitaly the Consortio of Soave launched a new information leaflet on combining Soave wine with food – specifically with Scandinavian food. The booklet contains recommendations and recipes from famous Scandinavian chefs and how to

In the last issue of The Brief we mentioned that Montenegro has joined the OIV. Unfortunately we were a little bit imprecise in explaining what OIV is. Federico Castellucci, general secretary of the OIV, has

Château la Roque, one of the best known properties in the successful appellation Pic-St-Loup in Languedoc has just changed hands. The new owner is the ex-industrialist from Normandy, Jacques Rivette. the property covers some 80

In a text published on April 30 AOC Languedoc has been officially announced. Technically, it is not a new appellation but a modification of the existing AOC Coteaux du Languedoc. To create a new AC

– First it was the Cru Bourgeois classification that was annulled. Then it was St Emilion. Is Margaux next? Philippe Raoux, owner of Ch d’Arsac, has recently won a new step in a long running

– The Champagne house Thiénot (Thiénot, Canard-Duchène, Joseph Perrier, Marie Stuart, Malard) has bought a stake in the Bordeaux négociant CVBG Dourthe Kressmann. Dourthe is a major négociant in Bordeaux and also owns (or manages)

– The latest addition to the list of AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) is Outer Coastal Plain in New Jersey. The region covers almost half of the state: 2.25 million acres (0,9 million hectares) – all

Since April 1 it is no longer permitted to use the name Tocai (in Italy) or Tokay (d’Alsace, in France) following an EU agreement that reserves that name for wines from Hungary. The Italian government

2006 was a record year for wine exports from Spain: they reached 1.64 bn euro which is up 3.9% from previous year. Looking further back, over ten years, since 1995, the Spanish exports have doubled.

– The acreage for grapes in California grew in 2006 to 350,000 hectares (860,000 acres). That is about the same size as Bordeaux (100’) and Languedoc (250’) together. But only 60% of that is used

– South Africa is arguably one of the most successful “new” wine countries in recent times, coming from virtually nowhere to now commanding a substantial market share, at least on some markets. But now even