The French government has presented a plan to reform, renew and revive the wine sector. Wines should be categorised in three new (rebranded?) categories: – VdF – Vignobles de France, that will replace Vin de
The hotly debated reform of the wine scheme within the EU agricultural policy has finally been agreed. Albeit a substantially weaker reform than originally proposed by commissioner Mariann Fischer-Boel it is still a step in
The small village Champagne in Switzerland has been the subject of posts previously in the Brief when they attracted the attention of the Champagne region and CIVC in France. French Champagne did not like that
Most wine lovers would probably not hesitate, with a longing in their eyes, to say that Bordeaux Premier Cru refers to the top five chateaux in the 1855 classification: Chx Margaux, Mouton, Haut-Brion, Latour and
The Belgian customs has seized a shipment of 3288 bottles of sparkling André wine (produced by the Californian producer E&J Gallo) and destroyed the bottles (se video here: Decanter). The bottles were marked with the
It was a weakened reform that was agreed with the agricultural ministers just before Christmas. Hardly cause for celebrating with a bottle of champagne, except for the champagne producers and other northern winegrowing regions who
We recently wrote about the plans in Champagne to extend the limits of the appellation to allow for more production. Obviously a contentious issue. Tom Stevenson, a world leading expert on Champagne, asks the question
A while back we wrote about the odd rule in the UK that prohibits selling wine by the glass in small measures. Some wine merchants and wine bars had started to offer very exclusive wines
A German wine importer has refused delivery of a shipment of wine from New Zealand, from the Te Karianga winery. The wine contained 3.6 ppm (parts per million) of copper whereas the limit within the
Well, its not the pregnant women who are dangerous of course, but drinking wine while you are pregnant. At least according to the warning texts (or alternatively a graphically illustrative symbol) that are now compulsory
France recently created three new Vins de Pays: “de l’Atlantique”, “de Gaule” and “de France”. These have now been rejected by the agricultural commission at the EU. The reason is that, according to European rules,
The ruling has been confirmed that raises the yield in Champagne to 15,000 kg/ha. Very few people (in France) counts in kg/ha so if we translate it to hectolitres per hectare it equates to 100
Is it permitted to irrigate the vineyard? It depends on where and when. Many believe that it is forbidden in e.g. France. However, that is not the case. Even in France it is allowed in
Next year the agreement between Hungary and the EU will come into effect that will reserve the name “Tokay” (in its various spellings) to wine coming from the region of Tokay in Hungary. The use
The EU plans to allocate 450 million in wine farm subsidies, primarily to France, Italy, and Spain, in 2006 (approximately the same as in 2005). The main aim of the support is (in principle…) to
Costières de Nîmes is at the southern end of the Rhône valley on the border to Languedoc. The modified rules for white CdN wine declares: Permitted grape varieties are Clairette, Grenache Blanc, Bourboulenc, Ugni Blanc,
INAO made positive noises towards allowing irrigation in French vineyards. The proposal means that it would be OK to water vineyards under special circumstances, as for instance the extremely hot summer in 2003.
Irrigation has long been prohibited in French vineyards. The reasoning being that with water the growers could inflate the grapes, increase production but lower the quality. There is currently a proposal on the table, likely
INAO has defined (somewhat) new rules for Bandol. In short: – Manual harvest is compulsory – Enriching or concentration of the must is not permitted (reverse osmosis, cryo-extraction…) – minimum 18 months in barrel for
The French government has presented a plan to reform, renew and revive the wine sector. Wines should be categorised in three new (rebranded?) categories: –
The hotly debated reform of the wine scheme within the EU agricultural policy has finally been agreed. Albeit a substantially weaker reform than originally proposed
The small village Champagne in Switzerland has been the subject of posts previously in the Brief when they attracted the attention of the Champagne region
Most wine lovers would probably not hesitate, with a longing in their eyes, to say that Bordeaux Premier Cru refers to the top five chateaux
The Belgian customs has seized a shipment of 3288 bottles of sparkling André wine (produced by the Californian producer E&J Gallo) and destroyed the bottles
It was a weakened reform that was agreed with the agricultural ministers just before Christmas. Hardly cause for celebrating with a bottle of champagne, except
We recently wrote about the plans in Champagne to extend the limits of the appellation to allow for more production. Obviously a contentious issue. Tom
A while back we wrote about the odd rule in the UK that prohibits selling wine by the glass in small measures. Some wine merchants
A German wine importer has refused delivery of a shipment of wine from New Zealand, from the Te Karianga winery. The wine contained 3.6 ppm
Well, its not the pregnant women who are dangerous of course, but drinking wine while you are pregnant. At least according to the warning texts
France recently created three new Vins de Pays: “de l’Atlantique”, “de Gaule” and “de France”. These have now been rejected by the agricultural commission at
The ruling has been confirmed that raises the yield in Champagne to 15,000 kg/ha. Very few people (in France) counts in kg/ha so if we
Is it permitted to irrigate the vineyard? It depends on where and when. Many believe that it is forbidden in e.g. France. However, that is
Next year the agreement between Hungary and the EU will come into effect that will reserve the name “Tokay” (in its various spellings) to wine
The EU plans to allocate 450 million in wine farm subsidies, primarily to France, Italy, and Spain, in 2006 (approximately the same as in 2005).
Costières de Nîmes is at the southern end of the Rhône valley on the border to Languedoc. The modified rules for white CdN wine declares:
INAO made positive noises towards allowing irrigation in French vineyards. The proposal means that it would be OK to water vineyards under special circumstances, as
Irrigation has long been prohibited in French vineyards. The reasoning being that with water the growers could inflate the grapes, increase production but lower the
INAO has defined (somewhat) new rules for Bandol. In short: – Manual harvest is compulsory – Enriching or concentration of the must is not permitted
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