There is a new twist in the recently exposed fraud scandal in Bordeaux: previously The Times reported that (several) managers of Celliers Vinicoles du Blayais had been involved in the fraud. The company has now denied this to our sister publication WEINWIRTSCHAFT.
A winery in Romania, home to Dracula, was pleased to receive an order from the US owner of a brand called Vampire. When they subsequently tried to sell other brands of their own such as Bloody Merlot, referencing the same myth, they came up against a litigious US system that proved very costly. W. Blake Gray offers valuable advice for would-be exporter to this enticing market.
Following a decision by the the Environmental Protection Agency – EPA - US grape growers can continue to use Roundup to help to keep their vineyards free of weeds.
The United Kingdom has one of the highest tax regimes on alcohol in the world. It was feared that a new regime to be applied next February would have made matters even worse, while introducing unworkable impracticality into the UK trade. Those threats have been lifted. For the moment.
Next year, labels of wines sold in Europe will have to reveal the number of calories they contain, and either nutritional and ingredient listing - or a link to this information online. How ready is the industry for this move?
The Irish Department of Health has informed the European Commission on June 21, 2022, of a draft law involving alcohol warning labels that are likely to prove controversial.
In October 2021, the Catalan group "Reserva de la Tierra" was suspected of putting wines with fake DO seals into circulation. According to current media reports, 40 million bottles worth about 14.2 million euro are affected by the fraud - significantly more than previously assumed. The insolvent company has been bought by the private equity firm Sherpa Capital.
Bayer, the German pharmaceutical giant, suffered a setback in the US when the Supreme Court allowed cases to proceed against its subsidiary Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller whose allegedly carcinogenic ingredient, glyphosate, is widely used by the wine industry.
In 1971, Domaines Peyronie, bought a trademark called Chateau Pauillac which they began to use on the bottles of wine they produced on a small plot of land. Half a century later, that decision has proved controversial.
It’s got a wine-growing history that dates back to the Roman world. It’s got more than 220 authorised grape varieties over 55,000 hectares of vineyards, and it’s one of the most exciting wine-growing countries in Europe.
