Wine News

With more than 1,000 Australian wine brands now available in China, third-quarter results show Chinese mainlanders bought 2.54 million cases of Australian wine.  China is Australia’s fastest growing market and fourth largest export market by value, after the UK, US and Canada.  Chinese consumers’ increasingly sophisticated thirst for imported wine is said to be driving the growth.

According to Wine Australia, China netted the most sales of premium Australian wines between September 2010 and September 2011, with more than 4.2m bottles priced over 600 yuan sold.  The country is on track to import 26m cases of wine by the year’s end, a 60% growth compared with last year’s figure of 16m.

Last year, Jacob’s Creek experienced a 42% sales increase in China, assisted by the launch of its Winemarker Series and tailored marketing approach.  These are wines that are quite affordable, often in the range of $30’s US.

While title seems to be out of a spy novel, it is in fact a very positive reference to Australian researchers at the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) having recently cracked the DNA code of the stubborn and often malodorous yeast Brettanomyces found in wine corks and wines.  It’s a breakthrough that scientists and vintners alike hope will significantly reduce or possibly eliminate the pesky and sometime stinky offender.

Describing brett as ‘the enemy’, Dr Chris Curtin, the lead AWRI researcher on the Brett genomics project, said they could now investigate the potential for Brett to develop a ‘super strain’ that would be resistant to sulphites, the common method for dealing with the organism.  The danger of the emergence of such a strain was one of the reasons the AWRI set out to identify the brett genome.

In what may be a sign of change in the frenzy for top Bordeaux, Christie’s auction house reported recently a tepid start for the autumn Hong Kong wine auction season.  A three day wine sale failed to sell all lots (as did their contemporary art auction). 

While sales were slightly better than expected, the lacklustre results in the first two days of the auction were unexpected, said Christie's Head of Wine Sales, Charles Curtis.  "I did really expect it to go better. I knew that Lafite was soft and that it had struggled in my competitor's auctions in recent months but I didn't realize the depth of the problem," Curtis told Reuters. In October, at rival auction house Sotheby's (BID.N) autumn sales held in Hong Kong, buyers passed up lots of Chateau Lafite 2001, choosing to focus on Burgundy wines. Demand for Lafite has been more subdued in recent months due concerns it has become too common and fears over faked wine grow said industry experts.

While 2010 saw China become the world’s largest Bordeaux consumer, it also unleashed a market in counterfeit wines. 

Counterfeits include bottles of Bordeaux wine that have been diluted with sugared water and had coloring agents and artificial flavorings added, before being sold for exorbitant prices.  Good vintage wines sold for unusually low prices with brand new labels are a warning sign, as are bottles marked "Laffite" or "Lafitte" -- wrong spellings for the famous Bordeaux winery that may go unnoticed in China. 

Satellite technology has joined the modern era of vineyard management in France.

Dozens of wine domains in France - from the best-known Bordeaux chateaux to humbler vintners in the Languedoc-Roussillon region - are utilizing information from satellites on when and how to harvest their grapes. 

Wine output in Italy fell to the lowest levels in more than 60 years this year, hit by an extremely hot and dry September.  Nonetheless, the new vintage quality is promising, confirmed by several of the Piedmont and Tuscany vintners we visited recently.

Wine output in Tuscany, famous for its Chianti red, Brunello di Montalcino and Nobile di Montepulciano, fell 15 percent from 2010, the report said. The region of Piedmont, known for its full-body red Barolo, has seen a 10 percent fall in output this year. Output in Sicily, one of Italy’s biggest wine producing regions, plunged 25 percent, hit by vine-digging. Output in Veneto, Italy’s largest wine making region, fell 5 percent.

While 2010 was hyped to rival the “vintage of the century” 2009, after a superb 2005, 2000 and 2003 just one step removed, merchants are drawing a sign of relief that the futures campaign was not as weak as earlier feared.

At the same time, many are frustrated that pricing of so many coveted wines was not released until later than usual as well as the prices themselves in a rather fragile economy.  While many loyal futures customers have been reported to desert the 2010 “in droves,” it was still the second most successful campaign in history behind the 2009, with the 2005, third.

The Australia drinks industry-funded watchdog, DrinkWise, has issued a series of labels that encourage consumers to learn more about the risks of alcohol consumption.  Australia has one of the highest rate of alcohol abuse in the world.  Some labels will carry the messages such as “kids and alcohol don’t mix, is your drinking harming yourself or others and is it safe to drink while pregnant?” 

While the label warnings are not mandated, DrinkWise, which represents 80% of the Australia’s drink brands such as Diageo, Bacardi, Absolut, Johnnie Walker and Jack Daniels, amongst others, has published a list of member companies that have signed up for the initiative.

Many white Burgundy vintages from the 1990’s are alleged to be suffering from oxidation, a process that robs wine of its freshness, often leaving a dull wine.  No obvious cause has been discovered to date, although bleach and hydrogen dioxide treatment of corks, is one of theories put forth. 

Another theory questions the lowered sulfur levels used during the 1990’s.  Interestingly enough, sulfur levels are more reduced today.  It has been reported that prominent white Burgundy collectors have been offering testimony of the effects of oxidation of these wines.  While producers are doing everything possible to stem the problem, there is still no assurance that it’s resolved.