Protesting sommeliers, red wine zooms, a new future – tasting sized pours
Sommeliers unite!
“Almost a dozen” sommeliers in Melbourne are boycotting Tasmanian wine from Gunns Limited because of a perceived deforestation through their new pulp mill. The wine waiters may not be the big guns but, according to one, “Gunns have got a lot of money and a lot of power and we don’t. But we have the power, not through money, but through influence.” [“Pulp friction“]
Red hot red wine
“Château Lafite Rothschild 1996 has been selling at £7,000 ($14,300) per case, up from £4,200 six months ago; Château Mouton Rothschild 1998 has been on the market for £2,600, up from £1,500; and Château Latour 2004 has sold for £3,200, up from £2,050.” [FT.com]
The new pink?
“Citrusy and bright, Picpoul de Pinet is lively enough to be an aperitif, complex enough to drink with cheese or seafood and — no small consideration — affordable enough to indulge in a second bottle while waiting for a perfect partner for more than food.” [LA Times]
Attention deficit
“Financially we don’t mean very much to the state wine distributors, compared to Robert Mondavi,” Mike Reynolds of Hall winery told CNN. “Distributors look at the bigger brands,” he explained, and “our volume does not justify their attention.” A good point in general, but specifically, maybe the $70 million Gehry-designed winery will get the distributors’ attention for the Halls? [CNN]
A contingent future
Buy six and get one…option? Yes, that’s the new futures policy at Cloof Winery in South Africa. Buy six bottles of the 2006 Very Sexy Shiraz and get one option to buy a bottle of their top wine, Crucible. No word on whether the options themselves are tradeable, or what the demand is. [allafrica.com]
On July 25th, 2007 at 9:04 am ,East Village Wine Geek wrote:
OOOOOOHHHHHH WEE!! I love me some of that Picpoul Du Pinet. It is just awesome and the price is always reasonable if you can find it. One of Languedoc’s best under dogs…or should I say…sous le chien. Did a post about it when I accidently came across it here in the East Village. It was only eleven bucks! Holla!
http://evwg.blogspot.com/2006/12/enjoying-lip-stinger.html
On July 28th, 2007 at 5:31 am ,Salil wrote:
So is the Cloof Crucible not available for sale otherwise?
Hope this isn’t turning into one of those Napa mailing list ‘hostage’ situations, where the top wines can only be bought off the list in a joint package with other, less desired ones.