Dr Vino's wine blog

SIPPED: boom times
Wine auctions brought in a total of $408 million, nearly doubling the 2009 take according to Peter Meltzer. Hong Kong boomed, with $165 millon in wine auctions, surpassing New York’s $154 million. According to the article, the five largest auction houses by wine gross are: Acker worldwide, Sotheby’s worldwide, Christie’s worldwide, Zachys worldwide, and Hart Davis Hart Chicago. The highest price paid for one 750ml bottle was $232,692 for 1869 Lafite. Bottoms up!

SIPPED: chemicals
Chinese Central Television, an outfit not known for investigative journalism, has outed 30 wineries practicing wine adulteration in Changli County of Habei Province, leading to their closure. [ShanghaiDaily.com]

SIPPED: the stuff of sitcoms
Not all the “hot” wine was mulled over the holidays: two thieves broke into rapper 50 Cent’s Connecticut mansion; one was found in the closet drinking wine from his cellar. [People]

SIPPED: the hard stuff
A Napa vintner is distilling sauvignon blanc vodka and selling it as varietal and vintage. After six distillations, is there really any trace of either? [winesandvines.com]

SIPPED: the free stuff
Samples of wine and spirits can now be poured in California grocery stores. Happy shopping! [sacbee.com]

SPIT: basement dwellers
The WIne Advocate publisher asserts that “two dozen troublemakers,” basement-dwelling, “generally single men” led to eBob paywall. He also hints at his heir apparent. [winebersekers]

SIPPED: wine frontiers
Remember those vines planted in Norway? Well, now there are also vines planted in Tanzania, specifically the flat area around Dodoma (come on, Arusha, where’s cuvée Kilimanjaro?). [allafrica.com]

SIPPED: spitting!
“The length and precision of the stream are just unbelievable.” No, this is not something from Urology. They actually have a wine spitting contest in France! [France24]

SIPPED: tariffs
Will India develop a thirst for wine? Maybe after it reduces its thirst for 150+% tariffs & taxes. [WSJ]

SPIT: human interaction
Remember those wine vending machines in PA? WalMart wants in. Redbox DVD? Check. Wine from kiosk? Check. Humans? Nil. [The Consumerist]

SPIT: 7-eleven wine
Millennial “would rather die” than drink wine sold at 7-Eleven. [Thomson Family Vineyards]

SIPPED: bankruptcy
A&P grocery stores, which purchased Best Cellars in 2007, filed for bankruptcy yesterday. Given that Royal Ahold (owner of Stop & Shop) is already circling, the new, merged company could be called Stop & P. [Bloomberg]

SIPPED: foreign ownership?
Speaking of distress sales, a French blogger wonders if a Chinese bidder may emerge for Heidsieck Champagnes. Sure, one may come forward, but it will have to do better than India’s United Breweries, which received a “frosty reception” bidding on Taittinger in 2006.

SIPPED: miracles?
FIJI water LLC, which recently shut down production in a showdown with Fiji’s (military) government but then caved, will be turning their water profits into wine. In a merger of all caps, FIJI will be acquiring JUSTIN vineyard in Paso Robles. The FIJI CEO noted that JUSTIN has “fantastic products” and is “not a distressed asset.” According to Bloomberg, the Resnicks, the billionaire owners of FIJI, are the biggest growers of citrus, pomegranate, almonds and pistachios in the U.S.

SIPPED: another round
Will the Supreme Court extend to wine retailers their previous decision that liberalized winery shipping? We may find out since the Specialty Wine Retailers’ Association has appealed. [AFP]

SPIT: bubble pricing
An economist has some advice to wine collectors: Sell your Lafite. Now. [WSJ]

SIPPED: boats and dragons
And you thought our Cuvée 88888888 was brazen! File under: “How to succeed in China: get personal and put a boat or a dragon on your label.” [decanter.com]

SIPPED: end of an era?
“I think we’ve just come out of 15 years of wine criticism where there was really only one point of view.” SF mag tracks the evolution in California wine styles.

SPIT: inoculated discussion
If you’ve ever had a question about yeasts in wine, it’s likely been discussed on this epic thread on Wine Disorder.

SIPPED: critiquing the critics
Robert De Niro honors Francis Ford Coppola’s cinematic achievements–by commenting on his wine (and their scores). Be sure to check out the video for the PinotShiraCab! [LA Weekly]

SIPPED: 19th century Champagne
Remember those old Champagne bottles found by divers in the Baltic? Well, they were popped open last week and one taster said that the Veuve Clicquot had “immense concentration.” Must not have been yellow label, then!

SPIT: glycoproteins?!
New research suggests that glycoproteins in wine may be the cause allergic reactions. Will we see a Surgeon General’s warning for glycoproteins on the label before we see any mention of possible health benefits of wine? [Science Daily; Journal of Proteome Research]

SIPPED: Burgundy woos China
A Chinese film star inaugurated was scheduled to inaugurate the annual Hospice de Beaune auction, where the catalogues also had Mandarin on the cover. Burgundy officials announced a €400,000 to “conquer the Chinese market.”

SIPPED: Lafitte
A Chinese businessman has purchased a dormant Bordeaux label–Chateau Chenu Lafitte–for his son. “Our objective is to sell the wine in China.” [Sud Ouest]

Sipped: Dining arbitrage
Thomas Keller dinner in Hong Kong, $835; Per Se, $275 (wine not included). [WSJ]

SIPPED: sizzle
Chateau Angelus will be James Bond’s choice of red wine, reports decanter.com. The movie had an “unbelievable” impact on sales of the St. Emilion wine, says owner Hubert de Bouard. No word of how much, if anything, the tie-up cost. Just think what it would have done if he picked a cabernet franc from the Loire!

SIPPED: more sizzle
After recent successes in Hong Kong, auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s graced New York with sales this past weekend. The Sotheby’s sale grossed $5,403,527, blowing away the estimate, and the Christie’s topline was $3,652,140, a high for them for this year. Absentee bidders from Asia featured prominently.

SIPPED: fizzle (not fizz)
While Napoleon Bonaparte could always find a reason to have Champagne, whether in victory or in defeat, Remy Cointreau has found a reason not to: lack of profits. The cognac and spirits maker has engaged a bank to find a buyer for its unprofitable Champagne businesses, which include Charles Heidsieck and Piper-Heidsieck. Interested in their margins? Poke around their helpful web site where they lay bare the financials of their divisions, including €96.7mln sales for Champagne with a €4.0mln loss. [Bloomberg]

SIPPED: spooky vines
NBC is developing a series (not yet even a pilot) revolving around a “troubled family desperate for a fresh start that takes over a Napa Valley winery whose ancient vines possess dangerous mystical powers.” Aha! All those ancient vines in Napa… [deadline.com]

SIPPED: wine lifestyle…in New Hampshire
Bode Miller, the gold medal skier who once admitted to racing while hungover, plans to become a vintner in his home state of New Hampshire. It’s all downhill from here… [Reuters]

SIPPED: profits
Where are the profits in the American wine biz? While many prospective investors like Bode Miller are drawn by the glamor of the winery lifestyle, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway thinks otherwise: the company has just bought their second wine and spirits distributor, this time in Tennessee. [Bloomberg]

SIPPED: symbols
The price of Chateau Lafite 2008 rises 20% after the announcement of a Chinese symbol (the lucky number eight) on the bottle. What’s the Chinese symbol for OMG?!? And we will have to wait until 2018 to see other Bordeaux producers add Chinese characters? [Decanter]

SIPPED: Dutch wine?!
Mover over Heineken, here comes something boozier. Dutch ingenuity now means that Holland not only makes wine but has over 90 wineries. Dutch wine is served on KLM, and, apparently, not just out of patriotism or curiosity value. [Monsters & Critics]

FOR SALE: one of the World’s Great Wine Estates…asking price: $10 million. [The Australian]

SIPPED: venti Cabernet?
Starbucks stores do 70% of their business by 2 PM. So will they be transitioning more locations to wine bars at night? USA Today explores the latest.

SPIT: good times
Japanese embassies are ordered to reduce wine inventories since some have enough to supply thirty years of consumption. [AFP]

SIPPED: good times
A hospital in Indiana allows patients to bring in their own wine to pair with hospital food. Talk about an impossible pairing! [AP]

SIPPED: continuity
Didier Dagueneau, of Pouilly-Fumé, died in 2008 at the age of 52. His son, Louis-Benjamin, now 25, took over the winemaking and his first two vintages are “superb,” writes Jacqueline Friedrich. [LAT]

SIPPED: wine names for software
The internal code name at Apple for Mac OS 10.7 is “Barolo,” apparently. To which bchapnj quipped on Twitter: “Does that mean it won’t be ready for 5 – 10 years?”

SIPPED: wine on tap
Last week, New York magazine called self-serve wine tanks brilliant and highbrow. This week, their restaurant critics round-up the bourgeoning offerings of wine on tap. Fun as taps can be, let’s hope the cost savings are passed on to diners! [NY mag]

SIPPED: in vino, Veritas?
The NYC wine shrines Veritas and Cru, have closed according to the NYT. Grub Street reports that the lease for Veritas has been taken over and will now be a more casual place (with wine on tap?).

SIPPED: one for the road
A press release claims all 50 states (plus DC!) now allow diners to take unfinished wine with them from restaurants.

MUNCHED: Bordeaux 2010
Rabbits have descended on some vineyards in Bordeaux, one reporting 15 percent of the crop being eaten. At least some critics already like the 2010 vintage! Although “two paws up” was probably not the endorsement many property owners were seeking. [myfoxhouston.com]

SPIT: Strange brew, grand cru?
A British consumer claims to have found a frog in bottle of (Spanish) wine she was drinking. She has sued the retailer Asda. Ribbit! [Harpers.co.uk]

SIPPED: drinks?
Pregnant women can have a drink or two a week without harming the baby according to a study published today in the Journal of Epidemiological and Community Health. The study used data drawing on 11,000 children. [Bloomberg]

SPIT: anonymous comments
Charles Smith, owner of K Vintners, has sued anonymous commenters on a Blake Gray’s blog. Get the details and analysis of the “Streisand effect” from Felix Salmon on Reuters.

SIPPED: ghost writing
Utah’s Atty General calls a beer industry lobbyist who drafted his recent testimony on HR 5034 simply “a scribe or secretary.” [WSJ]

SIPPED: one more reason to die with an empty cellar
UK Revenue agents are cracking down on valuing wine collections in estates at market value, not the cost basis. [FT]