Wine news, Jan 2010

Its still January, so I guess I qualify to wish all a very happy new year. 2009, for me, has been an extremely busy year as I struggled to juggle my job, my passion for good food, wine and travel, my family and of course, my writing. 2010, looks better. So far so good.

Lets straight get to the world of Wines. A lot has been happening to it, not just around us here in India but all over the world. Reasons are pretty predictable: recession, environment, new players, new consumers etc. Listed below are issues that have been making news.

Its hard to sell expensive wines as consumers opt for cheaper ones
Consumers, not just in the United states but all across the wine drinking world are opting for cheaper wines. So, while on the one hand the wine sales of wines priced above 15 $ is on a downward slide, the cheaper ones in the range of 6 $ or less are on upswing. Further, according to winery consultant Gomberg & Fredrikson, California global wine shipments dropped for the first time in 16 years during 2009, driven down by the worldwide recession in general and sales declines in the United Kingdom in particular. Shipments fell 1.6 percent in the first 11 months of the year to 236 million cases. Read more here.

Angrezi sparkling wines beat the French Champagne

The south of England might be sharing similar geology and soils as that of the Champagne region of France, but the countries haven't exactly been fond of each other in the past. And in wines, Champagne was always heads and shoulders above the English. Not any longer guys. Sample this: Nyetimber's Classic Cuvée 2003 (made in Sussex, England) has been crowned Champion of Worldwide Sparkling Wines in the competition run by Italy's wine magazine Euposia. Telegraph has more here.

World record size 'Ice Wine' bottle in China

First some information: What is Ice wine, you may ask? I agree it is not too popular here in India. Well, it is a variety of dessert wine made from frozen grapes while still on the vine. When the frozen grapes are pressed it results in a smaller amount of more concentrated, very sweet wine. This - the record - happened just yesterday in Shenyang, the provincial capital of Liaoning in China. And the record: The bottle contains nearly 1850-liters of wine, four times the previous world record holder, which contains 490-liters. Read more from here.