Business leaders look to change Oklahoma liquor laws

Oklahoma City business leaders have organized talks between lawmakers and the alcohol industry about changing state law to let grocery stores sell strong beer and wine. Grocery and convenience stores can now sell only low-point beer. Wine, strong beer and liquor must be bought at licensed liquor stores, bars or restaurants.

Roy Williams, president of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, described Oklahoma's liquor laws as "archaic" and said similar laws in other states already have been changed. "It's an inconvenience to shoppers, but also we see it as a quality-of-life issue," Williams told The Oklahoman. Any major change in Oklahoma liquor laws would likely require a vote of the people because several state alcohol laws are part of the state Constitution.

Liquor stores and distributors who have benefitted from the state's restrictions on where alcohol can be sold have lobbied for years against changing the law. They claim letting grocery stores carry wine and strong beer will harm locally owned businesses that make up Oklahoma's liquor retail and distribution industry.

J.P. Richard, the owner of Cache Road Liquor in Lawton, said he thinks customers are better served by stores that have specialized in liquor sales for decades rather than chain grocery stores that focus on many other projects.

"Everybody's put their heart and soul into this for years and years, and then just to have it taken away by the stroke of a pen — it's just not acceptable," said Richard, the president of the Retail Liquor Association of Oklahoma.

He said he expects another fight over the proposed changes. "I think we're going to have to go and do battle with them again," he said. Richard also said the Oklahoma economy would suffer if grocery stores could sell wine and strong beer because most of the grocers were owned by corporations based in other states.

"Then the money leaves the state, and you get a minimum-wage employee who is now your service agent. That's your expert," Richard said. Williams said the chamber wants local governments to be able to decide whether grocery stores in their communities can sell wine and strong beer. "That way, if there are some parts of the state that don't want it, they wouldn't have to have it," Williams said.

Read Full Entry

On Wine: Champagne for the New Year

Champagne is really a little miracle. I'm not talking about the bubbles. Rather, it's a miracle that wine can be made in such a cool northerly climate. Even though Champagne's grapes -- chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier -- are harvested at lower sugars than are grapes used for still wines, the climate of the region is barely warm enough in many years to achieve that degree of ripeness. But those cold temperatures also have a benefit. The resulting high acidity in the grapes makes Champagne fresh and lively. Add bubbles to the mix, and you have a uniquely vivacious wine. No wonder it has become the beverage of celebration.

Also contributing to Champagne's character is the chalky soil profile in most of the region. The soil holds enough water for the vines to survive dry periods, but it also drains well in rainy times, which are common. The chalk also may be the source of the minerality found in the flavor of many Champagnes.

It's a special place, which is why the Champenois bristle when people refer to all sparkling wines as "champagne." Other bubblies have their merit, but true Champagne comes only from the 84,000 acres that make up the Champagne appellation east of Paris.

The landscape there is hilly and beautiful. The hills are crowned by forests; vineyards occupy the middle of the slope, while the towns lie in the valleys. The heart of the growing region is divided into three parts: the Montagne de Reims, dominated by pinot noir; the Cote des Blancs, home of the best chardonnay; and the Vallee de Marne, well-suited to pinot meunier. (A fourth area, the Cote des Bar, is far to the southeast.)

Champagne production and exports are dominated by the big houses, with recognizable names like Moet & Chandon and Veuve Clicquot. But these companies buy most of their grapes, and the average grower farms just five acres. An increasing trend is the so-called grower Champagne, labeled with the term "recoltant manipulant." These bubblies, made by the grape grower, account for about 20 percent of sales. The best ones -- those from Vilmart, Gimmonet, Gaston Chiquet and Doyard -- have real personality, and they're priced competitively with wines from the big producers.

And bubbles aside, Champagne is a wine first.

"We produce wine. Champagne is a wine. It's not only bubbles," says Antoine Malassagne, co-owner of A.R. Lenoble.

The winemaking, especially the blending, is incredibly important.

"Champagne is not just the result of what Mother Nature gives us," says Bruno Paillard, owner of the Champagne house that bears his name. It's the result, he adds, of human investment in the winemaking process.

Blending is particularly important for a winery's non-vintage brut, a blend of vintages that reflects the house style and needs to remain reasonably consistent from year to year. Cyril Brun, part of the winemaking team at Veuve Clicquot, brought out some tank samples from the 2009 vintage -- wines that are very acidic and don't yet have any bubbles -- and talked about what characteristics each grape variety brings to the blend.

"Then it's all about finding the right proportion," he says. Consistency in the non-vintage brut, he adds, "is our No. 1 obsession."

Champagne gets its bubbles during a second fermentation that occurs in the bottle after the blend is made. All Champagne is sold in the same bottle in which it went through that second fermentation; domestic bubbly labeled as "methode champenoise" undergoes the same process.

If you like a richer wine, consider the non-vintage Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut ($45), or the robust non-vintage Bollinger Special Cuvee ($65). For something more delicate, there's the non-vintage Louis Roederer Brut Premier ($43), which displays mineral, fresh citrus and apple notes; the non-vintage Delamotte Brut ($55), with its bright citrus; the slightly yeastier non-vintage Deutz Brut Classic ($41); and the creamy non-vintage Bruno Paillard Premiere Cuvee ($60).

Read Full Entry

Constellation Brands to sell some international wine ops

Constellation Brands Inc, the world's No. 1 winemaker, will sell most of its operations in Australia, Britain and South Africa to focus on its most profitable brands and shore up its balance sheet.

Australia's Champ Private Equity, a private equity fund based in Sydney, will pay A$230 mn (USD 230 mn) for 80% of Constellation's businesses in the three countries.The deal, which sent Constellation shares up 1.7%, is the first in a flurry of expected mergers among wine and spirits makers, which are expected to follow the same path as their largely consolidated brewer peers.

Constellation said on Thursday that it will retain a 20% interest in the businesses, whose brands include Hardys in Australia, Fish Hoek in South Africa and Stowells in the United Kingdom. The company is retaining all its brands in New Zealand, South America and continental Europe.

Chief Executive Rob Sands said that despite a large-scale operation and quality wines, the businesses still faced challenging market conditions and were not consistent with the company's new strategy of improving margins by focusing on its more premium labels such as Robert Mondavi, Ravenswood and Clos du Bois.

"The divestiture of these operations comes as no surprise as management has indicated their focus on the most profitable, prominent core brands," said UBS analyst Kaumil Gajrawala. Constellation also owns Svedka vodka and sells Corona beer through a joint venture with Mexico's Grupo Modelo.

Many wine businesses have been struggling as a glut of grapes flooded the market and depressed prices. Swings in supply and demand have often plagued Australia, where a drought in recent years put a cap on an earlier glut.

Aside from the difficulty of growing grapes and the dependency on weather, the hundreds of brands on the market make it hard for wine makers to increase their profits by raising prices, a strategy often used by beer and spirits makers. A surge in the popularity of cocktails in recent years has also boosted sales of drinks like vodka and whiskey.

Mixing drinks

Rival Brown-Forman Corp said on Wednesday it may sell some of its California wines. Such a move could make Brown-Forman, the producer of Jack Daniel's whiskey, a more attractive target for a company like Diageo or Pernod Ricard.

Meanwhile Foster's Group Ltd, the second-biggest wine maker after Constellation, is separating its lucrative beer operations from its struggling wine business. That action is expected to attract bids for both units.

In the most recent quarter, Constellation reported an operating loss of USD 3 mn in the Australia and Europe wine segment. Higher taxes on alcoholic beverages and consolidation of distributors in Britain have also weighed on results in recent quarters.

The transaction with Champ, which values the entire business at A$290 mn, includes virtually all of Constellation's Australian, UK and South African brands, wineries, facilities and vineyards, as well as its 50% stake in UK wholesaler Matthew Clark.

Constellation expects the deal to close by the end of January and will use the proceeds to pay down debt. It expects the deal to be neutral to earnings for fiscal 2011 and neutral to slightly dilutive for fiscal 2012.

Constellation was advised by Rothschild, which is also advising Brown-Forman. Champ currently has investments in Manassen Foods, Healthcare Australia and Golding Contractors. Constellation shares were up 37 cents at $22.35 on the New York Stock Exchange. They touched a 52-week high of USD 22.42 on December 16.

Read Full Entry

Top winemaker selling Australian, British unit

Constellation Brands Inc. said Thursday it is selling 80 percent of its Australian and British wine business to an Australian private equity firm for about $230 million, losing its distinction as the world's biggest wine company.

The seller of Robert Mondavi wine, Svedka vodka and Corona beer will retain a 20 percent stake, and the deal with Sydney-based Champ Private Equity is expected to be completed by the end of January. Based in Victor, N.Y., Constellation Brands bought Australian vintner BRL Hardy Ltd. for $1.1 billion in a 2003 deal that made it the world's largest wine business. It jumped further ahead of longtime wine leader E.& J. Gallo Winery of Modesto, Calif., when it bought Robert Mondavi Corp. for $1.3 billion.

Offloading its Australian-British unit will drop the company to No. 2 behind Gallo in both volume and sales of wine. But it will remain the biggest seller by volume of premium-category wines priced between $5 and $15 a bottle, spokeswoman Angie Blackwell said. Constellation Brands' shares rose 33 cents, or 1.5 percent, to close at $22.31 Thursday after touching a 52-week high of $22.43 earlier in the session. The stock has climbed 38 percent this year.

The sale includes virtually all of Constellation Brands' Australian, British and South African brands, wineries and vineyards, plus its 50 percent partnership in British wholesaler Matthew Clark. The transaction values the entire business at $290 million. The division being sold "has significant scale but continues to be faced with challenging market conditions" and no longer fits with Constellation Brands' strategy, CEO Robert Sands said in a statement.

UBS analyst Kaumil Gajrawala was upbeat about the deal. With the British and Australian business operating at breakeven to slightly profitable levels, the sale improves Constellation Brands' prospects for margin and revenue growth, he said in a note to clients. With the net proceeds expected to be funneled into paying down debt, Moody's Investors Service raised the company's ratings outlook to positive from stable, saying the sale of foreign assets would create a smaller but more profitable business with less risk.

In 2008, Constellation Brands began an overhaul of operations to counter a sales slowdown in Australia and Britain. Since then, it has been shaken by a wine glut in Australia and heightened private-label competition, falling prices and duty increases in Britain, where it's been a leading marketer of wine. Its main Australian wine brands are Hardys, Banrock Station, Leasingham and Chateau Reynella. Its non-U.S. wine portfolio also contains wines from core markets in New Zealand and Canada.

In its fiscal year ending in February, Constellation Brands posted $930 million in wine revenue in Australia, Europe and New Zealand -- the bulk of it coming from its Australian and British operations. Its overall annual sales fell to $3.65 billion from $3.77 billion in the previous year. In recent years, the company has shifted focus toward higher-priced wines and spirits, selling off some of its lower-price brands after a two-decade acquisition spree. It also has consolidated divisions, cutting its work force to 6,000 people from 8,200 in 2008.

Constellation Brands draws more than 90 percent of its revenue from wine, most of it moderately priced. Among its 100-plus brands are Clos du Bois, Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi, Blackstone and Ravenswood. It also sells liquors such as Black Velvet Canadian whiskey and, through a wholesale joint venture, imports beers including Negra Modelo from Mexico, Tsingtao from China and St. Pauli Girl from Germany.

Read Full Entry

Report: Brown-Forman seeks buyer for wine assets

A spokesman for Brown-Forman Corp. declined to comment on a report today in the Wall Street Journal that the Kentucky-based alcoholic beverage giant is selling all or part of its wine holdings, which include Hopland-based Fetzer and Bonterra, Sonoma-Cutrer near Windsor and five other brands. Citing sources who know about plan, the publication said Brown-Forman hired Rothschild to sell the assets at auction, with an expected take of a couple hundred million dollars.

The wine business has been a challenging play for beverage businesses with lower costs of goods sold, according to Sean Maher, a St. Helena-based wine mergers and acquisitions expert involved with a number of significant deals this year, including Diageo’s $269 million sale-leaseback of North Coast vineyards and winery facilities. “Spirits people always have struggled with wine assets, because it takes so much to get $1 in sales,” he said.

Brown-Forman started its wine group in 1991 after the acquisition of Jekel in Monterey County. A year later the company acquired Fetzer Vineyards and Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards in 1999-2000. Today the company has eight wine brands.

At the end of its fiscal quarter in April, Brown-Forman reported that depletions for the Fetzer Vineyards brand decreased 5 percent from fiscal 2009 to 2.16 million cases. Meanwhile, depletions of super-premium price tier Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards and certified-organic Bonterra Vineyards were among super-premium-price wine and spirits brands increased 2 percent.

Other drinks companies are divesting of some wine assets. Australia-based Foster’s Group has been seeking to “demerge” its wine group, now called Treasury Wine Estates. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Constellation Brands is courting a buyer for brands outside the U.S.

Brown-Forman has a longstanding sales and marketing agreement with Korbel Champagne Cellars of Russian River Valley. Any move to sell wine operations is not expected to affect that relationship, according to a Korbel spokeswoman.

Read Full Entry

Wine and Spirits / Bring on the bubbly

For tens of millions of people the world over, the beverage most often associated with New Year's Eve is champagne. This makes perfect sense, as no other wine has ever been as closely associated with the celebration of pleasant and hopeful events.

Despite the love many have for champagne, there are several things about this superb wine that are not well known. There are, for example, many kinds of sparkling wines, but only those from the region of France surrounding the cities of Reims and Epernay can be labeled as "champagne." Some of the best known sparkling wines are Spanish Cava, German Sekt and Italian Prosecco, but none of these can be called champagne. The name is so closely guarded, the producers of wine in the French-speaking village of Champagne, Switzerland are forbidden to put the name of their town on their bottles. Nor is it widely known that only three grapes can be used to produce champagne: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

The white Chardonnay grape grows vigorously in the Champagne region, where it's considered the king of white grapes. With its relatively high acidity, Chardonnay adds liveliness in its youth and depth as the wine matures. The grape traditionally yields citrus, apple and peach aromas and flavors and sometimes notes of kiwi, guava and pineapple. As the wines mature, they also take on notes of cantaloupe. Although most champagne is blended with the other two permitted grapes, some are made entirely from Chardonnay and these are known as "blanc de blancs.

Pinot Noir, the black grape from which the great Burgundy wines are made, is more difficult to grow but is well worth the effort, as it provides the structure and depth of the wines of Champagne. Not as tannic as Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah, the Pinot Noir grape provides the aromas and flavors of red fruits like cherries, raspberries, strawberries and red currants, and sometimes adds a spicy and light herbal note to the wines into which it is blended.

Pinot Meunier is probably the least known of the trio, but is no less important. Sometimes known simply as Meunier and in some villages as Black Riesling, the grape adds body and richness to champagne as well as a distinct mineral note. A spicy grape, rich in red currant, plum and cherry flavors and aromas, Pinot Meunier can also add charming notes of freshly baked bread. When a champagne is made entirely from Pinot Noir, or a blend of Pinot Noir and Meunier, the wine is known as a "blanc de noir" (literally a white wine made from black grapes; the color is clear because the skins of grapes that pass on color are removed immediately after the grapes are crushed ).

There are also grapes known as "Champagne grapes" (the more formal name of which is Corinth ), but these are most definitely not used in making champagne. Instead, they are usually dried and served as raisins.

As to when to drink champagne, there's no need to restrict oneself to Sylvester (what Israelis call New Year's Eve ), for the bubbly beverage goes as well with breakfast as with lunch, as well as an aperitif with most dinner dishes. From the humble hamburger to the sumptuous lobster Thermidor, champagne is always in order.

Following are reviews of several recently tasted champagnes now available locally, including a collection from the Moet & Chandon and others from equally respected champagne houses.

Champagnes for Sylvester

Moet & Chandon, Brut Champagne, Grand Vintage, 2000: Light golden in color, opening with aromas and flavors of yeasty white bread and going on to show citrus and apple fruits, supported nicely by hints of ginger, creme patissiere and stony minerals. A blend of 50% Chardonnay, 34% Pinot Noir, 16% Pinot Munier, lingering long and comfortably on the palate. Drink now-2022. NIS 380. Score 94.

Moet & Chandon, Brut Rose, Grand Vintage, 2004: Rose petal pink toward salmon colored, the traditional blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier (41%, 39%, 20% ), showing medium, perhaps medium- to full-bodied, with aromas and flavors of blueberries, blackberres and cherries supported nicely by notes of mocha and white and black pepper. A good mousse, sharp and well-focused bubbles, and an enchanting mineral note that rises on the long finish. Drinking beautifully now, but don't hesitate to cellar through 2020. NIS 420. Score 92.

Moet & Chandon, Brut, Grand Vintage, Champagne, 2003: Straw gold in color, with fine, concentrated bubbles that go on and on, a blend of 43% Pinot Meunier, 29% Pinot Noir and 29% Chardonnay. Medium- to full-bodied with fine concentration, showing a tempting array of citrus, peach, apricot and citrus pith aromas and flavors. Long and generous. Drink now-2018. NIS 380. Score 91.

Moet & Chandon, Brut Rose, Grand Vintage, Champagne, 2003: Pale straw in color, with a light yeasty note that runs through. A full-bodied blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay (48%, 30% and 22% ). Finely focused bubbles, showing a berry, cherry and citrus personality but lacking the complexity one hopes for in a fine rose champagne. Drink now-2013. NIS 420. Score 89.

Billecart-Salmon, Cuvee Nicolas Francois Billecart, Champagne, 1998: A blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, those partly oak-aged. Light gold with an orange tint; on the opening nose hints of spring flowers and anise, yielding to aromas and flavors of summer fruits, orange and pears. A long mousse, finely focused bubbles and a remarkably long, near-creamy and elegant finish. Drink now-2025. NIS 840. Score 94.

Billecart-Salmon, Brut Reserve, Champagne, n.v.: Light golden straw in color, with a long mousse and long-lingering fine, concentrated bubbles; a blend of 50% Pinot Munier, 30% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir. Opens with gentle aromas of spring flowers, pink grapefruit and rye, going on to show a rich mineral layer that highlights notes of pears and cantaloupe melon. Medium-bodied, floating comfortably on the palate and lingering nicely. NIS 414. Score 90.

Pol Roger, Brut Rose, Champagne, 1993: Pink toward orange-salmon in color, this medium- to full-bodied champagne is as rich and extracted as one could desire. Plenty of toasted bread and coffee flavors, offset beautifully by abundant but not exaggerated aromas and flavors of red berries and cherries. Drinking beautifully now, but will hold nicely for four to six years longer. NIS 640. Score 93.

Ruinart, Brut Rose Champagne, n.v.: Light- to medium-bodied, with a long mousse and sharp, well-focused bubbles. On the nose and palate lightly toasted wheat kernels, cherries, wild berries and citrus, complemented nicely by a note of freshly peeled tree bark. Long and generous. NIS 510. Score 92.

Read Full Entry

Bottle of wine with your snags?

Butcher John Carnibella is not just handy slicing up a side of beef, he's also pretty good at nurturing a grapevine and turning its fruit into a half-decent bottle of plonk. He's raved about his wine - cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay - to customers in his Melbourne butcher shop for years, but has never been able to sell them a bottle except from his cellar door at Loch, in Victoria's southeast.

But under new liquor laws that come into force in Victoria on January 1, Mr Carnibella will be able to sell 1.5 litres of wine, or two bottles, to customers at his shop in Bentleigh to accompany their purchase of topside, silverside or half a dozen sausages.

Along with butchers, bed and breakfast operators, hairdressers and florists will be able to apply for permission to sell wine with their goods and services, but the wine must come from just one designated vineyard. They won't be able to supply a range of wines from multiple vineyards. "It's terrific for us - I can sell my own product in my own butcher shop," Mr Carnibella said.

"It will make life a lot easier. I'll be able to complement the beef with a red, all sorts of things. People come in to buy a roast, and I can offer a nice bottle of wine to go with it."

Mr Carnibella's Lochview Winery produces around 5000 bottles a year.

Boutique winemaker Robyn Schmidt, who with her husband Owen produces 15,000 bottles at their 15-acre Lyre Bird Hill Winery at Koonwarra, southeast of Melbourne, welcomes the initiative.

"We're always looking for extra outlets, particularly in local regional businesses - we always try to network and support each other," she said.

"It sounds like a great opportunity."

A spokesperson for the Director of Liquor Licensing said businesses such as butchers and florists, where the supply of liquor is only a small part of their services, won't have to hold a liquor licence, but they will have to meet certain criteria.

Read Full Entry

Raising our glasses to a drink with Key

It could be his self-deprecating humour, his apparent fine dress-sense or the fact that he has a holiday home in Hawaii. Whatever the reasons, it seems most New Zealanders would rather share a glass of wine with Prime Minister John Key than discuss the finer points of All Black selection policies with coach Graham Henry.

An independent study, The Mud House Wine Survey, looked at New Zealanders' attitudes towards drinking wine and who they'd like to consume it with this New Year's Eve. It found that more than a third, or 36 per cent, of men surveyed wanted to have a glass of wine with the Prime Minister.

Nearly a third (28 per cent) of women also ranked Mr Key as top choice of drinking buddy but he was tied with actress Robyn Malcolm, who played Cheryl West in Outrageous Fortune for the last time this year.

All Blacks coach Graham Henry, who was pipped at last week's rugby awards for top coach by Gordon Tietjens, was the next popular choice with the men with 13 per cent.

Behind Malcolm was TV3 defector and comedienne Jaquie Brown as the next most popular women's choice with 11 per cent.

The survey showed that despite New Zealand's reputation as a rugby, racing and beer nation, seven out of 10 people also liked red or white wine.

It said more than a third (36 per cent) of men would rather drink red wine compared with less than a quarter (24 per cent) of women.

Half of women (50 per cent) preferred white wine compared with men, with a third (31 per cent) saying they enjoyed white.

Meanwhile, nearly half of the respondents (46 per cent) agreed choice of wine can make or break a meal.

New Zealanders are parochial when it comes to choice, with two-thirds (66 per cent) saying they prefer to buy New Zealand wines over international brands.

The most popular wine variety was sauvignon blanc, with 42 per cent listing it as the drink of choice.

This was followed by chardonnay, merlot and pinot noir. Riesling was edged out only slightly ahead of pinot gris and cabernet sauvignon as the least-popular wine.

STARS AND TYPES

Who's hot

* John Key (right)
* Robyn Malcolm
* Graham Henry
* Jaquie Brown

What's hot

* Sauvignon Blanc - 42 per cent
* Chardonnay - 30 per cent
* Merlot - 28 per cent
* Pinot Noir - 27 per cent
* Pinot Gris - 25 per cent
* Cabernet Sauvignon - 25 per cent
* Riesling - 24 per cent

Read Full Entry

Heat up cold nights with mulled wine

They do it all night in Scandinavia. They do it in public in Eastern Europe. In Germany, there’s a hard-core twist I’ve seen only in steamy YouTube videos. Making mulled wine is something of an art in Europe during the holidays. Each culture has its own variant, though the basic principle is the same. Heat wine – usually red – with a mix of spices, sugar and fruit, ladle into mugs.In some countries, it’s served with aesthetic flair, and some cases evenflare. The Nordic version, known as glogg, is blended the day before to get the flavours mingling and calls for a floating garnish of raisins and blanched almond slices. In Germany, there’s an extreme ritual called Feuerzangenbowle, in which a rum-soaked sugar cone is set ablaze and drips into the simmering wine. At the glorious outdoor Prague Christmas Market, you can sip svarene vino when you need it most, while shopping in the cold air.

One thing I love about mulled wine is you don’t even have to drink alcohol to enjoy the stuff. The aroma is half the pleasure, like a fresh-cut spruce or mom’s holiday baking.

Problem is, concoctions that tend to pass for mulled wine on this continent can be ghastly. Bad wine, the wrong spice combination or too much sugar can put a person off mulled wine for life. But the biggest culprit, in my experience, is heat – namely too much. The key is to warm the wine until it starts to give off steam. Once that happens, immediately turn down the element to the lowest setting and keep the pan at a bare simmer for 20 or 25 minutes. Never allow the mixture to boil or it will take on a cooked-prune-like flavour.

Technically, any wine is fair game, but it’s critical it be something you enjoy drinking at room temperature. Hot plonk is still plonk. I generally prefer European reds, such as Côtes du Rhône from France, tempranillo from Spain or montepulciano d’Abruzzo from Italy, because European wines tend to be higher in acid than most wines from the New World, and heat can soften the acidity on the palate. They also tend to be lighter in colour. Inky mulled wine is not appealing.

Recipes vary but common ingredients include cloves, cinnamon, star anise and citrus (though berries are often used as a garnish). I like cardamom best of all, either ground or in the form of whole pods. It’s an underappreciated spice, I think, with an attractively fresh fragrance. Gluhwein, the version popular in Germany, Austria and Alsace, France, often contains vanilla pods. But I’m not much of a fan: It gives the drink a cloying Starbucks note I don’t enjoy.

The drink goes by many local names, as you’ll discover travelling through Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Italy, among other places. But it’s the Scandinavian version that may have the most familiar name here, glogg. That region also boasts the most heartwarming recipe, which usually calls for a good splash of spirit, usually in the form of akvavit or vodka. Those bottles sold at Ikea, by the way, are non-alcoholic and must be spiked with spirit. You can also find flavour concentrates designed to be reconstituted with red wine.

Don’tbother with prepared products: You can create a better-tasting blend more cheaply with spices from the pantry. If the spices have been sitting around for ages, take a smart cue from Cook’s Illustrated magazine and toast them briefly in a non-stick skillet to unlock more flavour. The magazine also recommends simmering the brew for a full hour, though I’ve had good results in less than 25 minutes.

Powdered spices dissolve neatly into the wine, but there’s no need to grind whole cloves, star anise or cinnamon. Cheesecloth tied into a sack with butcher’s twine works nicely, as will a strainer. Alternatively, you can stud the peel of a whole orange or lemon with cloves to keep them out of your mug.

Like the Scandinavians, you can make mulled wine ahead of time and gently reheat when guests arrive. Until Ikea comes up with a glogg-scented candle, mulled wine may be the easiest way to get your home smelling like the holidays.

Read Full Entry

Is It Time for Fine Wine?

For those clients who want to have their investments and drink them, too, wine futures could merit some consideration. The Liv-ex 100 Fine Wine Investables Index, which tracks the price movements of the 100 most sought-after fine wines with active secondary markets, is up close to 40% year to date. Wine-auction results are making headlines: an imperial-size bottle of Cheval Blanc 1947, a rare Bordeaux, sold for $304,375 in mid-November -- setting a world record for a single bottle at auction, according to Christie's.

Wine futures are purchases of the leading Bordeaux vintages still in barrels and not yet bottled. Tristen Beamon, general manager and Bordeaux buyer at importer and retailer Wine Exchange in Orange, Calif., says that after the grapes are harvested and fermented, the wine is stored in barrels. Wine producers invite leading wine critics and retailers to taste the wine at its early stage, usually in April.

The world’s top critics give the vintage a score as an early indication of its quality, and final scores are assigned when the wine is bottled. For example, a particular wine might receive a score in the range of 94–97 when in the barrel, with 100 being the top score.

Producers use that range score to price the wine for future delivery, hence the term: wine futures. The wine is sold in multiple tranches. If a tranche sells well, the producer will raise the price of subsequent tranches. Wine retailers then resell their allocations to retail customers who wait for delivery. “Customers who are buying the 2009 futures won’t see their wine until the end of 2011 and perhaps early 2012,” says Mike Osborn, founder of online wine retailer Wine.com.

Futures prices can move quickly. Osborn says that clients who purchased 2009’s first tranche in the late spring and early summer of 2010 have seen the value of their wines increase by 20 to 25% already. Some clients sell their wines at auction as soon as they receive them, says Osborn, but others store the bottles in anticipation of future price increases.

Possible Downsides: There are several risks. A vineyard can experience a natural disaster, such as an earthquake or floods. Also, the wine might spoil or the bottles can be damaged in transit. In addition, if a wine merchant doesn’t deliver the goods as promised, the buyer is left holding an expensive but worthless sales receipt.

There’s also the risk of wine fraud, in which a counterfeit label for a top vintage is placed on a lower-quality wine, highlighting the need to work with reputable merchants. David Diesslin, CFP, with Diesslin & Associates Inc. Financial Advisors in Ft. Worth, Texas, has been collecting wine for years and buys futures periodically.

It’s been a profitable hobby: He estimates that his average bottle cost is about one-tenth of its current market value. Diesslin recommends using a credit card for purchases to protect deposits against vendor problems. It’s also important to be aware of the wine’s history, he says. Of course, wine investments don’t come with guaranteed payoffs.

Kent Smetters, president of Veritat Advisors in Philadelphia and a professor at the Wharton School, studied wine prices through year-end 2006. “We basically found that except for first-growth French wine, investments in wine did not really produce a high enough return to justify their risk and in particular they were not a low-beta asset,” he explained.

Read Full Entry

Pennsylvania Wine Vending Machine Has Kafka-esque Security Measures

Can you believe that, in the 21st century, a place filled with household lasers, instant worldwide communication and Daft Punk’s amazing new Tron album, you cannot buy wine in a grocery store in Pennsylvania? Liquor can only be bought from state-owned and controlled stores.

But there’s a technological workaround – although it seems as much in the spirit (ahem) of the law as is the Sabbath mode available on some kitchen appliances. It uses vending machines, which are legal, and it goes like this:

Each machine is connected to a state employee in Harrisburg, via video-camera. A customer chooses their wine, swipes their ID, puffs into a breathalyzer and faces the camera. The state employee checks that the ID matches the person and, if they’re not already intoxicated, the person is allowed to buy the wine (the machine vends only wine right now).

What next? Backscatter nude-o-grams to make sure you’re not already carry another bottle? Oh, and as if this wasn’t bad enough, the first store with the machine, Giant Eagle in Robinson, only keeps it switched on until 9PM.

Clearly these laws aren’t meant to protect the people. Rather, a state monopoly on booze is a clear money-spinner for the local government. Still, the workaround is admirable, in a hi-tech, convoluted fashion, which is exactly the kind of workaround we like. Of course, this machine will never come close to the sublime ale-dispenser that is Wired.com’s Beer Robot.

Read Full Entry

Billionaire Resnick's Fiji Water Buys Vineyard, Turning From Water to Wine

Billionaire Stewart Resnick’s Fiji Water LLC will acquire Justin Vineyards & Winery in Paso Robles, California, for an undisclosed price, adding upscale wine to his investments in bottled water and pomegranate juice.

Justin, which makes about 50,000 cases of wine a year, was founded in 1981 by former investment banker Justin Baldwin and his wife, Deborah. The 160-acre property includes a hotel and a restaurant.

“It’s actually a perfect match,” said John Cochran, president of Fiji Water, in an interview. “The Justin folks have done an exceptional job of building a great business, primarily based on fantastic products. And despite all the success that they’ve had, there’s still a great opportunity, given consumer demand for the product, to carefully grow that consumer presence and distribution.”

The acquisition is one of eight this year for California wineries, twice as many as last year and the most since 2007, when eight purchases were completed before the recession, according to the San Francisco-based Wine Institute.

“There will be more deals like this, without question,” said Jack Daniels, co-founder of Wilson Daniels Ltd., a wine marketing firm in St. Helena.

Before the recession, the market was flooded with bottles priced from $25 to $100 as existing wineries ramped up production and new entrants came to the market, Daniels said. Now many are sitting on excess inventories as middle-class consumers cut back purchases of pricey wine and opt for bottles below $20.

‘Excellent Reputation’

Justin, which sells wines ranging from a $15 sauvignon blanc to a $62 cabernet sauvignon blend called Isosceles, has “an excellent reputation and are perceived as a high-quality producer,” Daniels said. “But there’s a lot of those wineries out there today.”

What makes the deal for Justin unusual is that the company doesn’t appear to be in trouble, unlike many other purchases this year, said Vic Motto, co-founder and chief executive officer of Global Wine Partners LLC, an investment bank in St. Helena, California.

“It’s an outlier,” Motto said. Since the economic slump, expanding wineries have been reluctant to sell for a discount, and those that have are in distressed situations, he said. “Those wineries that were highly leveraged were squeezed as sales went down. They just couldn’t sustain that.”

Troubled Assets

This year’s wine deals included purchases of troubled assets. In June, Sutter Home Winery paid $6.5 million for the real estate of former Havens Wine Cellars, which was liquidated last year. Last month, Foley Family Wines picked up Eos Winery in Paso Robles, which was in receivership.

Jeff Menashe, chairman of Demeter Advisory Group LLC, the San Francisco firm that worked on the Justin deal, wouldn’t say how much the winery sold for. He said it was comparable to five other sales in the past two years that involved growing luxury wineries in California.

Among those was Diageo Plc’s $105 million purchase of Rosenblum Cellars, a 200,000-case property in Alameda, a 2008 transaction that Demeter worked on. Another was the 2009 sale of Kosta Browne, a 10,500-case winery in Sonoma County specializing in pinot noir, to Vincraft Group, for about $40 million, according to the Wine Institute.

During the recession, consumers drank less in restaurants, hurting producers who relied on sales of bottles that cost more than $10. California wholesale wine sales were unchanged in 2009 from the previous year, and the value of retail sales dropped 3 percent to $17.9 billion, the Wine Institute said.

Best Year Ever

The situation is different with Justin, Baldwin said.

“We’re finishing up the best year we’ve ever had,” he said. Part of the reason he decided to sell is for financial planning, Baldwin said. He was also concerned that to “build off of what we’ve developed in our 30-year history,” they wouldn’t have “the financial wherewithal” to do that on their own.

“It’s not a distressed asset,” Fiji’s Cochran said.

Resnick is no stranger to the world of agriculture. He and his wife are the biggest growers of citrus, pomegranate, almonds and pistachios in the U.S. His Roll International Corp. owns Fiji Water, the bottled water shipped from the remote South Pacific island; POM Wonderful pomegranate juice; Teleflora, the flower delivery service; and Suterra, an environmentally friendly pesticide.

The Resnicks had been looking to buy a winery for years and never found a match until they were introduced to the Baldwins by Demeter, according to Cochran.

“They’ve done such a nice job of building up a business, most of the things you look at are such a train wreck,” Cochran said. “Stewart’s been buying businesses for 40 years, and it’s rare that he’s looked at one that got better as the process went on, not worse.”

Read Full Entry

Wine 'outperforming oil and gold'

According to the Bordeaux Index, a monthly report on the state of the fine wine market, bottles of white and red outperformed gold and oil. Wine prices jumped 5 per cent, year-on-year, bettering rises in the price of oil, which was up three per cent, and gold – up to two per cent. The rise has been attributed to an increased interest in China for fine wines over the past 12 months.

In the past year record auction prices have been set for bottles of wine. Last month £147,020 was paid for a bottle of 1869 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild at a sale in Hong Kong. Performing well has been Lafite and Mouton Rothschild 2008 which saw an increase after it was confirmed that Chinese artwork would feature on labels. Gary Boom, the founder and Managing Director of Bordeaux Index, said: “Once more, the key dynamic has been continued demand from the Asian market.

“Chinese buyers in particular have developed a taste for fine wine – and with alternative investment classes such as gold and shares limping through to the end of the year, it’s hard not to give any forecast other than for growth to continue into the New Year.”

Read Full Entry

Italy group fights AIDS with wine: 'wine for life'

Italy's quality wine producers are selling their finest vintages to help fight AIDS in Africa, fermenting the Latin proverb "In Vino Veritas," (In wine there is truth), into "In Vino Caritas" (In wine there is charity).

"It's all about love, taking the love that we receive from nature, in the form of wine, and giving it back to the earth, in the form of helping our needy brothers and sisters in Africa," said Luca Sanjust, owner of the Petrolo winery in Tuscany. Italy group fights AIDS with wine: 'wine for life' Petrolo, a high-quality boutique winery that produces only about 70,000 bottles a year, is just one of the Italian producers sending a life line to Africa through their vines.

The project that links Tuscany's idyllic rolling hills with some of the world's most blighted areas was started seven years ago by Rome's Sant' Egidio Community, which has been nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize. As part of the programme, more than 120 of Italy's finest vineyards put a sticker on some of best bottles reading "Wine for Life - this bottle helps fight AIDS in Africa".

Some two million bottles have borne the stickers in the past eight years. Fifty euro cents of the price goes to Sant' Egidio to finance their programme called DREAM -- an acronym for Drug Resource Enhancement Against AIDS and Malnutrition -- to administer antiretroviral treatment.

DREAM centres have opened in Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Nigeria, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroun. "This is about life, it is not about business," said Sanjust, 51, whose wines for the project include his Galatrona and Torrione labels, contributing tens of thousands of euros to the programme each year.

"Wine to us is sacred. Life is sacred. I think the people who are doing this work in Africa are living saints," Sanjust said at a recent benefit and wine auction for the programme.

PEACE MOVEMENT

Founded by students in Rome in 1968, Sant' Egidio has a long history of work in Africa. In 1992 it negotiated an end to the civil war in Mozambique after other diplomatic attempts failed.

The DREAM project gets about 250,000 euros ($329,700) a year from its Wine for Life initiative. The rest comes from charities, institutions, private donations and corporations.

Their clinics currently treat some 98,000 AIDS patients, including 59,000 for HIV and AIDS. Nearly 12,000 children been born healthy from HIV positive mothers thanks to the programme of antiretroviral drugs.

Sant' Egidio runs 31 centres with 18 laboratories in Africa and has helped with the professional formation of some 3,600 local doctors and clinical workers.

Some 500 professionals from the developed world, many of them doctors, go to Africa on their own time and money to help, a practice that helps keep costs under control.

Another well known Italian winery that takes part in the dream program is Zenato, which produces, among other delights, Amarone Valpolicella DOC, which this year was rated 36 in the Top 100 list in the U.S. wine magazine Wine Spectator.

"Land is a gift of God and the earth. Our ties to the earth and our vines can make us great and bring a smile to children," said Nadia Zenato, vice president of the family-own winery based in the hills west of Verona near Lake Garda.

"We want to do good for the those who are less fortunate than us. That's our family philosophy," said Zenato, 38, who runs the company with her mother and brother. "It's in our blood. It's in our vines," she said.

Read Full Entry

Feds pump $500,000 into wine industry

Big news for the wine industry came out of Naramata on the weekend. Federal Agriculture Minister, Gerry Ritz, made a funding announcement at Red Rooster Winery. "The government is helping the grape industry with an investment of almost $500,000 to the Canadian Vintners Association," says Ritz.

"Roughly half of this investment will help vintners get the word out about the variety of premium quality wines it's marketing in Canada and to enhance the competitiveness of our VQA wines in global markets. The balance will help the association upgrade food safety material.

Ritz was joined by Okanagan-Coquihalla MP Stockwell Day who says people may not realize just how much of our wine is enjoyed around the world. "Some people may think that the exports all go to the U.S. but in fact it's about half that," says Day.

"About nine million litres goes to the U.S. and about 10 million around the world."The money will be used to put together a long-term strategy to continue marketing wine internationally and set higher safety standards. In 2009, Canadian exports of wine exceeded $19 million with more than 10.7 million litres of wine going internationally.

Read Full Entry

The trick to choosing the perfect wine for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to showcase wines that people wouldn't normally serve at any other family gathering, says Mark Esterman, wine buyer and category manager for Meijer Inc. "There is a vast array of aromas, flavors, spices and textures associated with the feast," he said. "Think about it, spices in the stuffing, the sweetness of the cranberries, the fat and salt in the gravy, along with the different textures makes your mouth a playground for wine."

And, he adds, there is no right or wrong wine to serve. Those who enjoy a white wine should stick with white wine, same goes for red. But he says pick a wine with a good backbone of acid to cleanse the pallet during dinner.

"You want a wine that is going to marry well with the citrus in the cranberry and the spices in the stuffing," he said. "You want a wine that has a nice flavor of fruit. That's not to be confused with sweetness. It can be a dry wine.

"Find something that is structured and complex enough to stand up to all the food you're going to be eating, but not so strong as to overpower it," he adds. Whether you are a novice or pro at the wine game, Esterman offers a few suggestions for wines that can become part of the feast. For example a wine made from the malbec grape, such as Reza.

"It's from Argentina," he said. "It offers flavors and a medium body that goes great with all the typical Thanksgiving meals," he said. "People are getting into alternative reds. It's basically not a merlot. Everyone knows what they taste like. This is something different. Something they haven't had before. Something that's trendy."

Esterman suggests in the red variety, Blackstone or Pinot Noir. "It's medium bodied with a nice back bone of acid," he says of the Pinot Noir. "There is a ton of fruit to this wine. It smells like deep dark cherries, fresh raspberries and blackberries."For white try Riesling based white blends from Michigan.

Suggestions include Chateau Grand Traverse, Leelanau Cellars, St. Julian and Tabor Hill. "I'm going to have a wine from Good Harbor Winery," he said. "They make a Trillium, made from three different grapes."

With Michigan being the fourth largest producer of wine in the United States, Esterman says look for these homegown varieties when choosing wine for the gathering. For dessert, Esterman suggests Tomasello, a cranberry wine that's very popular this time of year, or perhaps Jackson Triggs.

"They have an ice wine," he said of Jackson Triggs. "It's absolutely decedent. It's harvested in January. The grapes are the size of a plum. It's an ice wine because the grapes are frozen when they are harvested."On the dry side, Esterman suggests Woodbridge brut, made in the methode champagnois method, which works with appetizers or as a meal finisher.

The good news is, you don't have to spend a fortune to serve a fine wine. All wines suggested here are under $20, and most are under $10. "Thanksgiving is a celebratory time of year," he said. "We're thanking God for all the gifts he's bestowed upon us. When guests come over give them something sparkling in their glass to toast before dinner."

Read Full Entry

Garage brand wine

When Frank Gregus and Maurice Hamilton decided to start a winery in April 2005, the award-winning amateur winemakers from Vancouver didn't have anything except a dream and a business plan. In rapid order, they needed to find a facility, equipment, grapes and virtually everything else required to make, store, bottle and retail wine. A location was secured in an industrial park in New Westminster, a Vancouver suburb located 25 minutes from the downtown core. The drive to create an urban winery fell into place from there.

Five years later, Pacific Breeze Winery has made a name for itself by winning countless international awards, including top honours as Winery of the Year at the 2010 InterVin International Wine Awards. Cassini Cellars from the British Columbia, Norman Hardie Vineyards and Winery from Ontario, Spy Valley Wines from New Zealand and Tawse Winery from Ontario round out InterVin's top five producers.

The partners knew that they wanted to source grapes from ideal growing locations in California, Washington, Oregon and British Columbia. They also knew they had zero interest in owning a vineyard.

The business plan was partly inspired by a wine tour that Hamilton took to Woodinville, Washington, where he visited numerous wineries, including Betz Family Winery, which was then operating out of a warehouse facility akin to a garage.

"Having a garage winery and not owning any vineyards is not common in Canada, but it's very widespread in the United States," said Gregus, who retired from a sales and marketing position with PepsiCo Inc. to concentrate full-time on the winery.

Gregus and his partner traveled to California and elsewhere to seek out grapes for their venture. They made appointments with growers with the same stipulation. The visitors wanted to taste finished wines produced with their grapes.

"What we did know was winemaking," Gregus said. "We knew we wanted to make wines that made people say wow."What Gregus came to realize is the grapes that delivered the profile he was looking for didn't always come from the most fashionable addresses. For instance, he recalls rejecting fruit from a vineyard located next door to the fabled Opus One vineyard in the Oakville region of the Napa Valley.

Instead, they opted for bolder, more flavourful raw material they encountered in the more humble Lake County district in California's north coast region. "Good wine is good wine," Gregus says matter-of-factly. "You judge it by what's in the glass."

The same could be said of Pacific Breeze Winery's production. The tarmac that surrounds the warehouse facility doesn't inspire the same romantic reaction as seeing undulating vineyards, but the juice in the glass certainly leaves a lasting impression.

Read Full Entry

Glass of red wine a day 'treats diabetes by helping body regulate blood sugar levels

A small glass of red wine every day could keep adult diabetes under control, scientists claimed last night. A new study found that the drink contains high concentrations of chemicals that help the body regulate levels of sugar in the blood. Just a small glass of red contained as many of these active ingredients as a daily dose of an anti-diabetic drug, the researchers found.

Although the study didn't look at the effects of wine on people, its authors believe moderate drinking as part of a calorie controlled diet could protect against type 2 diabetes. However, their conclusions angered Diabetes UK who accused the researchers of making 'astonishingly bold suggestions' based on 'limited research'. The charity warned that wine was so high in calories it could lead to weight gain - outweighing any benefit.

Around 2.6million people suffer from type 2 diabetes in Britain. The disease occurs when the pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin - the hormone that regulates blood sugar - or when its insulin does not work properly. High levels of sugar in the blood can cause tiredness, heart disease, strokes, blindness, nerve damage and kidney disease.

Past studies have shown that natural chemicals found grape skin and wine called polyphenols can help the body control glucose levels, and prevent potentially dangerous spikes or dips in blood sugar. The new study compared the polyphenol content of 12 different wine varieties. The team, from the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, found that levels were higher in red wines.

The scientists then studied how these polyphenols interact with cells in the human body, focussing on a particular 'receptor - or molecule that sits on the surface of cells - called PPAR-gamma - involved in the development of fat cells, energy storage and the regulation of blood sugar. The authors showed that polyphenols in wine bind to the receptor and that a small glass of wine contains enough to rival the activity of the potent diabetes drug Avandia.

The researchers who report the findings in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Food and Function believe moderate red wine consumption could have benefits for diabetics

'You could derive a natural extract from grape skins for the treatment of diabetes,' Professor Alois Jungbauer said. 'Also, this is further scientific evidence that a small amount of wine really is beneficial for health.'Previous research involving thousands of people has shown that moderate drinking of alcohol can reduce the risk of diabetes type 2, he said.

'Moderate is the equivalent of a small glass each day for women, and two for men,' he added. 'Our big problem is to convey the message of a healthy lifestyle because too much wine will cause diabetes and obesity. 'If you have wine then you must reduce your intake of calories from food by the same amount.'

But Dr Iain Frame, director of research at Diabetes UK was critical of Prof Jungbauer's conclusions. 'It is very difficult to see how this limited research will have any benefit to people with Type 2 diabetes. It is a basic study into the chemistry of red wine and has no clinical relevance at this stage,' he said.

'The researchers have made an astonishingly bold suggestion based on the results of their research suggesting that a very small glass of red wine may be beneficial to people with Type 2 diabetes. This assumption is fundamentally wrong based on the evidence presented from this research.

'Previous studies have demonstrated potential health benefits from chemicals isolated from red wine. However the alcohol in wine is high in calories and can lead to weight gain, which can outweigh the benefits of these chemicals.

Read Full Entry

Could red wine treat diabetes?

A new study has revealed that red wine is packed with anti-diabetic compounds – so does that mean it could be a potential source of treatment?

Alois Jungbauer and colleagues at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, Austria, tested 10 reds and two whites to find out how strongly the wines bound to a protein called PPAR-gamma, which is targeted by the anti-diabetic drug rosiglitazone. PPAR-gamma regulates the uptake of glucose in fat cells. Rosiglitazone targets PPAR-gamma in fat cells to make them more sensitive to insulin and improve the uptake of glucose.

The team found that the white wines had low binding affinities, but all the reds bound readily: the tendency of 100 millilitres of red wine – about half a glass – to bind to PPAR-gamma is up to four times as strong as the same tendency in the daily dose of rosiglitazone.

"It's incredible. It's a really high activity. At first we were worried it was an artefact, but then we identified the compounds responsible in the wine," New Scientist quoted Jungbauer as saying. However, not all the anti-diabetic compounds may be absorbed by the body. Plus, it also contains ethanol, which will add to your calories.

Veronique Cheynier at University of Montpellier agreed, saying that most polyphenols do not pass through the digestive tract unchanged and may not be absorbed at all. The next step for Jungbauer and his team will be to measure the metabolic effects of the wine compounds on healthy people.

Read Full Entry

Choices are varied for Thanksgiving wines

Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan, who holds the title Master of Wine, suggests a rich California Chardonnay would be perfect to accompany butternut squash for the traditional American meal but if chestnut stuffing is on the menu she suggests a Norton.

"I would go with a Norton from Linden Vineyards in Virginia. This was a wine served at the White House and it is their policy to serve wines that are produced in America," said Simonetti-Bryan whose "Everyday Guide to Wine" was released recently on DVD.

John Hart, chairman of the Chicago wine auction house Hart Davis Hart, sees the Thanksgiving holiday on November 25 as the perfect opportunity to share special bottles with family and friends.

He plans to start with Krug Grande Cuvee Champagne, which averages about $150 a bottle, followed by an equally expensive red Burgundy, a 1995 Mazis-Chambertin from Domaine Bernard Dugat-Py.

"We always end with a Sauterne. This year, a half-bottle of 1981 Chateau Climens, usually with some homemade pie," he said.

Chris Baggetta, the head sommelier at New York's Michelin-starred restaurant Eleven Madison Park, said her preferences for Thanksgiving wines are dry, crisp whites. She likes Austrian Rieslings or Gruner Veltliners for a hint of sweetness and dry but fruity red wines like Cru Beaujolais and Cotes du Rhone."

When pressed for American wines, she would turn first to Oregon because she is impressed by the quality of their Rieslings and their ability to age. Amity Vineyards in Yamhill County is at the top of her list with their Estate Dry Riesling.

"With turkey, I would stay in Oregon. Cristom Louise Vineyard Pinot Noir has power and perfume, with lots of spice, almost like cinnamon red hot candies -- perfect with all the Thanksgiving trimmings," she said. "Chehalem's Reserve Pinot Noir is elegant and earthy, focusing on more mushroom and savory notes."At the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel, sommelier David Jones can't resist California's abundant offerings.

"Turkey dinner is notoriously known for being a difficult (food) pairing. We like the Keller Estate Pinot Noir ... the fruit coming from the Sonoma Coast brings cherry to the table," he explained. Wine consultant Maureen Downey is opting for some Spanish wines and California Pinot Noirs from MacMurray and Dutton Goldfield.

"I love the Pinots for quaffing and light hors d'oeuvre noshing and I love the rich, full flavors of many Spanish wines for Thanksgiving dinner," she said. "Whether the huge wines of Toro, or the lighter and fruitier wines of the south in Jumilla and Yecla, I think Spain has all the spice and richness to match well with holiday fare."

For dessert wine expert Doug Frost, who is both a Master of Wine and a Master Sommelier, has one guiding rule -- the wine should always be sweeter than the dessert. So if guests still have room for apple, pecan or pumpkin pie, break out the Port, Madeira, sherry or ice wines from Canada and New York's Finger Lakes region.

Read Full Entry

Mango wine seeks new markets

A central Australian mango wine maker is trying to crack the Singaporean and Mexican markets, after exporting to China for more than two years. Johnny Crayford, who owns Red Centre Farm, about 200 kilometres north of Alice Springs, has been making mango wine for 16 years. He's just returned from a wine expo in Singapore and says his product seems to suit tastebuds in South-East Asia.

"We're talking to different countries in South East Asia. I'm talking to people in Mexico, our wine should go to Mexico this year," he said. "We're just created a distributor in Hong Kong, we're starting to supply Hong Kong and we've actually sent a shipment to Hong Kong about three months ago."

Read Full Entry

Chinese billionaires splash out on fine wine

He Wei Qi, a businessman from eastern China's Zhejiang province, says he routinely pays more than 30,000 yuan ($US4,500) for a bottle of wine to entertain guests.

“A price tag of more than a million yuan a bottle - that does more than show off your wealth, it shows you have good taste,” He, 38, said while attending a three-day Hong Kong wine and spirits exhibition that drew about 700 companies from 29 countries and regions. “We don't care how outrageously expensive the wines are.

Wine sales in the city by Sotheby's and Christie's International will raise more than in New York and London combined this year, the top two auction houses said, with vintage Chateau Lafite selling in excess of $US200,000 a bottle. Sales at Hong Kong's auctions have more than quadrupled since the city cut duties to zero two years ago.
Advertisement: Story continues below

“What we've seen emerging in the last year are people paying virtually any price for wine,” said David Elswood, Christie's London-based head of wine. “That's not investment. That is just uncontrolled spending.”

Buyers from China, where the number of billionaires rose more than 60 percent from last year, may double auction sales in Hong Kong next year, he said.

“Red wine is better than stocks,” wine merchant Alex Yu said while touting a HK$80,000 ($US10,321) 5-litre bottle of Chateau Mouton Rothschild. “Chinese wine lovers are pushing up prices.”

Vintage Lafite

Three bottles of Chateau Lafite's 1869 vintage sold for a record $US230,000 each on October 29, 28 times Sotheby's top estimate before the auction.

Chinese collectors in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan hold about one in four bottles of fine or rare vintage wine globally, according to Crown Wine Cellars, which stores about HK$1 billion of wine in a network of converted ammunition bunkers in Hong Kong. Total consumption has doubled in China in the past five years, with red wine accounting for 75 percent of demand, according to a March report by Citigroup.

Wine isn't the only product Chinese buyers are mopping up. The fastest growth of any major economy and an appreciating currency have led them to pick up properties in London and artwork in New York. In Hong Kong, mainland Chinese demand drove luxury property prices past the 1997 peak, spurring the government to warn of an asset bubble.

1,400 Percent Markup

Asia's wine market will expand four times faster than the rest of the world, said Robert Beynat, chief executive of wine exhibition organiser Vinexpo Asia Pacific. Much of the growth will come from China, which is the final destination of a “large part” of the wine imported into Hong Kong, he said.

Liu Xue Biao, a wine merchant from Shenzhen, said that wine he buys in Hong Kong for about $US3 a bottle can be sold in mainland China for 300 yuan, a 1,400 percent markup. “They are willing to pay just about any price,” said Liu, accompanied by two female assistants carrying suitcases for their purchases.

Imports by Hong Kong merchants jumped to $US600 million in the first nine months, more than the whole of last year. The value of auctions reached $US120 million this year, almost double the $US64 million in 2009, according to the government.

Sotheby's had to issue tickets for the first time for its October 29 wine auction at the Mandarin Oriental, when it offered almost 2,000 bottles of Lafite shipped directly from the Bordeaux chateau's cellars.

No Catching Up

The sale beat the auction record for a single bottle set in 1985 in London, when publisher Malcolm Forbes paid 105,000 pounds ($US169,000) for a 1787 vintage.

“New York and London aren't going to catch up,” said Richard Sleigh, who moved to Hong Kong from New York in August to run Sotheby's Asia wine business. “People like the fact that the wine is here in Hong Kong. You just go and pick it up.”

Sotheby's sold $US52 million of wine in eight auctions this year in Hong Kong compared with a combined $US24 million so far in New York and London, previously the world's biggest- and second-largest markets. The New York-based company had 11 consecutive sold-out wine auctions in the Chinese city.

The Hong Kong sales are an indication of how far mainland Chinese buyers have come since the 1990s, when they would drink Coca-Cola with wine and merchants hawked unwanted vintages to them, said Gregory De'Eb, general manager of Crown Wine Cellars.

“Through their own aggressive tasting, they have built a better knowledge of what suits their palettes,” De'Eb said. 'Inflating a Bubble' While the Chinese are the ninth-largest consumers of wine globally, the spirit accounts for only 2 percent of alcohol drunk in the country, according to Citigroup analysts.

That's changing as wine starts to win favour compared with the traditional Baijiu and Maotai liquor. In 2008, Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) agreed to develop more than 25 hectares of vines in Shandong province with Citic Group, China's biggest state-owned investment company.

The burgeoning wealth is “inflating a bubble” in wine, said Christie's Elswood. “When you're paying four, five times or even more than the reference price then you have to seriously question the market knowledge of that buyer.”

At Sotheby's April 3 auction in Hong Kong, a 12-bottle lot of Chateau Latour 1982 fetched HK$338,800 or $US43,649. About two weeks later, New York-based Tribeca Wine Merchants ran a newspaper advertisement offering the same for $US2,250 a bottle.

“Westerners drink wine slowly as a way of enjoying life,” said He, strolling around the Hong Kong exhibition holding a glass of wine. “Just look around you. Mainland Chinese tilt the glass and pour it straight down the throat.”

Read Full Entry

Kiwi wine first in the world to spell out its carbon trail on label

A New Zealand wine company has become the first in the world to declare its carbon footprint for each glass. Bottles of Mobius Marlborough sauvignon blanc - which go on sale today - will show the carbon emissions for a 125ml glass on the label. The New Zealand Wine Company, parent company of the Mobius Marlborough brand, is the first maker to show how many grams of carbon dioxide were emitted as the wine was transported and refrigerated.

The company's marketing manager, Helen Wilkes, said the emissions initiative matched New Zealand's clean and green image and had taken two years to develop. "The original idea came out of customer demand. "Overseas, especially in the UK market ... they are wanting to show consumers what the carbon footprints are for each product so consumers can make a more informed choice."The carbon footprints are calculated separately for each export market.

For example, bottles sold in New Zealand will carry a figure of 140g CO2, whereas bottles shipped to Australia will display a 190g carbon footprint. Ms Wilkes said a sustainability consultant had helped the company work out the emissions. Ms Wilkes predicts that carbon information will soon become as common as nutritional details on products.

A small footprint stamp will be displayed on the bottom left of the wine labels, with a small number inside the print showing the carbon emissions. "The whole idea is when consumers are choosing their product they can make a more informed decision. "They can choose a product which is making them feel better about what they are doing for the environment and for themselves."The carbon footprints were added to the already established Mobius Marlborough savignon blanc, and have been certified by Britain's Carbon Trust.

Read Full Entry

Napolean III-era claret that 'probably tastes like vinegar' fetches record £147,000

A bottle of wine from Napoleon III's reign in France almost 150 years ago has sold at auction for a record £147,020. The 1869 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild was sold by Sotherbys in Hong Kong to Chinese investors, along with a series of other vintages. A 2009 blend fetched £3,600, more than three times the price available a few months ago.

The Bordeaux red, which came as a group of three and a grand total of £441,060, has been hailed in some quarters as one of the finest ever made, but critics feared the taste would be little better than vinegar.

However the initial joy at such a high price was tempered by fears that it would push the overall cost of fine vintages further and further out of reach for the majority of drinkers. The cost is being driven, some claim, by a small group in the Far East, with demand now out-stripping supply.

Gary Boom, the head of Bordeaux Index, which specialises in trading fine wines, said in the Telegraph: 'We've already seen that people who can no longer afford Lafite start to buy Mouton, and those who can't afford Mouton, buy Leoville Barton. It goes on down the chain.'

Simon Staples at Berry Bros added: 'It has had an instantaneous effect, with prices of the 2008 Lafite increasing by 40 per cent in 48 hours.Some of the other big houses have gone up in price.'He added: 'Once mainland China wakes up to fine wine, and India too, we will ave a serious shortage of supply. That has to force prices up. 'In five years time I worry that it will be impossible for many drinkers to afford good wine.'

Read Full Entry

Hands off Lafite, signals China

With Chateau Lafite Rothschild 2008 recording an overnight 20% price jump last week to £10,160 ($ 16,000) a case by adding the Chinese symbol ‘eight’ on the bottle and the record price of HK$ 1.815 million (over $232,000) each for three bottles of Lafite 1869 sold at the Hong Kong auction by Sotheby’s last Friday, China seems to have signaled to the wine world to keep hands off Lafite, using the M power- not Military but Money.Anyone studying Chinese wine industry won’t tire of cribbing about the cheap quality of wines that shows no signs or the need for improving; or the industry figures churned out by computers doing the double or triple counting. But Lafite has created history, going by the penchant of the super-rich to buy it at any price. At the current prices, all the Lafites of the world might be traveling to China soon, directly or via Hong Kong.

The stories, jokes and anecdotes about Lafite abound, especially in Hong Kong. From the incredible story of how a Chinese wine merchant could not believe why he was refused when he went to Lafite and offered to buy only the Lafite labels at a hefty premium or that the market price of an empty bottle of a Chateau Lafite ’00 fetches as much as HK $3000 (Rs. 18,000), many such stories are doing the rounds in wine circles.

At the International Hong Kong Wine and Spirit Competition that concluded yesterday, the hot topic of discussion has been the unnatural love affair the new Chinese millionaires have developed for Lafite. Says Fongyee Walker one of the judges who is a wine consultant in Beijing, has partially cleared her MW and conducts WSET wine courses, ‘the rich Chinese are obsessed with the thought of drinking the world’s best wine which they believe is Chateau Lafite. They believe Lafite adds another dimension to Luis Vuitton, luxury yachts and Lamborghinis.’

Interestingly, most of these nouveau rich millionaires who have made uncountable money in the fields like real estate and mining are uneducated and have no knowledge about the 1855 Classification of Bordeaux.

It is not that they have not heard of the other First Growths. Some of them do know it is owned by Rothschild family, but are not as smitten by Mouton- the first growth label owned by the other arm of the family. Latour and Margaux are also lagging while Chateau Haut Brion is at a clear disadvantage as most Chinese cannot pronounce the name correctly and avoid drinking it.

So impressed are the Chinese with Lafite that they refer to Chateau Duhart Milon-owned by the same owner- Baron Eric de Rothschild of Domaines Barons de Rothschild, as ‘Little Lafite’, says Fongyee, adding. ‘They would rather buy Carruades de Lafite (second wine of Chateau Lafite) than the Chateau wine of Second Growths-Cos D’Estournel or Pichon Lalande.’

What is the reason for the long lasting love affair with Lafite? ‘If I could have a dollar for every reason given to me for their charm, I would be a rich woman,’ says Fongyee. Most people give credit to X-factor which includes luck and being at the right place at the right time. But Lafite also gambled when it invested in the development of the market at the right time. Even the recent announcement of etching the letter 8 in Chinese (when pronounced it means ‘prosper’ and so is considered very lucky by them) is part of the marketing strategy. They are perhaps the only Bordeaux company that has the complete website in Chinese. They make regular visits and follow ups with trade tastings and have focused strategy for this market.

To take advantage of the popularity and to entrench themselves for the long haul, Lafite has also tied up with CITIC, China’s largest state-owned investment company, to develop 25ha of vines on the Penglai peninsula in the Shandong province, reports Decanter.

Serena Sutcliffe, Sotheby’s international head of wine says reportedly, ‘There’s a lot of speculation about why the Chinese like Lafite so much. People say it’s because the name is easy to pronounce in Mandarin. Actually, they like the taste; otherwise they wouldn’t pay such high prices for these wines.” Most of the wine journalists from China disagree. Apparently, the people who drink Lafite have no knowledge of wine, would drink it in any glass, with any food and without any idea of how to the taste. Best wines in the world, according to these nouveau super-rich, should taste like Latour.

Of course, like Louis Vuitton and thousands of other luxury products that find their duplicates in China, there are any numbers of fake Lafites or look-alikes available at any wine shop. They even carry catalogues with different fake labels that can be affixed on the bottle the price of which varies with the quality of the liquid. No wonder, the empty bottle of Chateau Lafite brings a premium, of up to US $300-400 in Hong Kong, bringing memories of the premiums on the empty bottles of JW Black in India which supposedly consumes more Scotch whisky than produced in Scotland.

What is the relevance of this love affair for India? There is also a huge population of nouveau rich and the super-rich who spend a lot on the high-end luxury goods. Like China which had no knowledge or availability of wine till a few years ago, these people are not yet aware of wine as a lifestyle product or the status symbol fine wine represents. Once they are catalysed, the boom may be unprecedented and the market will be transformed overnight.

However, there are two major differences. The high taxes in India are a big damper-even in Hong Kong the explosion has taken place after the government waived off duties in February 2009. The second reason is that in India, even the super-rich look for some value. Unless the brand is impeccable-as one discovered recently with around 160 Mercedes sold in the small town of Aurangabad in Maharashtra during a road show, the super-rich won’t rush for the brand-be it Lafite or Latour.

Soon after these two landmark incidents, there would be a rush to flood China with Lafite-through Hong Kong; there are carriers who act as couriers to deliver wine anywhere in China at a small premium to the duty free price. Yesterday, Acker Merrall and Condit, one of the premier US- based auctioneers with offices in Hong Kong, announced today the sale of 12 cases of Chateau Lafite at US $20,000 each-undoubtedly aimed at the Chinese market. With all the current hullaballoo, all the cases might be sold in a couple of days. There seems to be a new business opportunity – sourcing Lafite to sell to China. But if you are a connoisseur of fine Bordeaux wine, be advised to leave Lafite alone for the Chinese

Read Full Entry

Growers' tractor protest tries to squeeze homes out of wine land

There was a tractor protest against a housing development at McLaren Vale yesterday and full-page advertisements against a proposed highway bypass in the Coonawarra appeared in weekend newspapers.

Winemakers are up in arms over the proposed developments, saying they will swallow valuable land for growing vines and could damage tourism in the area. Yesterday a convoy of about 150 tractors and cars travelled through McLaren Vale, about 40km south of the centre of Adelaide, protesting against plans to build 1170 homes on 77ha of land on the edge of the world-renowned wine region.

Chalk Hill winemaker Jock Harvey said a recent geological survey found the land was on "some of the most spectacular geology for viticulture in the world".He also said the development site at Seaford Heights was a gateway to an area with economic and tourism value estimated at $940 million a year.

"And that's put in jeopardy by taking what is the last green buffer between suburbia and the McLaren Vale wine region and covering it with housing," he said.

Protest organiser Laura Jackson, who works in the wine industry and lives in McLaren Vale, said there was no need for more housing in the area. "We've got investment properties lying empty and people won't rent them," she said.

Mr Harvey said Planning Minister Paul Holloway could rezone the land to rural "if he wants", and called for a moratorium on the development until a development plan for the region was finalised.

But Mr Holloway said the fate of Seaford Heights was sealed 20 years ago when it was earmarked for development.

"Even if the decision had not been made 20 years ago to zone this land residential, it would still be very difficult to justify agricultural activities on that particular 77ha, given that it is adjacent to existing housing," he said.

"The long-held expectation that this land would be developed for housing also informed the decision to invest $291m on extending the Noarlunga rail line to Seaford."

Meanwhile Treasury Wine Estates, part of the Foster's Group, has published advertisements about a proposed highway bypass through the Coonawarra wine district, in the state's southeast, famed for its cabernet sauvignons.

Read Full Entry

All eyes on South Island wines

A $200,000 taxpayer-funded promotion of Canterbury's wine industry will begin this weekend. Up to 100 international guests and eight overseas reporters are expected for the Wine Discovery New Zealand 2010 conference that will double as the annual meeting of the Great Wine Capitals Global Network.

The Ministry of Economic Development put $200,000 into the event, and sponsors and ticket sales also contributed. While the immediate economic benefits are unclear, those involved say the long-term prospects are promising.

The Christchurch City Council, as chief organiser, had to file a report on the event within 90 days, a ministry spokeswoman said. Award-winning Waipara winegrower Nicholas Brown said any international exposure of Canterbury's wine industry would be good news.

"These types of events are a great way of spreading the word, meeting people, sharing ideas and helping the industry grow," he said.

The Canterbury event was secured after several South Island councils paid the annual $35,000 membership fee.

Canterbury's involvement attracted controversy last year when Christchurch City councillor Sue Wells took a $3000 ratepayer-funded flight to France to sign up the South Island as a Great Wine Capital of the world.

Christchurch-South Island is the newest member of the network. Wells said yesterday the event was a great chance to showcase Christchurch and the South Island.

"Our inclusion in this prestigious wine network provides access to eight other significant economies that are interested in wine science, wine tourism and wine in general – and we want to take full advantage of this."

Three United States wine writers, two from Britain and one each from South Korea, India and China will report on the event. Christchurch and the Waipara wine region will host most of the activities. The event will start on Sunday with a sightseeing tour in the afternoon before a welcome ceremony and dinner.

The conference will open on Monday with a mayoral reception to be held at the Christchurch Art Gallery.

Tours to the South Island's wine regions will be held on Tuesday, with visits to Canterbury, Waipara, Central Otago, Marlborough and Nelson planned. Symposiums on international wine research and international business will be held during the week. The public can sample wines at the Christchurch Town Hall next Wednesday night.

Read Full Entry

Raise a glass to the best English wines in a decade

English wine growers are celebrating a bumper harvest – and the promise of one of the best vintages in a decade. Weather conditions over the past nine months have been ‘close to perfect’ for most vineyards, with a hard winter, mild spring and hot June combining to produce a tasty grape crop. Some vineyards say 2010 wines, which will be sold from the spring, are on course to be the best yet.

The good harvest will add even more credibility to English growers, who have picked up top awards for white and sparkling wine in recent years. Fraser Thompson, of the largest producer of English wines, Chapel Down in Tenterden, Kent, said: ‘It’s been a really decent year and one of the best harvests in a decade.

‘This year we have the potential to produce some of the best wines we have ever made.’Julia Trustram Eve of English Wine Producers said: ‘Vineyard managers have needed to keep their eye out for mildew in the wet weather of the last few weeks, but they are pleased about the quality of grapes.’

England produces around three million bottles of wine each year. Chardonnay is the most commonly grown grape. Earlier this year, Nyetimber’s Classic Cuvee 2003, made in Sussex, was named best bubbly in the World Sparkling Wine Championships.

Read Full Entry

Wine troubles behind us, says Foster's chief

"There is no doubt that in recent years we have suffered from a quite serious adverse wine cycle," he told analysts during the second half of a two-day strategy briefing in Sydney. "Exchange rates have added to that, and this contributes to a bottom-of-the-cycle valuation for our wine business."

Foster's rejected an indicative offer last month from private equiteers Cerberus Capital of between $2.3 billion and $2.7bn for TWE, saying it undervalued the business. TWE has a book value of $3.1bn in Foster's accounts.

TWE's executive team yesterday laid out their strategy for boosting returns from the business, which has acted as a brake on earnings for much of its 14-year history.TWE Americas managing director Stephen Brauer said the "big opportunity" in the US market was in the $US8-plus ($8.18-plus) segment, accounting for 39 per cent of wine sales by volume, but 57 per cent by value.

Accordingly, the company was concentrating new product innovation above the $US8 price-point, while seeking to migrate customers from cheaper TWE brands on to slightly more expensive products.

TWE draws 49 per cent of earnings before interest and tax from the Americas, primarily the US and Canada, compared with 34 per cent from Australia.

Mr Brauer warned analysts that the new strategy meant Foster's market share would appear to be going backwards in coming months, as measured by market researcher Nielsen.

"We're moving to the luxury category, with a focus on profitable growth . . . there has been some short-term pain as we make that transition," he said.

Meanwhile Europe, Middle East and Asia boss Peter Jackson said TWE would reduce its reliance on Britain, Australia's largest wine export market after the US, by boosting its presence in the continental European market.

In addition, TWE would kick back against the discounting trend that had slashed returns on British wine sales, pledging to pass on the impact of tax and excise increases scheduled for coming months and dumping low-margin sales. No further details were released on the company's plans to demerge TWE from its CUB beer division, a proposal still purportedly under consideration by the board, but widely expected to proceed.

Read Full Entry

Fine Wine Art - How to Paint a Wine Glass

Fine Wine Art has always been a passion for the English born artist Peter Kotka. In this Article Peter shows you the secret of how to construct a picture of a wine glass. You will find all of his tutorials available on his website at www.peterkotka.com which are available to download as PDF files. Follow these simple instructions to create your perfect wine glass painting in oil.

A Profile of Peter Kotka

I started painting full time during the 1980's. I then took time to read about painters and their techniques and was inspired by the landscape paintings of John Constable. Infact, this was time well invested as many years later I copied Constables ‘Haywain' for an American client, half full size.

After some surprising success with a Gallery, and early commissioning of works which sold quickly, successful Exhibitions followed and my professional career had started. I explored different techniques and followed the detailed style such as that of Dutch Landscape painters of the 16th Century, Jacob van Ruysdael in particular. Royal Doulton also requested him to paint a series of designs for collector plates entitled 'Harvest Home' and numerous card designs followed for Hallmark and Polytint. I also started undertaking an adult education teaching post with a local College, and the classes proved so popular that I still run local classes to this day. Occasionally, if requested, bespoke ‘painting holidays' are organised for small groups of artists in fine wine areas of England, France and the US.

I decided to find a new challenge and direction and focused on perfecting ‘Still Life' painting specialising in wine, which was also something that I was starting to take a great interest in. I have developed a unique blend of working with both contemporary and traditional styles, colours and techniques, and this gives my paintings an individuality, detail and atmosphere. I don't try to recreate a photographic style like others in the field. To me, art must be art and creativity even in realism and should envelope each work in a different way and is an exploration of an idea.

In 2004 I was invited to take part in a prestigious Still Life exhibition in California, where I was the bestselling artist in the show. I have continued to paint fine wines in a still life style and have achieved much acclaim and recognition for my work.

Read Full Entry

The launch with no beer

A new beer aimed at tackling XXXX's dominance of the Queensland market is set to hit the shelves, but the contents of the bottle remain a mystery. Brewer Foster's is keeping a lid on the new "super crisp" lager, with promoters this morning refusing a taste test at an official launch for the product.

The Victorian-based company unveiled the Great Northern Brewing Company label, which will be brewed at Foster's Yatala brewery, south of Brisbane. Despite several six packs being on hand for promotional purposes, the company refused to allow the beer to be put to the ultimate test.

Instead, head brewer at Yatala, Geoff Day, who was instrumental in developing the full-strength beer, attempted to describe it. It's a smooth, easy drinking type of beer," he said.

"It's not too bitter. It's really designed for that hot summer's day.

"It's not too filling [so] it's not something [where] you drink one and think ... I couldn't drink another one of those."

Beer drinkers can judge for themselves from November 1, when the lager goes on sale with a recommended retail price of less than $40 a case.

Cameron Levick, general manager of Foster's beer subsidiary Carlton and United Breweries, said about 20,000 cases had already been ordered across Queensland.

However, even prospective buyers have not been able to sample the amber ale.

"Most outlets [have ordered] a palette straight off the bat without even tasting it," Mr Levick said.

"We're so confident about the taste of this beer that once people try it they'll be certainly very pleased and want to come back and buy some more."

The new lager was one of three launched today, with others carry the existing Carlton Dry and Pure Blonde labels.

Mr Levick said extensive market research had been conducted to come up with the Great Northern.

The clear bottle features a marlin logo that Mr Levick said personified the "sun, sand, fishing" spirit of Queensland.

The name comes from a former Foster's brewery in Cairns, which the company owned during the 1930s.

Mr Levick said the Great Northern delivered what the state's beer drinkers had been seeking.

"The message loud and clear [from beer consumers] has been, give us something from Queensland that's been developed with us in mind, and that's what Great Northern super lager actually is," he said.

The beer will only be available in Queensland and directly targets XXXX, which is the most popular beer brand in the Sunshine State.

But XXXX Lion Nathan told brisbanetimes.com.au yesterday it was not concerned by the new rival.

"We're focused on our business and to be honest with you we don't spend a lot of time thinking about what our competitors are doing," spokesman James Tait said.

"XXXX will never take its loyal drinkers for granted and that's why we'll always focus on first rate quality and on continuing to bring exciting new brands to market, like XXXX Summer Bright Lager."

Mr Day said the new beer would boost Queensland's economy, as it would access the state's sugar, malt, wheat and yeast.

Read Full Entry