AROUND THE WORLD

USA – Zinfandel may soon become the official wine of California… UK – The most expensive white wine ever was recently sold for a record £55,000 by the London-based Antique Wine Company…

Americas

Canada

Opposition parties in the Canadian province of Quebec are calling for further enquiry into a recently uncovered wine price-fixing scheme, suggesting there may have been illegal kickbacks and government involvement.

An investigation by KPMG earlier in the year revealed that price rigging had indeed occurred, resulting in consumers paying higher prices for imported wine. These prices have since been reduced by some 8%. Two vice presidents of the Société des alcools du Québec

(SAQ) – the province’s liquor board – were apparently responsible for the scheme. One has since resigned and one retired.

Quebec’s finance minister, Michel Audet, was satisfied that the SAQ had taken the appropriate steps, but opposition parties pointed out possible government involvement, citing links between the SAQ and Quebec premier Jean Charest.

USA

Scientists at the University of California at Berkeley are making progress in the development of a sensor that will be able to detect corked wine. It is currently possible to make silicon “electronic noses” , but they are too expensive to mass produce.

Recent developments will allow for carbon semiconductors to be printed directly onto packaging, a more affordable solution. The technology will have a variety of uses, such as monitoring the expiry date of medication.

USA

Zinfandel may soon become the official wine of California, after the introduction of a bill by Senator Carole Migden.

The idea has been greeted with a range of opinionated responses.

The news of the proposed bill came shortly after the annual Zinfandel Festival, which was held in San Francisco in January. The proposal has, predictably, been well received by producers of Zinfandel in the state, but others have pointed out that Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon are produced in California in greater quantities than Zinfandel.

Winemaker Randall Grahm said, “this idea is the predictable result of drinking too much 15.8% alcohol wine.” Governor Schwarzenegger has not expressed an opinion on the matter. The bill is likely to be heard this month.

Europe

UK

The most expensive white wine ever was recently sold for a record £55,000 by the London-based Antique Wine Company to an unnamed private American collector.

The wine, a Château d’Yquem 1787, was discovered in France. It dates from a significant year: the French Revolution began in 1787 and it was apparently

also an excellent vintage in Bordeaux. Interestingly, the record price for a red wine, set in 1987, was also for a 1787 wine – a £105,000 bottle of Château Lafite.

The Château d’Yquem was delivered to its new owner by Stephen Williams, MD of the Antique Wine Company, via private jet.

France

Solutions to the French “wine crisis” have still not been found, as wine-growers protested again last month in the southern parts of the country. The protesters demanded more support from the government in the face of rising imports of New World wines, as well as decreasing domestic sales.

Marches took place in various parts of southern France, with 5,000 protesting in Narbonne. Growers’ incomes have apparently fallen by 50% in the last year.

Croatia

A strike by Coca-Cola factory workers in Croatia last month was ruled to be illegal.

A district court in Zagreb argued that the strikers had used unlawful means and violated labour laws by preventing other employees from doing their job.

The 250 strikers, a third of the Croatian Coca-Cola factory’s employees, had blocked entry into the factory, severely impacting on production and distribution. The industrial action followed the breakdown of talks between Coca-Cola management and the head of the labour union. The protesting employees were demanding a rise in wages, as well as better severance packages for a number of workers who were being dismissed.

Australasia

New Zealand

Marlborough, New Zealand’s largest wine-producing area and famous of course for its aromatic cool-climate Sauvignon Blancs, is likely to be adversely affected by global climate change. This is according to Australian viticulture researcher Richard Smart, who believes that global warming would result in many areas losing their unique grape-growing climates.

According to Smart, European vineyards have already felt the effect of climate change in the form of increased disease, but that for New Zealand, grape-growing would likely need to move southwards and to higher altitudes.

Chris Rapley, a UK climate-change scientist, pointed out that while agricultural productivity in many areas will decrease as a result of increased temperatures, “there will be some people who are better off, like wine-growers in southern England”.

Asia

Thailand

The Thailand national committee on alcohol control has agreed to a ban of all alcohol advertising on radio and television, as well as a possible ban on alcohol poster advertising. A law has also been proposed that may restrict the sale of alcohol at certain times during the day.

The proposed act will disallow the sale of alcohol between 11am and 2pm, as well as 5pm and 10pm from Sunday to Thursday.

Thailand’s citizens are the fifth-biggest consumers of alcohol per capita, according to the World Health Organisation.

Alcohol adverts were previously restricted in Thailand in 2003 to broadcast between 5am and 10pm.

The new proposed law will be a 24-hour ban, excluding only pass-through ads that are shown with international sports programmes.

© db March 2006