AROUND THE WORLD – September 2007

News on the ‘Cellar Door by Constellation Wines tasting’; Cloof’s innovation; LG buys Coca-Cola bottling business; simplified German wine laws; alcohol shortage in Bali and more

A taste of the New World:
Winemakers bring their premium wines to London tasting in November
The fifth annual Cellar Door by Constellation Wines tasting will be held at The Tower of London 10am-4pm on Wednesday 7 November 2007.

Visitors will have the chance to sample a range of premium wines that express the regional characteristics of some of the finest New World wine regions from Canada to New Zealand. Visitors will also have the rare opportunity to meet some of the winemakers behind these iconic and award-winning wines.

Joel Peterson, the inspirational founder of Ravenswood in Sonoma, will be on hand to explain his dedication to producing bold, complex Zinfandels that express the character of California’s different viticultural areas.

The Bay of Fires flagship sparkling wine, Arras, has put Tasmania on the map. Taste the latest vintage of Arras along with the award winning cool-climate Bay of Fires Tigress range with Fran Austin, winner of the 2005 Qantas Medal for Australia’s most exciting young winemaker. 

Rob Bowen, senior winemaker for Western Australia’s most awarded winery, Houghton, will be in the UK to talk about the low-yielding and high-quality 2007 vintage. He will be showcasing the best of Houghton’s regional wines from the Pemberton, Frankland River, Mount Barker and Margaret River regions, and of course, the legendary Jack Mann Cabernet Sauvignon.

To obtain tickets for this event, contact: cellardoorevents@cbrands.eu.com

Innovations in south Africa
Darling-based producer Cloof has come up with an innovative way of handling the limited supply of its Crucible Shiraz. Consumers who purchase The Very Sexy Shiraz 2006 will have the opportunity to purchase a bottle of the limited Crucible, at a discounted cellar-door price (R295/£20.50).

Only three vintages of the Crucible have been bottled since 2002, a total of 1,200 cases. The upcoming launch of the 2006 vintage will be just 400 cases.

Those holding Crucible futures will need to redeem them at the winery after the wine is released in October. The futures are held by Flagship Private Asset Management, which allows for a secondary market in trading.

Another recent South African innovation, this one on the winemaking side, comes from Charles Back’s Fairview estate. The winery is using what it calls a “roto-barrel” system (above), a smaller, more hands-on version of large roto-tanks used in wineries during the fermentation process.

This method allows winemakers to have more involvement in the winemaking process. It uses 500-litre French oak barrels in cradles that allow them to be rotated.

LG buys coca-cola bottling business
Coca-cola amatil’s bottling business in South Korea is to be sold to LG Household & Health Care, according to an announcement last month.

The unprofitable business will be sold for as much as US$434 million (including debt), although a price had not been finalised at the time of going to press.

The deal will allow Australia-based Coca-Cola Amatil to concentrate on its growing domestic market. While the purchase gives Seoul-based LG Household access to the South Korean market, as well as a significant distribution network.

Coca-Cola Amatil CEO Terry Davis commented: “We certainly expect that LG Household will be able to achieve what we were not always able to in the Korean domestic market, and they will be able to unlock the full potential of the business.”

Following this transaction, The Coca-Cola Company will acquire a 10% share of the Korean business. LG is said to have expressed a desire for The Coca-Cola Company to acquire a minority share in the business, a transaction that will apparently be on the same terms and conditions as the deal between Amatil and LG.

Wine laws simplified
Last month saw the introduction of a number of simplified German wine laws. Most striking, the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer region will now be known as Mosel.

The reason for this, according to Adolf Schmitt, president of the regional wine-growers’ association, is that the change will enhance regional marketing efforts. Wines from the Saar and Ruwer valleys will now be positioned as specialities within Mosel. The promotional board for the region has been renamed Moselwein eV.

Another change is the removal of the “Qualitätswein mit Prädikat” (QMP) designation. This has been simplified to “Prädikatswein”, referring to the ripeness of the grapes, and therefore the level of natural sugar. There are six subdivisions within the Prädikatswein category.

These changes also coincided with new EU regulations about food labelling, disallowing the statement on many German wines which translates to “suitable for diabetics: subject to seeking medical advice”.

All three of these changes came into effect on 1 August, all with a two-year grace period, allowing the labelling of wines already in the market to remain as they are.

In other German wine news, exports of Riesling from the country reached record volumes, as well as record prices, according to the generic promotional body. It reported exports of nearly 3 million hectolitres, at an average price of E193 per hl.

German Riesling provides an estimated two-thirds of the world’s supply of the varietal, with the largest volumes being exported to the UK, where it is showing strong growth at higher price points in both the on- and off-trades. These rising sales are beginning to have an effect on supply, further exacerbated by a number of low yields in recent years.

Germany is also experiencing growing success with exports of Pinot Noir.

Booze shortage in Bali
Bali faced a shortage of alcohol last month following an administrative delay. Bars and hotels on the Indonesian island were already struggling with limited supplies last month.

The company responsible for supplying the drinks industry, state-owned Indonesian Trading Company, usually receives a quota for alcohol imports twice a year. However, the most recent quota was delayed. The firm attributed this to the goverment, with an executive explaining: “We are still awaiting word from the trade ministry, which acts as the regulator.” An official from the ministry claimed, however, that the company had not applied for the quota. Other reports blamed the delay on the recent discovery of a smuggling ring to the island.

Some outlets complained of limited alcohol supplies over the past two months, while there were reports of some outlets closing as a result

of the shortage. There have been concerns about the effect this would have on tourism to the country, which is just beginning to recover from suicide bombings in 2005.

Interpol seeks drinks chief
The dispute over the rights to Stolichnaya vodka and other Russian brands escalated last month when a warrant was issued for the arrest of Yuri Shefler, head of SPI Group.

At the time of going to press, Interpol had been asked by the Russian authorities for assistance in tracking down Shefler. Charges against him included the use of violence against a government official, as well as trademark violations.

According to reports, a district court judge in Basmanny explained: “Information on the personality of the accused gives grounds to assume that if he remains at large he could continue to carry out criminal activities, pressure witnesses and destroy evidence.”

SPI Group currently owns the rights to the brand outside of Russia, while state-owned Soyuzplodoimport owns the brand in the country. The brand was sold to SPI Group in 1997 for a fraction of its worth, and now claims that Shefler was behind this, and that he forged and destroyed documents.

Pernod Ricard is responsible for Stolichnaya’s distribution outside of Russia, and has reportedly been in talks to resolve the dispute.

Soft drink link to heart disease
The soft drink industry was the subject of another potentially damaging study recently, linking carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) with increased risk of metabolic syndrome.

The results of the community-based study were published recently in the journal of the American Heart Association, Circulation. It concluded from its results that those consuming more than one CSD a day had a 48% higher prevalence of heart risk factors. This also extends the results of previous findings that these drinks contribute to obesity and insulin resistance in children. Interestingly, there was very little difference in the risk between regular soft drinks and “diet” alternatives.

Metabolic syndrome is defined using a number of factors, including waist circumference, blood pressure and blood glucose.

American Heart Association spokesman, Richard Stein, did not place all of the blame on CSDs, however. He commented: “I think the answer is to look at all diet factors and if you are getting enough exercise.”

No to disney wine
Disney came close to entering the wine trade recently, but abandoned its plans before it even got started.

The company was set to launch Ratatouille Chardonnay, a 2004 white Burgandy, with labels featuring a character from its recent film Ratatouille. However plans were cancelled amid underage drinking concerns.

Californian producers were more upset that since the film was set in France, the wine was French.

© db September 2007