Free Republic

Political leaders from around the world have rallied behind Australia in the wake of China's newly imposed 200 per cent tariffs on wine which could cripple the $6billion industry. The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China - made up of more than 200 MPs from 19 countries - has urged millions of citizens to buy a 'bottle or two' of Australian wine before Christmas as a show of support. Australia's wine industry exports 39 percent of all its total product to China. The introduction of huge tariffs last week, brought in as apparent payback after Scott Morrison called for an inquiry into...

China on Friday added wine to the growing list of Australian goods barred from its markets in a trade war against Australia over disputes including its support for a probe into the origin of the coronavirus. The Ministry of Commerce imposed import taxes of up to 212.1%, effective Saturday, which Australia’s trade minister said make Australian wine unsellable in China, his country’s biggest export market. China increasingly is using its populous market as leverage to extract political concessions and increase its strategic influence. Earlier, China stopped or reduced imports of beef, coal, barley, seafood, sugar and timber from Australia after...

Among the many ways the rich are different from you and me: Only they can afford grand cru Burgundy. That wasn’t always the case. In the 1990s, middle-class wine lovers could still afford to experience that rite of passage — drinking a truly great wine, not simply to enjoy it, but to understand what qualities made it exceptional in the eyes of history. It might have been a splurge, perhaps requiring a few sacrifices. But it was feasible, just as it was possible to buy first-growth Bordeaux, or the top wines of Barolo, Brunello di Montalcino or Napa Valley cabernet...

Smoke from the West Coast wildfires has tainted grapes in some of the nation’s most celebrated wine regions with an ashy flavor that could spell disaster for the 2020 vintage. Wineries in California, Oregon and Washington have survived severe wildfires before, but the smoke from this year’s blazes has been especially bad — thick enough to obscure vineyards drooping with clusters of grapes almost ready for harvest. Day after day, some West Coast cities endured some of the worst air quality in the world. No one knows the extent of the smoke damage to the crop, and growers are trying...

A recent article from the San Francisco Chronicle cast wine professionals in a rather unflattering light and asserted that certain practices of sommeliers and wine journalists were actually racist. The author insisted that tasting terminology used by sommeliers and wine writers leaned too heavily on European influence and catered only to those of European heritage.  The author Esther Mobley, who is credited as the San Francisco Chronicle's wine critic, explains how she came to the conclusion that wine tasting terminology is racist and sexist to boot.  Wine language is so often absurd that it’s a punchline. Notes of smoldering tobacco or...

The passing of 74-year-old death row inmate Richard Stitely due to COVID-19 hit Gov Gavin Newsom (D-Calif) hard this week. "I could have saved him," the teary-eyed Governor lamented. "Normally, death row prisoners live for decades. Poor Richard's untimely demise after only ten years was a sad twist of fate. If only I had released him like I have released so many others—more than 3,000 I think—to spare them from the coronavirus he could right now be walking the streets and doing the things he loved when he was alive and a free man." "Maybe I shouldn't be so glum,"...

It is a wine heist like you’ve never seen before. The Modesto CHP arrested Gabriel Moreno after he allegedly jumped on a moving tanker truck carrying bulk red wine, climbed under its belly to unscrew a valve, and drank the wine as the truck traveled up Highway 99. Video of the wild ride was recorded on the Cherokee Freight Lines tanker truck Moreno allegedly targeted. The dashcam video first shows Moreno in a sedan, putting his hazard lights on, directing the truck to the side of the highway. The truck driver pulls over, believing he may have a mechanical problem,...

MODESTO (CBS13) — It is a wine heist like you’ve never seen before. The Modesto CHP arrested Gabriel Moreno after he allegedly jumped on a moving tanker truck carrying bulk red wine, climbed under its belly to unscrew a valve, and drank the wine as the truck traveled up Highway 99. Video of the wild ride was recorded on the Cherokee Freight Lines tanker truck Moreno allegedly targeted. The dashcam video first shows Moreno in a sedan, putting his hazard lights on, directing the truck to the side of the highway.

Observation: the price of Walmart's 'Oak Leaf' wine nearly doubled overnight. What was long priced at 750ml @ $2.95, dropped to $2.50 for a few weeks, then just spiked to >$4. Canary in the coal mine? Might be time to refill supplies, before supply chain disruption increases prices. Similar is being said about meat.

The 11-year-old brindle boxer trotted out of the winery, bottles tucked into each pocket of his harness-like vest. Outside in the parking lot, a white Hyundai SUV was waiting. Its driver crouched down on the pavement, coaxing the dog to come closer. When the furry delivery boy reached the passenger-side door, the customer bent over and collected her purchase from his pack. While plenty of businesses are turning to curbside pickup or contactless delivery, Stone House Urban Winery may be the first to enlist a dog to help with social distancing. In mid-March, as fears about the novel coronavirus intensified,...

A malfunction at a local winery caused 1,000 liters of ready-to-be-bottled wine to leak into the water pipes. The glitch lasted about three hours and impacted about 20 homes, said Giorgia Mezzacqui, deputy mayor of Castelvetro, about 10 miles south of Modena. The local government posted on its Facebook page that the leak didn't pose any health risks. The malfunction was caused by a faulty valve in the washing circuit within the bottling line. Lambrusco Grasparossa, a local specialty, seeped through the town's water lines due to its pressure, the winery said in a statement obtained by CNN.

From left, Zonte’s Footstep Love Symbol Grenache 2017, Weingut Bründlmayer Grüner Veltliner Terrassen 2018, Da Capo Grignolino d’Asti Renard 2017, Le Marie Blanc de Lissart 2017 and Loimer Lois Grüner Veltliner 2018. (Tom McCorkle/for The Washington Post) With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, we have an Australian grenache that successfully combines love-themed branding with good-quality wine. An exotic Italian white would also be a good choice for a romantic dinner, or you could revisit an Italian vacation with a trattoria-style red. We also have two outstanding grüner veltliners from Austria to complete the lineup. GREAT VALUE Da Capo Grignolino...

Vineyards in Northern California began planting thousands of acres of new vines in 2016, and with more efficient harvesting methods, it has led to more bountiful harvests of grapes. Having more grapes to make wine sounds good, but if there’s not enough demand to support increased production, the surplus grapes go to waste. Jeff Bitter, president of Allied Grape Growers, told CNN that it’s possible for surplus grapes to make it to the secondary market, where they’re used for brandy or as grape concentrate. But that market doesn’t typically provide sustainable returns for growers. “The main cause of oversupply today...

French Wine Growers Protest Weak Market 1 hour, 56 minutes ago World - AP By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer PARIS - Wine is less a beverage than an elixir of life in France, but the country's vintners say they're vexed by a problem that threatens their livelihood — too much of a good thing and not enough people drinking it. Pinched by overproduction, shrinking exports, advertising restrictions, an aggressive campaign against alcohol abuse and changing drinking habits, at least 6,000 growers and winemakers staged spirited demonstrations nationwide Wednesday to press the government for help. "We are a sector...

French winemakers hit by US tariffs imposed in a transatlantic trade war over airplane subsidies on Tuesday demanded help from their government and European planemaker Airbus. French wine exports to the US have plunged since President Donald Trump in October imposed 25 percent tariffs on a range of European delicacies in retaliation for EU subsidies of Airbus, arch-rival of America’s Boeing. The French finance ministry last week announced that wine exports to the US — the second-biggest export market for French wines after Germany — had fallen by 44 percent in value from October to November. On Tuesday, the vice-president...

Bay Area wineries are relying on specialized dogs to sniff out wine contaminated with cork taint. Don Ford reports. Video at site.

The cabernet sauvignon, enough to fill eight large tanker trucks, spilled at the Rodney Strong Vineyards in Healdsburg Wednesday after a door near the bottom of a large blending tank popped open, spilling all of the wine it was holding into a sanitary sewer system on the property, the Press Democrat reported. The wine spilled into a drainage ditch that feeds into Reiman Creek and eventually made its way to the Russian River. According to the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, which was notified of the accident on Wednesday, about 20% of the 97,112 gallons spilled were contained. Estimates showed...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren has spent her campaign railing against the donor class, making it known she doesn't want their help. She has publicly bashed millionaires, has sworn off high dollar fundraisers and has refused large checks from Democratic bundlers. But behind the scenes in recent months, former President Obama has gone to bat for Warren (Mass.) when speaking to donors reluctant to support her given her knocks on Wall Street and the wealthy. And if Warren becomes the nominee, Obama has said they must throw the entirety of their support behind her. The former president has stopped short of an...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) drew a line at the chardonnay at a major California rally Saturday, declaring: “We don’t go to rich people’s wine caves.” The declaration was the latest chapter in a battle over fundraising among the Democratic presidential candidates. South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg has drawn heat for a tony fundraiser at a Napa Valley wine cave in an event sponsored by the winery’s billionaire owners. **SNIP** “What our campaign is about, what our administration will be about, is one person one vote, not billionaires buying elections,” he said. Sanders claimed his campaign has raised “more contributions...

PARIS (Reuters) - Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Saturday that France would proceed with taxing revenues of big technology firms and urged the United States not to bring trade tariffs into the debate on how to fairly raise levies on digital services. Le Maire was responding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to tax French wines in retaliation for France’s digital services tax, which he says unjustly targets U.S. companies. “It’s in our interest to have a fair digital tax,” Le Maire told reporters, speaking in English. “Please do not mix the two issues. The key question now...