The 5th International Rose Symposium – Marseille, France January 22, 2019

I’m very excited to be invited to the 5th International Rosé Symposium / Rencontres Internationales du Rosé.

The Symposium is hosted by the Provence Wine Council (CIVP), and the Rosé Research and Experimentation Centre, which takes place in the magnificent setting of the Mucem in Marseille on Tuesday, January 22, 2019.

The Symposium, this year, is focusing specifically on research and insights related to rosé wine.

The international speakers are members of the scientific, technical and wine-growing community, and will share their research and studies related to rosé wine.

The 2019 themes will focus on the future of rosé wines, revolving around three major challenges for the industry:

• Adapting to climate change
• Ecological transition
• Changing consumer patterns

The morning will be held as a plenary session, which will include the three major challenges. The lunch cocktail lunch designed by Gérald Passedat.

The afternoon sessions include technical or think-tank workshops, and the presentation of several innovations from fundamental or applied research.

Watch for my followup report.

Website: https://www.rencontres-internationales-rose.com/home.html

Canadian Rapper Drake launches Champagne range called “Mod Sélection”

Canadian rapper Drake has expanded his drinks empire, once again teaming up with American drinks entrepreneur Brent Hocking to launch a Champagne range called Mod Sélection.

Described as “the purest expression of balance and terroir produced in champagne today,” the House of Mod Sélection dates back to 1892 and has produced Champagne for over five generations in the Vallée de la Marne.

According to Mod Sélection: “The house practices minimal interventional throughout harvest, press, and production, ensuring the purest display of balance and terroir in every cuvée. Only grapes demonstrating optimal levels of sugar, acidity, and maturity are selected for press.

“The most delicate extraction and juice selection, meticulous settling, natural clarification, and rigorous control of fermentations are carried out with exacting precision to preserve the balance, purity and finesse unique to Mod Sélection house style and production.”

In the bottles in Mod Sélection range include Mod Réserve Champagne (US$300) and a Mod Rosé Champagne (US$400) that are available to pre-order now in 750ml bottles, with magnums and jeroboams in the works. The metallic brown bottle is adorned with handcrafted delicate flowers, and each individual bottle is unique in its design details.

In a promotional video to announce the launch, Drake said: “The product is great, the presentation is great, and hopefully the representation is great as well. We’ll enjoy this run. It should be a long one and a strong one. I think the full package is there.”

Drake and Hocking first worked together back in 2016 when they launched Virginia Black Whiskey. Last year, they offered an IPO for the whiskey, hoping to raise $30 million to fund domestic and international expansion, sales and marketing, and working capital.

Website:

Social
#BLESSTHISHOUSE
@MODSELECTIONCHAMPAGNE

Source: Drinks Business

WINE IS THE MOST POPULAR CHRISTMAS GIFT, BUT ONE-THIRD WILL REGIFT

Wine remains the most popular alcoholic beverage to take to a Christmas/holiday party, with 59% citing it as their 1st choice, but 1/3rd that receive a bottle admit to “regifting” it to another, a survey by BIVB has found.

The average person receives four bottles of wine throughout the Christmas or holiday period and gives away an average of three bottles, yet more than three in ten of us (31%) often ‘re-gift’ a bottle wine that we receive.

But over a quarter (26%) admit to not knowing a lot about wine when purchasing wines, with price the deciding factor in most instances, with just over a fifth (21%) saying they buy whatever’s on special offer.

26% of respondents said it was the price that they looked at first, followed by style or grape variety (17%) and country or region (11%).

However, we are more likely to trade up at this time of year. According to a WSTA market report, outside of Christmas.

There is definitely something for every budget and occasion – I suggest you have a price range in mind before you go wine shopping – do your research.

Bordeaux Wines commissioned the research, which was carried out online by Opinion Matters in November and resulted in responses from 2,046 people aged over 18 in the UK.

Sources: Drinks Business and BIVB, WSAT

News Release: Cision® Partners with (Toronto-based) Top International Wine and Spirts journalist/Judge/Author and Influencer Liz Palmer

TORONTO, SEPTEMBER 13, 2018 / PRNewswire/Toronto-based wine journalist

TORONTO, SEPTEMBER 13, 2018 / PRNewswire/Toronto-based wine journalist/judge/Author and one of the world’s top wine and spirits social media influencers Liz Palmer and Cision, one of the industry’s largest content distribution networks, have partnered to distribute content across each other’s respective networks respective networks. 

Liz Palmer said, “My team and I are very excited about sharing Cision’s real-time content with our audience.  Cision’s PR Newswire is one of the largest content distribution networks and will further expand our reach.” 

About Liz Palmer

Liz Palmer is also a well-respected wine journalist since 2004 and has an international reputation as a critic and judge. Liz has had the pleasure of interviewing and tasting with some of the industry’s leading winemakers, professors, and personalities.

2017 Awards:
Liz Palmer’s first book, “The Ultimate Guide to Champagne” has received the National Award for the best French Wine Book at the Gourmand World Awards 2017. On April 7th, 2017 she was awarded the title of “Dame Chevalier” of the Ordre de Coteaux de Champagne at a ceremony in Paris.

2018 Achievements
Awarded a spot as one of the “Top 40 Global Wine Influencers by Social Vignerons.

Panel Member – George Brown Wine Symposium (Trends in Global Wine Communications).

Ranked Top 1% Industry SSI – Linkedin

2018 Partnerships
Partnership with the Consulat Général de France à Toronto in the French Wine & Spirits Discovery Series [which includes Champagne and Cognac].

Media Partnership with CISION/CNW GROUP Ltd.

Follow Liz Palmer:

Twitter @LizPalmer_Wine and @LizPalmer_ ;

Instagram @lizpalmer_

 

About Cision 

Cision Ltd. (NYSE:  CISN) is a leading global provider of earned media software and services to public relations and marketing communications professionals. Cision’s software allows users to identify key influencers, craft and distribute strategic content, and measure meaningful impact. Cision has over 3,000 employees with offices in 15 countries throughout the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. For more information about its award-winning products and services, including the Cision® Communications Cloud®, visit www.cision.com and follow Cision on Twitter @Cision

MEDIA CONTACTS: 

Liz Palmer

Robert Roland
Director of Marketing and Sales
+1 (647) 281-3633
rob@liz-palmer.com

Capturing the Spirit of Cognac

Six members of the Circle of Wine Writers (CWW) traveled to Cognac, France

Six members of the Circle of Wine Writers (CWW) traveled to Cognac, France from April 9th to 12th, 2018 to visit cognac producers from the designated growing areas of Charente-Maritime, Deux-Sèvres and Dordogne.

A special thank you to our member Liz Palmer and the BNIC for organizing this amazing trip. Reports were written (and will be published shortly) by David Copp (UK), David Kermode (UK), Angela Reddin (UK), Jurgen Schmucking (Austria), Charlotte H.M. van Zummeren (Netherlands), and Liz Palmer (Canada), along with photography by Jurgen Schmucking and radio show program by David Kermode.

Along with meeting some wonderful people, we all had some amazing cultural and gastronomic experiences.

BNIC

On our first day, David Boileau, Ambassadeur du Cognac au BNIC gave us a presentation which included an overview of cognac production process, grapes, grades, producing regions, and 2017 export and economic figures.  This all took place at BNIC’s offices which was followed by a detailed tasting.

Six interesting takeaways are:

  1. 8% of cognac produced is exported;
  2. 4 million bottles of Cognac were exported in 2017, resulting in a turnover of €3.15 billion.
  3. Cognac is marketed to over 156 countries;
  4. Cognac’s 10 main markets include: USA, China, Singapore, UK, Germany, France, Latvia, Hong Kong, Holland and South Africa;
  5. Cognac exports have continued to grow in 2017 (three consecutive years);
  6. In terms of style, VS Cognac accounted for half of the Cognac shipments, with volume growth of 8.6%.

BNIC:  http://www.bnic.fr/cognac/_en/intro.aspx