News Archives

Languedoc Appoints its first General Director, Stéphanie Daumas

On October 1, Stéphanie Daumas became the first person to hold the role of General Director for the regional body of AOP Languedoc since the post was created in 2007.

The 41-year-old oenologist and lawyer previously managed the Vaucluse IGP, the Vieille Julienne estate in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the Victor Contis cooperative in the Southern Rhône. Between 2014-2018, Stéphanie also had a leading position for the Dolia negociant business subsidiary of Raphaël Michel France’s largest bulk wine supplier.

#womeninwine #womenwinemakers #womenleaders #wine #frenchwine #instawine #languedoc #vinsdulanguedoc #vin #igersfrance #occitanie #vins #languedocwines #languedocwinelovers #madeinfrance #aoclanguedoc

Beaujolais Nouveau Prices Increased by 50%

The Beaujolais Nouveau sales campaign got off to a flying start this week, taking negociants by surprise! The trade expects prices to be capped at 250 euros/hectolitre for Beaujolais Nouveau and €270 /hl for Beaujolais Villages Nouveau, one operation launched this year’s ‘blitzkrieg’ with prices of €300 /hl for Villages primeurs.

As co-operative wineries began selling their wines, the campaign remained firmly on track at these launch prices. Initial market price lists issued by the Beaujolais wine marketing board show that the prices of Primeurs are in excess of €280 /hl for Beaujolais Nouveau and €300 /hl for Villages, an increase of 50 % compared to the ceiling price of €190 /hl which led to winegrower demonstrations last year. After the frost and mildew, “the crop is small and there is nothing to panic about”, said David Ratignier, chairman of the producers’ organisation, in a bid to put the hikes into perspective. He claims that “prices are not skyrocketing but increasing due to a small crop (barely 35 hl/ha for Beaujolais and 30 hl/ha for Villages). Constrained yields are compounded by lack of inventory and record sales”.

Compared to last year’s downward pressure on pricing, Olivier Richard, secretary of the Greater Burgundy wine brokers’ organization, claims “we’re going from one extreme to the other. I’ve never seen anything like it – a quota system for Primeurs. There are so few wines and so few unspoken-for volumes that even if the trade is reluctant to pay the prices, the ball is in the court of the winegrowers”.

#BeaujolaisNouveau #BeaujolaisNouveau2021 #Beaujolais #redwine #Frenchwine #madeinfrance #burgundy #winebusiness #winenews #BeaujolaisVillages #wineeconomics #instawine #winelovers #wine #gamay #vin #winetasting #winestagram #rhonealpes #destinationbeaujolais #rhone #vino

Archaeologists discover a 1,500-year-old Wine Factory in Israel

The wine factory was recently uncovered by archaeologists in Yavne, south of Tel Aviv includes 1,500-year-old wine presses, ageing and bottling warehouses as well as kilns for firing amphorae in which the wine was stored, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).

The site, according to the IAA, dates back to the Byzantine era, which is the 4th-5th century CE, this will make the winery the largest known to exist from that period.

The directors of the excavation Dr. Elie Haddad, Liat Nadav-Ziv and Dr. Jon Seligman said in a joint statement: “We were surprised to discover a sophisticated factory here, which was used to produce wine in commercial quantities. Furthermore, decorative niches in the shape of a conch, which adorned the winepresses, indicate the great wealth of the factory owners.”

They added: “A calculation of the production capacity of these wine presses shows that approximately two million litres of wine were marketed every year, while we should remember that the whole process was conducted manually.”

Each wine press at the Yavne site covered an area of about 225 square metres, with a treading floor where the grapes would be crushed underfoot surrounded by separate compartments and vats for fermentation and win

The plan is for the site to be preserved and later opened as an archaeological park with tours being offered.

#wine #winelovers #winepress #winehistory #winenews #israelwine #wine #kosherwine #israeliwine #israel #israeliwines #kosherwines #kosher #winelover #wineisrael #winetasting #israeliwinery #vineyard #winery #redwine #israelagriculture #passover #instawine

Bourbon Women Association Launch Amber Circle Diversity & Inclusion Initiative

Furthering its educational mission, the Bourbon Women Association has announced its new Amber Circle Diversity & Inclusion Initiative.

This new scholarship program builds on the organization’s Amber Circle mentoring program that started in 2019. It strives to empower women and those from underrepresented communities in the bourbon and spirits industry.

“We are so fortunate to be able to work in an industry that is always embracing change, and opening the doors to others so they can join us is one of the core missions of the Bourbon Women Association,” says Bourbon Women President Maggie Kimberl. “I am thrilled to be able to use the power of this first-ever female whiskey consumer organization to support women in growing their careers.”

The Amber Circle initiatives aims to create programs that benefit a more diverse and inclusive membership within Bourbon Women, and throughout the spirits industry. The program’s mission recognizes the importance of representation from all facets of human experience, including BIPOC women LGBTQIA+ women, and women of different abilities, educational levels and backgrounds.

The inaugural Amber Circle Diversity & Inclusion group of a dozen women will receive training through the Stave & Thief program. Founded in 2014, Stave & Thief was the first bourbon certification program recognized by the bourbon industry, the organization says, and is designated by the Kentucky Distillers Association as its “Official Bourbon Education Course.” The training is by Louisville-based Moonshine University.

“Discovery happens when you push boundaries,” says Board Chair Heather Wibbels. “Amplifying the voices and experiences of the underrepresented in the bourbon community encourages the bourbon industry to reach out and invite more diversity in their outreach to consumers and their own companies. We’re reaching out to members of our community and the whiskey spirits industry to support this initiative to advocate change from the ground up.”

The initiative kicks off with a donation campaign to raise scholarship funds. Individual donations of $250 and corporate donations of $1,000 or more are encouraged, the organization says.

Donations in these amounts may be made through Bourbon Women’s website on the Amber Circle page. For larger donations, contact Maggie.kimberl@bourbonwomen.org.

The Bourbon Women Association is a registered nonprofit organization.

#womeninspirits #womensupportingwomen #womenleaders #bourbon #womeninbourbon #BourbonWomenAssociation #womeninbusiness

Wine Grounds Launches Machine Learning-Based Vintage Scores

Wine Grounds announced this week a revolutionary new vintage quality feature to their food and wine pairing app, Grape Base. Their data-driven approach to determining the quality of a vintage allows industry professionals and consumers to see scores for any wine-growing region in the world. By utilizing machine learning and a proprietary weather model, Grape Base can instantly predict the overall quality of a vintage based on the weather during the growing season, at harvest and throughout the winter.

Grape Base is taking a hyper-local approach to vintage quality and creating scores for the top varietals grown in every officially recognized region, district and or appellation across the globe. Vintage scores will be continually expanded on and made available after the end of harvest in the northern and southern hemispheres. Industry professionals can use the data to make purchasing decisions and project trends in consumer buying habits.

Wine Grounds Founder Chris Hall states, “By tracking and evaluating the weather of a specific region and comparing that to the ideal conditions for the grapes grown there, we can predict the quality of the vintage for those grapes. You can then use those scores to pick the best vintage in a wine shop, from your own rack or out to eat. Somms can ahead on building wine programs that showcase varietals at their very best. It is absolute revolution in wine tech.”

Highlights Include:

Weather model can be applied to any region in the world for any grape and it is continuously learning and improving
75+ regions available with scores for the past ten years
Search allows users to find scores by region or grape varietal
Monthly subscriptions start at US $1.99 after a one-month free trial
Grape Base is available in the Apple Store and on Google Play

#wine #winewednesday #wednesday #winetrends #businessofwine #tech #winegrounds #machinelearning #vintagewines #vintagescores #foodandwineapp #somms #wineandfoodpairing #app #AI #winelovers #instawine #wineinstagram #winelife #winemarketing #socialmediamarketing