Wine News Archives

Cru Bourgeois Classification Raises the Environmental Bar

L’Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc announced this week, by press release, that it has significantly raised its environmental standards.

Route des Chateaux, Vineyard in Medoc, amous wine estate of Bordeaux wine, Gironde, France

from the next reclassification exercise (in 2025), all wineries designated crus bourgeois will be required to have demonstrated HEV Level 2 environmental certification. Those seeking classification at Supérieur and Exceptionnel level will be required to have HEV Level 3 certification.

In addition, from 2022, all properties seeking to use their crus bourgeois certification will need to present their wines in bottles that weight no more than 390g (a 22% decrease in the current maximum bottle weight).

The organization states: “with sustainability in mind, the Crus Bourgeois du Médoc has shifted to bottles with less weight. The classification was eager to become a part of the global movement towards more sustainable bottling and packaging, as championed by the famous wine critic Jancis Robinson”.

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SLO County (California) gets a new AVA

The SLO Coast Wine Collective announced this week that the San Luis Obispo Coast has been recognized as the newest American Viticultural Area (AVA) by the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.

Previously home to four AVAs: Paso Robles, Arroyo Grande, Edna Valley and York Mountain — SLO County has not had a new region approved for 30 years, since Arroyo Grande was last awarded the title in 1990.

The new AVA is a long, narrow strip of land that runs along California’s Central Coast, is 60 miles long and 15 miles wide. Currently, there are 32 wineries, that applied for the official status in 2017, making a case for the area’s unique and regional-specific characteristics including its proximity to the Pacific Ocean.

The SLO Coast AVA also includes 78 vineyards and around 4,000 acres under vine, with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir being the most dominant plantings, alongside Albariño, Grüner Veltliner, Riesling, Grenache, Syrah, Tempranillo and Zinfandel.

“We are one of the coldest spots to grow grapes because we are so close to the Pacific Ocean,” said SLO Coast Wine president Stephen Dooley. “What makes this area interesting is the low temperatures coupled with a lot of sunlight. Cool temperatures preserve acid, and in grapes like Pinot Noir, the sun helps with pigment, colour and tannin.”

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Cult Wines Americas – New “Innovative” Investment Platform [Part 2]

Cult Wines, the global fine wine collection management and investment company launched a new innovative investment platform in Q4 2021. They have shaken up their client offerings by introducing four new tiers of investment, allowing investors to build their personalized wine collection starting from $10,000 USD/$12,500 CDN. This new investment platform will now allow anyone from novice investors to experienced investors to build a customized collection of investment-grade wine.

The “Four Tiers” Cru Classe, Premier Cru, Grand Cru, and Cult Cru provide various levels of investment, starting with core features at $10,000 up to $700,000 USD/ $12,500 up to $850,000 CDN for the Cult Cru Membership. Some of the benefits of the higher tiers include priority access to wine releases, exclusive events and experiences, from access to private vintage releases, food and wine pairing experiences with famous chefs, and bespoke trips to prestigious partner estates.

Cru Classe – from $10k USD/$12,500 CDN
Entry category offers investors core features.
This Investment includes:

Full storage and insurance
Buying and selling with 0% fees
Portfolio created based on investor’s risk appetite and investment horizon
Direct ownership
Live prices/values with account support through client portal
Automatic portfolio rebalancing

Premier Cru – from $35k USD/45k CDN
The flagship offering at Cult Wines provides investors access to full customization and personalization of their wine portfolio through a dedicated Relationship Manager.
Investment includes everything from Cru Classe plus:

Active management of your portfolio through your dedicated portfolio manager
Regular consultations with a personal Relationship Manager
Customization of investor’s portfolio based on their objectives
Access to wine tastings (US only), events, education, and trips
Buy/Sell recommendations
Annual warehouse open day

Grand Cru – from $150k USD/$175k CDN
Investment includes perks of Premier Cru, a dedicated Relationship Manager, plus:

Priority access to wine releases
Privilege pass to all Cult Wines events
Invitations to sought after masterclasses, winemaker dinners (US only)
Vineyard tours upon request

Cult Cru – from $700k USD/$850k CDN
The Cult Cru tier will give you the most comprehensive package.
Investment includes everything from Grand Cru plus:

Curated vineyard experiences
Cult Connoisseur’s Club

Innovative Approach

This is interesting to note – Cult Wines also provides digital tools for its investors so they can manage their own portfolios. One key tool is based on Vintel (a web app), a proprietary technology, that will automatically analyze, allocate wines, and actively manage portfolios. The client portal also allows investors to track their portfolio and receive buy and sell recommendations from the company’s investment committee.

“We looked at what we had done previously and explored optimising user experience and how we build, balance and allocate portfolios using proprietary tools and modelling to seek the highest yields possible for our clients,” stated Corey Parkinson, Global Head of Product. “Every aspect of the platform, from digital onboarding, automated portfolio generation and our client portal have been re-imagined using a best practice tech stack and data science approach. These tools enable our team to maximise their insights and experience to deliver an unparalleled customer experience.”

“Historically, the wine investment category has been perceived as only for the wealthy, or those with considerable wine knowledge. We know that is not the case and are enabling more people to invest effectively while maintaining the client service, impeccable standards, and returns for which we are known,” Atul Tiwari, CEO, The Cult Wines Americas “Equally important is the investment we have made in developing technology that gives our team of experts unrivalled tools to complement their market expertise.”

Cult Wine Investments website: www.wineinvestment.com

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New Sweetness Scale for Alsace wine labels

A standardized sweetness guide will be required on all Alsace wine labels starting with wines produced from the 2021 harvest.

While most French wines are labeled by origin, wines from Alsace are indicated by grape variety and location information, including if the wine is from one of the 51 grand crus. Now wine buyers and trade can also consult the bottle for a visual sweetness scale or one of the following appropriate terms.

The New Alsace Wine Sweetness Scale

The new sweetness scale is straightforward. The scale is in both English and French. Dry (sec) sugar content of the wine does not exceed 4 g/l

Medium-Dry/demi-sec: sugar content of the wine is between 4 g/l and 12 g/l
Mellow/moelleux: sugar content of the wine is between 12 g/l and 45 g/l
Sweet/doux: sugar content of the wine exceeds 45 g/l

This change was prompted by the Alsace wine industry and centers on sweetness guidelines already in place in the European Union.

“In Alsace, we produce many different styles of wine, from dry wines to sweet wines to sparkling wines,” says Foulques Aulagnon, export marketing manager, for CIVA (Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins d’Alsace) which is also known as the Alsace Wine Board. “This new standardized sweetness guide doesn’t affect how we produce our wines, but gives greater clarity on the style of what’s in the bottle.” Crémant d’Alsace, traditional method sparkling wine from the appellation, already has sweetness guide regulations and isn’t impacted by this new round of rules.

In addition to labels, the new system applies to advertising, marketing materials, invoices, and other containers. This is designed to be helpful to trade partners such as educators, retailers, and sommeliers.

According to CIVA data, export sales of Alsace wines grew by 22.4% in 2021. With more buyers outside of France, this move provides further understanding to new customers that may not be as familiar with what Alsace has to offer.

* According to EU regulations, “Dry” represents sugar content does not exceed 4 g/l (or 9 g/l if the total acidity in grams of tartaric acid per liter is not more than 2 g/l lower than the residual sugar content). “Medium-Dry” represents sugar content of the wine is above 4 g/l but does not exceed 12 g/l (or 18 g/l if the total acidity in grams of tartaric acid per liter is not more than 10 g/l lower than the residual sugar content).

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South Africa’s Wine Exports Bounce Back After Two Years

The South African wine industry is making a comeback after facing serious challenges the past two years.

There was a distinct silver lining when wine exports recovered to a healthy“volume of 388 million litres, which amounted to R10.2-billion” according to a statement by Wines of South Africa.

There was a strong demand from UK, US and China, these three countries helped South African wine exports increase by 12.1% in value to R10.2bn in 2021.

Top Export Markets

The UK remains South Africa’s largest export market. Volume sales to UK increased 12% to 92.5 million litres; value sales up 20% to R2.5bn.

Germany was the second largest export market, with volumes at compared to the previous year.

Shipments to the US increased 134% by volume and 39% by value to reach R887m.

The Netherlands was the fourth largest export market (by value), followed by other African countries, with exports increasing 50%. Canada and France were also very strong.

The fastest growth came from China, with exports increasing 189% by volume and 59% by value to R458 million. China is now South Africa’s eighth largest export market.

The South African alcoholic drinks industry suffered a very challenging few years as the government imposed a series of domestic sales bans and export bans during the pandemic.

“It is good for our recovery efforts, as the alcohol industry has suffered almost five alcohol bans which amount to about 26 weeks of non-trading,” said National Liquor Traders Council spokesperson Lucky Ntimane. “So the announcement is a welcome relief, but people need to understand that this is also not a licence for non-compliance. It does not mean that Covid-19 is gone or disappeared.”

The popular trade show Cape Wine is set to take place in October, which could give the industry an added boost. It was initially scheduled for September 2021, but it had to be postponed due to a coronavirus outbreak.

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