DAN'S WINE BLOG- A BIG CELLAR & OTHER SNIPPETS.

Friday, April 7, 2023

?This week’s blog covers the world’s biggest wine cellar located in the UK and travels to other snippets of wine news around the world which may be of interest to you.

?A BIG CELLAR:?I have just found out that the world’s biggest wine cellar contains around 9,000,000 bottles of wine valued at roughly €1.2billion. This amazing cellar is a wine storage facility called Octavian and is located in an old sandstone mine in Wiltshire, south of England. Being fully computerised the location of each customer’s wine (for each bottle) is instantly accessible on the system.

?Although only thirty metres underground, the 93,000 square metre labyrinth remains at a constant 14o-16o Celsius all year round, with around 80% humidity. To the outside world, the only signs of its existence is a small sign on the side of the road. Security, apparently is awesome or as some would say, “As tight as Fort Knox”.

?There are a number of alcoves sealed off with big steel doors for customer’s personal collections, however, most of the wines are stored on pallets in racks along the tunnels. Whilst the walls and roof are hand-hewn stone, the floors are all smooth concrete so as to facilitate the passage of forklifts. The management estimate that the average distance travelled by a bottle of wine within the facility is around two miles.

?What an amazing facility!!

?N.Z. WINE:?Kiwi wine is currently freely available in bottle shops in Moscow, despite Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Apparently the New Zealand Government did not place a ban on exports to Russia until late September which meant there were plenty of shipments before after other countries had cut-off supply.

?BELGIUM:?The year 2022 was a record harvest for the young and growing wine industry in Belgium, with just on three million litres of wine made by 259 growers from around 750 hectares of vineyards. Back in 2006 there were less than one hundred hectares of vines and production was between 250,000 and 300,000 litres of wine.

?The vast majority of the wine produced is sparkling wine, followed by white wine. However, red wine production is growing sharply with a 200% rise over the previous vintage, up to 371,000 litres.

?The three main winegrowing areas are Limburg, Flanders and Wallonia respectively.

?Although it will still be a challenge to find and taste Belgian wine in Belgium, let alone anywhere else, it is yet another sign that global warming is making viticulture viable in more northernly regions than ever.

?Wine grapes are now being grown in Sweden, Norway and even in Finland – something that was basically impossible a few decades ago.

?THE IRISH!!:?The Irish Government has notified the WTO (World Trade Organisation) that it is planning on legislating to have mandatory health warnings on wine and other alcohol products. These warnings would include a statement that there is a direct link between alcohol and deadly cancers in addition to the pregnancy warning.

?This is being fought by wine and alcohol producers and their Associations right across Europe, as it would mean needing special labelling for products to be sold in Ireland, rather than being able to use the standard EU label. They are also fighting it on the basis that IF adopted by one member country the probability of other (non-producing) countries adopting these measures rises.

?Watch this space to see if the wowsers have a win, or whether common sense prevails.

?Well that’s it for this week, have a great week, stay safe and enjoy great wine! Cheers, Dan T.