DAN'S WINE BLOG

2024-10-25

ORGANIC???

When is an Organic wine not organic??

Well that would be in the USA IF the importer is not Organically Certified as well as the vineyard where the grapes came from and the winery that the wine was made in.

What a fricking joke- the importer does not actually handle the wine in any shape or form yet the US department of Agriculture passed rules recently saying that this must be the case. This inane regulation means that the only Organic Wine that can be sold in the USA will be US made unless some importers go through all the rigmarole and cost of becoming certified for no good logical reason.

CHINESE WINE

Despite an over 60% drop in wine production over the last decade the remaining Chinese wineries are focusing on exports, as China continues to drink less and less wine. Small volumes of upper end Chinese wines have been exported to the UK and USA (mainly to chains of Chinese restaurants & boutique bottle shops).

Now China has a new export market- their old enemy Japan. China and Japan have been in conflict since the 1400’s and most recently with the Japanese invasion of China in the 1930’s, yet Chinese wine is finding acceptance in Japan. Over the last two years Japanese imports of Chinese wines have nearly doubled and are not showing any sign of slowing down.

As yet details are not available as to whether the sales are mainly on premise (restaurants) or in retail (bottle shops) however one would suspect that they would be in restaurants. Time will tell.

FRANCE

Following on from last week’s report that the French are ripping out massive areas of vines due to the down turn in sales, comes the news that the 2024 vintage currently underway is expected to be significantly smaller than normal due to the weather, especially the massive rain storms in September. In Burgundy it is estimated to be 35% below normal and the lowest in living memory.

CYPRUS

Almost every wine drinker has hear of Grand Commandaira the sweet fortified wine in the dumpy shaped bottle. It is usually the ubiquitous 1926 Etko Winery Grand Commandaria.

However what most wine drinkers don’t know is that this year marks the 800 anniversary of the wine first winning an award, when during the reign of King Philip of France it was awarded a medal in a wine competition.

AUSTRALIA

The Richmond Grove Winery described as one of the largest wineries in Australia is up for sale. Originally it was the Orange Grove winery established in 1897, then became Leo Buring before being bought by Orlando in the mid 1990’s. I remember, as an Orlando staff member visiting the site just after we had bought it, it was dramatically smaller than it is today. We wandered into one building that was still full of barrels of maturing Penfolds Grange awaiting collection by the former owners.

In it’s Leo Buring days the winery was led by Riesling Master John Vickery. Here he produced many of Australia’s best ever Rieslings from Eden Valley & the Florita vineyard in the Clare Valley. With the sale, John was engaged by Orlando, where for several years he produced some stunning Richmond Grove Rieslings before eventually retiring and starting his own outstanding label.

Have a great week, stay safe from all the bugs going around, always #chooseaustralianwine and when possible enjoy #emergingvarieties

Cheers

Dan T