DAN'S WINE BLOG-HAPPENING NEWS

This week is all about a few bits of news happening from around the world of wine, starting with a:

NEW KID on the BLOCK:??At last Australian Pecorino has arrived –?no, not the cheese, the wine!?Yes, there is an emerging Italian white variety called, Pecorino (like the cheese, to which it has no connection). It is believed to have originated in the Marche region of Italy, and in typical Italian style has nearly 50 different names across the country.

Here the first two wineries to produce a Pecorino wine (to the best of my knowledge) are The Little Wine Company (Broke Fordwich) and Brycefield Estate (Lovedale), both in the Hunter Valley, with 2021 being their first vintage.

I am looking forward to trying them, as I am sure that they will compare well with their Italian counterparts.

The addition of Pecorino makes it around 155 different grape varieties that are grown in Australia.?Not bad for a country with no native grape varieties!!!?The point being that sticking to just the ten or so main varieties makes vinous life rather boring, when there are so many other exciting emerging varieties to try.

SLIPPING AWAY:??Domaine Credoz in the AOC of Chateau-Chalon, in the Jura Region (located between Burgundy and Switzerland), suffered a significant landslide which destroyed one-ninth of their vineyard (almost one hectare). This was the result of significantly heavier than normal rainfall in May/June and two days of continuous rain in mid-July. The landslip also wiped out the road which ran through the middle of their hillside vineyard, making access to parts of the vineyard very challenging.

NABBED:??China customs has seized just over 4,000 bottles of wine being smuggled into Shenzhen China from Hong Kong. Hong Kong is duty free whereas China has up to 212% duty (on Australian wines). The haul included most of the First Growth Bordeaux wines as well as Penfolds Bin 707. The estimated value of the haul is US$2.3 million, which would give the bottles in the stash an average value of US$575 a bottle. The duty that would have been avoided was somewhere between US$750,000 and US$900,000. Instead they have now lost US$2.3 million worth of wine and will be facing a jail sentence. I wonder what will happen to the wine - Will government officials have a right old knees-up? Or will it be tipped down the sink? Which would you put your money on??

SWEPT AWAY:??A couple of weeks back I reported on the devastating floods in the Ahr wine growing region of Germany. Well, the response from the German people has been overwhelming. A few days after the flood, a shuttle bus service was organised to ferry volunteers to the area to help shovel out the mud that covered everything. On the first Saturday the buses transported 5,000 volunteers in the one day!!!

A group of winemakers from other regions donated wine to go into a relief six pack with all the funds going to the relief effort. They sold 10,000 packs in the first 48 hours, and have so far raised €1,000,000.

Luckily as most of the vineyards are on the surrounding steep slopes, they suffered little damage, but it will be a race to get the wineries back in some semblance of working order by the time the grapes are ripe in the next month or so. All the best to all the people of the Ahr region.

Well that’s it for another week, stay safe?#chooseaustralianwine?and when possible drink?#emergingvarieties.?Cheers!