Wine Predictions for the New Decade...!

As we begin 2010 and a new decade there are some fascinating predictions out there. Two I found particularly interesting were Steve Heimoff's "My Ten for the Next Ten" and Julie Brosterman's "Was 2009 the Tipping Point for Wine & Social Media."
But let me begin 2010 with a needed correction to my last blog entry. If you look at the picture I posted, courtesy Philippe Durst of the Dopff Au Moulin winery in Alsace, you would have to believe that there was a lot more pressure inside that bottle than the 2-3 atmospheres of pressure I attributed to Crémants.
I am again indebted to Philippe for the celebratory picture but mostly for pointing out that since Crémants in France are made in the traditional method, previously known as Méthode Champenoise, they all attain 5.5 to 6 bars of pressure. And to quote Philippe here are the correct details.
"Originally the term crémant was in use for wines of lesser pressure in Champagne (such as in Crémant de Cramant) but since it was traded by French producers in exchange for no longer using the wording "méthode champenoise" on the labels, it is now used since 75 in Loire and Burgundy and since 76 in Alsace for fully sparkling wines made with the local grapes."
So while we are in correction mode, I hope that this will be the decade that wine writers and media types will use the words "variety" and "varietal" correctly. Look them up in Jancis Robinson's Oxford Companion to Wine or check out this
article on Snooth.
Click on the pic for a closer look at the Sangiovese grape "variety" I took while visiting Tuscany.
So do I have any predictions for the new decade? Yes, two of them. We will see a much greater involvement of women in wine and deservedly so. I will go into more details on that in a future posting. My second prediction is that as the the North American palate evolves and becomes more educated we will see the producers of multi million bottles of wine, such as Yellow Tail, adapt and make their wines in a less sweeter fruit bomb style of wine. Who will be asking for that? Why women of course!

What's in a Name (Wine Label)??

As you will notice, I have added "DogPile" in my sidebar. It is a handy little search engine bringing all the best search engines like Google, Ask,
Yahoo!search and MSN search, together in a nice little pile. Give it a try.
I am sure you have noticed that I like to keep up on the benefits of drinking wine. Before it was generally known that drinking red wine is good for you, I was merrily drinking wines and even putting up with the side effects of partaking of too much of a good thing. Now I can look back on that and think that I was actually doing myself some good. So type in "Red Wine Benefits" into the DogPile Search engine and watch a few items come up.

And soon France will be sporting some new labels. Hurting from reduced consumption at home and slumping sales abroad caused by competition from New World wines French vintners will be able to present their wines with a new "Vignobles de France" label. Ooh la la! If you can't beat them , join them. You can't please them all though. Vintners in the Languedoc-Roussilon region aren't too thrilled with this new development. After all they have been promoting their single varietal wines for some time now on the export markets and were already producing "vins de cepage" wines. Fortant, The pioneer brand of French varietal wine was the leader and has been producing varietal labeled wines since the 1980's.

Just to help the French out a little I have produced a label for them as shown above. Or how about that Fat Bastard? Be sure to visit Peter Mays' site to get a look at over 200 unusual labels, including the above Fat Bastard Chardonnay. Is it time for the French to put out a "Skinny Bastard" wine?

In New Zealand they are rejoicing over a new wine label agreement. Members of the World Wine Trade Group (WWTG) signed an agreement on wine Labels. The agreement establishes rules for the what may be allowed on labels regarding product name, country of origin and alcohol content. A small victory for Canada as well, in that to be able to use the term icewine on the label, the grapes must be frozen on the vine.

Meanwhile back on the ranch in the good old USA a new labeling requirement has vintners alarmed and questioning its sanity. A new federal proposal would see redesigned labels to warn consumers who are allergic to certain foods. For a take on one person's enlightened opinion on that, go to this site.

So many good things to put on a wine label, why not simply lump all the negative requirements under "Consumer Beware" with a federal website address where you can go and spend a half hour or so reading all the terrible things that can happen to you when you partake of the "Fruit of the Vine"