Wine Business

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Anjou producer faces jail for protest labels

13/10/2011 Jozef Schildermans 0

Olivier Cousin, a small biodynamic wine producer in the AOC Anjou in the French Loire area, faces a sentence of two years because he labeled one of his wines incorrectly out of protest. Cousin left the AOC in 2005 and his wines have since been released as Vin de Table (VDT). He left the AOC in protest because the rules are too lax and for example allowed producers in the warm 2003 vintage to both acidify and chaptalize (add sugar to) their wines. But > Read more …

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Belgium third largest market for Bordeaux

11/10/2011 Jozef Schildermans 0

Belgium is the third largest importer of Bordeaux wines in the world by volume, after China and Germany. According to figures from the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB) Belgium imported two percent more Bordeaux from July 2010 to July 2011, compared with the same period last year. Calculated by value​​, Belgium is the fifth largest market for Bordeaux > Read more …

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Forty-three Beaujolais communes ejected from Burgundy AOC

05/10/2011 Jozef Schildermans 0

INAO, the French government agency which regulates the appellations d’origine, has rearranged the geographic vineyard areas in Burgundy after a regulating process that took three years to complete. From vintage 2011 onwards, 43 municipalities in Beaujolais lose the right to sell wines under the Burgundy appellation which they had since 1937. Henceforth, 43 municipalities in Beaujolais are no longer allowed > Read more …

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Pommard and Nuits want grand cru’s

29/08/2011 Jozef Schildermans 0

The Organisme de défense et de gestion (ODG) of Pommard in Burgundy (the association of wine growers) wants the premier crus Rugiens and Epenots recognized as grand crus. The ODG will file a request with the INAO (Institut National des Appellations d’Origine), the French institute that regulates appellations of origin. The Burgundy classification of 1936 recognized only premier cru vineyards > Read more …

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Belgian topchef launches own wine

25/08/2011 Jozef Schildermans 0

Belgian topchef Peter Goossens launches four wines with his name, signature and photo on the label: two whites, one rosé and one red. They will be sold in Belgian supermarkets and are a licensed product of Goossens’ Belgian satellite food channel Njam! The wines cost 6,85 euro. On the labels there is almost no information on what is in the > Read more …

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Webshop reveals wine margins Dutch top restaurants

27/06/2011 Jozef Schildermans 0

Sterwijnenthuis.nl is a new Dutch online shop where you can buy the wines that feature on the wine lists of the best Dutch restaurants. That is not to the liking of the Dutch Alliance Gastronomique. Dutch consumers can now see exactly how much margin their favourite restaurant takes on wine. The shop is an initiative of the Dutch internet entrepreneur Gijs den Hollander. He wants to offer consumers the same wines they can order off the list of the best Dutch Michelin-starred restaurants. The offer of Sterwijnenthuis.nl is > Read more …

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Early harvest in Belgium

23/05/2011 Jozef Schildermans 0

Because of the continuing good weather it seems Belgian grapes will be picked several weeks earlier than usual, reports the Belga news agency. Belgium is following the example of another northern wine region, Champagne, where the ripening of the grapes is at least three weeks ahead of the situation in “normal” year. Paul Vleminckx of Chardonnay Meerdael in Oud-Heverlee thinks > Read more …