by Panos Kakaviatos – Vintners in the celebrated sweet wine growing regions of Sauternes and Barsac are amazed at how early the 2011 harvest has been.
‘It is the earliest I have ever seen, with a very sudden spread of botrytis,’ consultant Denis Dubourdieu of Chateau Doisy Daëne in Barsac said. ‘I cannot recall a harvest that ended before October.’
At the neighbouring Château Climens
by Richard Woodard
Sotheby’s failed to sell dozens of lots in its latest two-day wine sale in Hong Kong – indicating a ‘stabilisation’ of the market, the auction house’s head of wine said. Sunday’s Finest and Rarest Wines sale, in which 59 out of 821 lots went unsold, was the first auction not to sell out entirely since Sotheby’s entered Hong Kong in 2009.
by Richard Woodard – Château Suduiraut is aiming to breathe new life into the Sauternes category with the launch of a new sweet wine aimed at younger drinkers.
The first wine available is from the 2009 vintage, a blend of 96% Semillon and 4% Sauvignon Blanc, bottled at 14.3% abv and with 134g/litre of residual sugar.
The bright gold label of Les Lions de Suduiraut is another break with the usually restrained Sauternes packaging, using a label which features the rampant lions of the château’s crest.
by Richard Woodard – Chinese wine consumers use the internet and social media to source information far more than their western counterparts, according to new research.
These ‘highly wired’ consumers are far less likely to rely on the recommendations of shop staff (32%) or word of mouth from friends and family (39%).
Wine Intelligence said the research, taken from interviews with more than 1,000 Chinese upper middle class drinkers of imported wine, offered a ‘dramatic’ contrast with western countries, where word of mouth is considered far more important.
by Jane Anson in Bordeaux – Over 40 Beaujolais communes have lost the right to label their wine as Burgundy.
This follows a decision taken on 28 September by the INAO, the wine appellations governing body, after a three-year process in which the geographic zones governing Burgundy and Beaujolais appellations have been redrawn.
Although Beaujolais producers have had the right label their wines Burgundy since 1937,