French winemakers protest to demand government aid. But « what if » this also happened on the Niagara Frontier? Read on

MONTPELLIER, France (AP) — Winemakers in southern France have burned two police cars and vandalized supermarkets during protests to demand government aid.

Vintners in France’s Languedoc-Roussillon region have been protesting plummeting prices for their regional wines as well as rising fuel costs.

Thousands of wine growers demonstrated in Montpellier to demand government emergency measures and financial support as wine prices continue to fall. Demonstrators were tear gassed by police during clashes in Montpellier, southern France. Protesters broke windows at the courthouse in the city of Montpellier. In nearby Montagnac, protesters wielding baseball bats chased police from their vehicles and set the cars on fire. Protesters also damaged four bank buildings.

At three regional supermarkets they sacked the wine aisles. Two police were slightly injured in the protests Wednesday and early Thursday.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

What if?… Are the situations similar?

WELLAND, Ontario (CP) — Winemakers in southern Ontario have burned two police cars and vandalized LCBO liquor stores during protests to demand government aid.

Vintners in Ontario’s Niagara region have been protesting plummeting prices for their regional grapes and wines as well as rising fuel costs.

Hundreds of wine and grape growers demonstrated in Welland to demand government emergency measures and financial support as local wine prices continue to fall. Demonstrators were tear gassed by police during clashes in both St. Catharines and Welland.

Protesters broke windows at the courthouse in the city of Welland. In nearby Grimsby, protesters wielding baseball bats chased police from their vehicles and set the cars on fire. Protesters also damaged four bank buildings.

At three LCBO stores they sacked the wine aisles. Two police were slightly injured in the protests Wednesday and early Thursday.

More as the story develops.

Chimo!

www.deantudor.com <http://www.deantudor.com>
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Posted By Dean Tudor to FauxVoix VinCuisine <http://fauxvoixvincuisine.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-if-niagara-frontier-caught-on-fire.html> at 6/27/2008 05:25:00 PM

Par HERVÉ LEBEC

Au hasard d’une récente pérégrination lyonnaise, j’ai fait l’acquisition à la librairie culinaire Badiane place Bellecour, d’un ouvrage de 1976, Les Bons vins et les autres de Pierre-Marie Doutrelant (Seuil, Points Actuel).

Inexplicablement, ce livre se trouvait en deux exemplaire sur l’étagère, détail qui met instantanément la puce à l’oreille d’un rat de librairie, fut-il comme moi intermittent. Depuis, je me régale des chroniques de cet ancien du Nouvel Obs qui, forcément, n’avait pas sa langue dans sa poche. Concernant le bordelais par exemple, il nous parle d’un temps d’avant Parker que les moins de vingt ans ne peuvent connaître, et qui a le mérite de mettre quelques perspectives historiques dans nos bouteilles. Et au chapitre Bourgogne, il invite à découvrir « une moustache de vignes ourlant la retombée d’une lèvre irrégulière de collines« . Inconnu de moi, ce Doutrelant ne l’est pas de Wikipédia (mais qui échappe à Wikipédia ?).
Le soir venu, le livre à la main et un verre à ma portée, assis sur la marche haute de l’escalier qui descend au jardin, il y a comme une promesse de vacances. C’est sûr, je vais vous en reparler en revenant…

COMMENTAIRE SI INTÉRESSÉ — POST A REPLY IF INTERESTED — DÉPOSEZ UN COMMENTAIRE SI INTÉRESSÉ — POST

NOS PROCHAINS VOYAGES-DÉGUSTATIONS

2008
– CHINON, avec l’expert œnologue Jacques Puisais — fin novembre ou début décembre (week-end)

2009
– COGNAC, organisé par Robert Tixier-Guichard — Février (week-end)
– ALSACE: Humbrecht, Deiss, Kreydenweiss, Ostertag — vendredi 12 juin matin – lundi 15 juin soir
– NEW YORK STATE: Long Island – Finger Lakes – Niagara + w-e NYC — septembre ou octobre (10 jours)

2010
– ARGENTINE, avec le concours de Guy Lainé — Fin février – début mars (12 jours)
– CORSE, avec l’aide de Bénédicte Ségur — Mai (3-4 jours)
– BEAUJOLAIS, organisé avec Thierry Morvan — Septembre ou octobre (week-end)

Et aussi
– SUISSE (week-end en VALAIS) — BULGARIE et/ou SLOVÉNIE et/ou GÉORGIE – CORBIÈRES et BANYULS (3-4 jours) — AFRIQUE du SUD — NOUVELLE-ZÉLANDE — LIBAN (plaine de la BÉKAA) — PORTUGAL (vallée du DOURO) — BANDOL (avec D. et J-J. Lobel)…

COMMENTAIRE SI INTÉRESSÉ — POST A REPLY IF INTERESTED — DÉPOSEZ UN COMMENTAIRE SI INTÉRESSÉ — POST

By DEAN TUDOR

The WINES :

**** Four Stars (91+ in Quality/Price Rating terms):
- Flat Rock Seriously Twisted ($22.95 retail)
- Flat Rock Gravity ($24.42 licensee)
- Malivoire Moira Chardonnay 2005 ($30.01 licensee)
- Malivoire Chardonnay Musque ($16.14 licensee) great price
- Stratus White 2005 ($35.88 licensee)
- Stratus Red 2005 ($35.88 licensee)
- Tawse Echo’s White (Chardonnay) ($17.94 licensee)

***1/2 Three and a Half Stars (88-90 in Quality/Price Rating terms):
- Flat Rock Twisted ($16.95 Vintages)
- Norman Hardie Melon de Bourgogne 2007 ($15.49 licensee)
- Stratus Gewurztraminer 2006 ($26.09 licensee)
- Tawse Robyn’s Block Estate Chardonnay 2005 ($39.15 licensee) Read More »

By MICHAEL JOHNSON

BORDEAUX, June 2008 – I got my first taste of œnotourisme recently when I drove up the Médoc to Lynch Bages to sample their Pauillac cru classé and to have a look around this splendid property. The visit was not part of the current Bordeaux drive to boost œnotourisme. I just needed a day out of Bordeaux.

The Château Lynch Bages is well organised for outsiders like me. A group of about 10 Americans, English Spanish and a Brazilian gathered in the château office to await the afternoon guided tour. We all knew that foreigners like to call the place “Lunch Bags”. This is one of the most interesting tours because proprietor Jean-Michel Cazes has invested so heavily in modernisation while retaining old equipment and processing space for its historical value. The 19th century vats, the indoor railway for transporting full loads of grapes still intact, left us all with a better understanding of how wine-making has evolved.

At the end of a one-hour tour, we were assembled for a dégustation – clearly the moment we had been waiting for. Animation among the group suddenly increased. To our surprise, Mr. Cazes wandered past our group. I called out “Mr. Cazes – nous sommes très impressionnés.” He gave me a steely look and retorted “On se connait?” Uh-oh, I thought. I had revealed my brash American ways once more. M. Cazes never slowed down his démarche. We brash tourists had three or four samples of his Pauillac, enough for a treat on the pallet and slight buzz, but just under the blood-alcohol limit for the drive back to Bordeaux. The guide warned us that local gendarmes like to ambush visitors just outside the château.

The season for organised visits has just begun. Bordeaux’s Office de Tourisme is expecting more than 30,000 paying visitors for various daylong trips around the region – to Graves country, St. Emillion and the Médoc. The designation of Bordeaux as a Unesco Heritage site is expected to bring a 20 percent jump in general tourism and the winemakers hope to do better than that. A visitor is a potential buyer.

Michael Johnson is an international journalist based in Bordeaux contributing frequently to the International Herald Tribune. He is author of four books, including “French Resistance: The individual versus the company in French corporate life”, and “Workaholism: The plague of our time”.

Notre “homme à Bordeaux” est le journaliste international Michael Johnson. Auteur de quatre livres, dont « French Resistance » et « Workaholism », il collabore fréquemment à l’IHT.

Three sites describe all the trips available: www.bordeaux-tourisme.com, www.ugcb.net, www.bordeaux-fete-le-vin.com

See below Il y a 5 ans, l’œnotourisme… Read More »

This Silly Tasting Notes Generator link is very funny.
It’s a “must” for the neophyte wine-lover who never knows what to say after a sip from a new bottle.
Try it!
http://www.gmon.com/tech/output.shtml

M J

By DEAN TUDOR

ICEWINE: Extreme Winemaking is mainly by Donald Ziraldo, who, with winemaker Karl Kaiser, founded Inniskillin Wines in 1974. It was the first small and new winery in Ontario, Canada, since 1929.

There’s a foreword from Hugh Johnson, an icewine flavour wheel from Shari Darling, some notes from John Schreiner’s book on Icewine, scientific notes from Karl Kaiser, and recipes from the late Izabela Kalabis-Sacco pulled together by Lyn Ogryzlo.

The promotion bumpf says, « A gorgeous collection, with full-colour photography and delicious recipes that explains the art behind Canada’s wine delicacy ». They forgot to include that the book also contains a big whack of scientific and technical data, with copious charts, graphs, and tables, compiled for the most part by Kaiser. He has all the figures for the history of Inniskillin icewine, including — on a year by year basis — harvest brix, harvest temperatures, acid levels, ABV, residual sugars, all from 1983 through 2006 (the latter was harvested in January 2007).

Dean Tudor is a food and wine writer. Member of Wine Writers Circle of Canada. Professor Emeritus of Journalism, Ryerson University, Toronto. www.deantudor.com

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