• WINEHAVEN, THE WORLD’S LARGEST WINERY

    par | Oct 18, 2014

    By JOSHUA MALIN / VINE PAIR — October 16, 2014

    Winehaven: How The Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 Gave Birth To The World’s Largest Winery

    The Story Of Winehaven

    In the years leading up to Prohibition, the largest winery in the world sprawled across a 47-acre campus, perched upon the San Francisco Bay.  Its name was Winehaven.  At its peak capacity the winery and its warehouses could hold 12 million gallons of wine, which were distributed by sea from an 1,800 foot wharf, and by rail via privately owned, electrified train tracks.

    (suite…)

  • 1976 JUDGEMENT OF PARIS WINES ENTER US HALL OF FAME

    par | Nov 21, 2013

    By CHRIS MERCER — DECANTER Newsletter — Thursday 21 November 2013

    The Napa wines that famously beat France’s best in the 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting have been chosen from among millions of artefacts as one of the 101 items that ‘made America’.

    Smithsonian magazine, representing the 167-year-old, US-based Smithsonian Institution, one of the largest museum and research complexes in the world, picked out the handful of 1973 vintage Napa wines from 137m possible events and symbols. They now sit alongside Abraham Lincoln’s top hat, Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit, and the American flag — the star spangled banner — in terms of their contribution to US history.

    Judgement of Paris – wine-tasting event of 1976 © Gary Myatt 2012, 6×3 m. Oil on canvas, at the Vineyard at Stockcross, Newbury UK (suite…)

  • CLICK AND CLINK: AMAZON SELLING WINE IN CHINA

    par | Oct 30, 2013

    By YU WEI — China Daily USA in San Francisco — 2013-10-30 07:21

    After launching its first shipment of directly imported US wines into China, Amazon China, Amazon.com’s branch there, said the wines have received a very good response in the country, especially in Shanghai. “The direct-sales model gives our wines quality assurance and more cost-effectiveness,” said Niu Yinghua, vice-president of Amazon China. “Consumers can easily have fine wines from thousands of miles away by just clicking Amazon.cn.”

    According to Amazon China, sales of its wines in Shanghai account for nearly half of its total sales, making Shanghai the hottest selling city in China.

    Barbara Insel, president of Stonebridge Research Group, a leading research firm for the wine industry, said the news from Amazon China is good news for all California wines, as it shows that there is interest in and demand for fine wines from California’s family producers. (suite…)

  • A CALIFORNIA BLINDFOLD TEST

    par | Avr 28, 2009

    By DEAN TUDOR

    The Time and Date:  Tuesday, March 10, 2009   5 PM to 8:30 PM
    The Event: California Wine Fair Media Preview Tasting
    The Venue: Far Niente Restaurant, 187 Bay Street, Toronto, tel: (416) 214-9922
    The Target Audience: Wine media
    The Availability/Catalogue: most wines are, or will be, available.
    The Quote/Background: We tasted the wines single blind (we knew California and grape variety).
    The Wines: Of the 47 wines tried, out of the expected 400 or more at the April 6 show, I enjoyed the following : (suite…)

  • À PROPOS DU ‘JUGEMENT DE PARIS’ EN DVD

    par | Fév 14, 2009

    CATHERINE BERNARD

    Sort en DVD ces jours-ci le film de Randall Miller BOTTLE SHOCK, joli succès aux Etats-Unis non diffusé dans les salles en France. Bottle Shock est une fiction tirée d’un livre paru dans sa version française à l’été 2008, Le Jugement de Paris (Éditions Gutenberg), qui doit lui-même son titre (Judgment Of Paris, California Versus France) à un article paru en 1976 dans l’hebdomadaire Time.

    La couverture du 'Jugement de Paris'L’article, comme le livre édité en 2005 aux USA par Scribner’s, sont du même George M. Taber, correspondant de Time Magazine au moment des faits. Ce livre est passionnant. Je ne sais pas ce que vaut le film ( voir BA YouTube ).

    Paris, 24 mai 1976. Le Britannique Steven Spurrier, caviste respecté à Paris, qui veut faire découvrir aux Français les vins californiens, organise une dégustation à l’aveugle mêlant vins californiens et français (des grands bordeaux et bourgognes). Il réunit un jury de dégustateurs incontestables, rien que des Français. Et, en blanc comme en rouge, les vins Californiens l’emportent. Avec le talent pour la communication qui est le leur, les Américains le font savoir et imposent deux genres qui ont depuis changé la face du monde du vin : les dégustations à l’aveugle comme étalon de classement, et les vins de cépages. (suite…)