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Osorno Chile has ‘Tremendous Potential’ for high-quality sparkling wine

One of Chile’s principal producers of sparkling wine, Miguel Torres Chile, is hoping to exploit the Osorno Valley’s “tremendous potential” for high-quality sparkling wine, according to winemaker Eduardo Jordan.

Jordan said he believed the area in the Los Lagos region of Chile was ideally suited to the production of premium sparkling wine.

Jordan said: “The south is the future for sparkling wine. I think that the Osorno area has tremendous potential to produce high-quality sparkling wines since the cold weather and the mixture of volcanic and alluvial soils present the ideal environment for this type of wine.”

He recalled how the producer has been experimenting with sparkling wines made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the region since 2017 and the results “are well on track to-date”.

To make the wines, Miguel Torres Chile is working with a grower with which it has had a long-term contract. It has already released a wine from the area – a Sauvignon Blanc – which is part of its Cordillera range.

“It’s a vertical Sauvignon with a citric acid mouthfeel typical of this area and that which is difficult to find in other areas of Chile”, said Jordon.

Osorno, located at a latitude of 40 degrees – roughly the same as the North Island of New Zealand – it is one of the emerging wine regions in the far south of Chile, giving its name to a city, province and volcano in the region. With as much as 1,500mm of rainfall a year, it can be a challenging area to grow grapes, according to Jordan. It is mainly planted with Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with a smattering of Riesling.

“Due mainly to climate change in Chile, today it is possible to plant vineyards in places that were unthinkable eight to 10 years ago, due to rising temperatures and lower rainfall in the summer months. Osorno is one of those places in Chile where today there are a small number of producers or wineries who have dared to plant vineyards”, Jordan added.

Miguel Torres Chile was founded in Curicó in 1979. Jordan said that temperatures are noticeably warmer now, with the producer, which sources grapes from many regions in Chile, noticing big differences in picking times.

“In 2007 we really started noticing that temperatures were changing. The sea temperatures were warmer and summer temperatures are now 1-2 degrees higher”, he said.

“When we were founded, Curicó was considered south, now it’s central. Itata and beyond is now referred to as the south.”

Source: Drinks Business

The International Sustainable Wine Growing Summit is coming to San Luis Obispo, California on November 11-13, 2019

The International Sustainable Winegrowing Summit will be held in the U.S for the first time. The event will run in conjunction with the Sustainable Ag Expo and will bring together leading experts from Italy, South Africa, France, Canada, and the US, and will be held be in San Luis Obispo, California on November 11-13, 2019.

The 15th Annual Sustainable Ag Expo includes three days of seminars and a full-service tradeshow and equipment showcase that provides an opportunity for farmers, ag professionals, and pest control advisors to learn about the latest in farming research, resource issues, business trends related to sustainable agriculture. Participants can earn 15+ hours of DPR/CCA continuing education.

“We are thrilled to welcome a number of distinguished international speakers to the International Sustainable Winegrowing Summit” said Kris Beal, Executive Director of the Vineyard Team. “They include Carlo Duso, PhD from the University of Padua, Italy, Gerhard Pietersen, PhD from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, Jose Ramon Urbez Torres, a research scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and Sabine Wiedemann-Merdinoglu, PhD from the Institut National de Recherches Agronomique (INRA) in France.”

The Sustainable Ag Expo will also feature numerous experts from the U.S. including Jennifer Lester Moffit, Undersecretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, Julian Gervreau, Vice President, Sustainability at Jackson Family Wines, Dr. Michael Costello, Department of Wine and Viticulture, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and Rachel Naegele, PhD, Research Horticulturist, USDA, ARS, US.

Seminar and panel discussions will cover a wide range of topics from “Climate Change and the Future of Agriculture” to “Insect, Pest, Environment and Ecology Systems.” A full list of speakers and topics along with registration information can be found at

www.sustainableagexpo.org

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The Irish Whiskey Masters 2019 results are in

The resurgent Irish whiskey industry has come on leaps and bounds in recent years.

The figures tell you all you need to know – global sales have increased over 300% in the past decade, according to the Department for International Trade. Distilleries in Northern Ireland were singled out as being an important factor in boosting the category’s growth earlier this year, which the Irish Whiskey Association forecasts will hit 12 million nine-liter cases by 2020.

A few weeks ago a group of expert tasters attended Mayfair, London to taste and rate a selection of Irish Whiskeys. Some of the judges included: Mark Jennings, founder of Drinks Galore, Joe Harper, assistant bars manager at The Savoy hotel, Jamie Matthewson, Waitrose buying manager – wine, Derek Millar, retired whiskey retailer, Amy Hopkins, editor of The Spirits Business magazine and Billy Abbott, Ambassador for The Whisky Exchange.

Reflecting on this year’s tasting:

“The variety of styles was broad. There were a couple of standout, exceptional whiskeys.” Joe Harper

“There were some real differences in terms of character and quality.” Jamie Matthewson

“perfume, violets, Turkish Delight” Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy
Single Pot Still – Ultra Premium

“The worst whiskeys today were still incredibly well made. There was nothing I disliked in this competition and some really interesting examples that are worth seeking out.” Jamie Matthewson

Here is a list of the results for: Blended – Standard; Blended – Premium; Blended – Super Premium; Blended – Ultra Premium; Single Grain – Premium; Single Malt – Standard; Single Malt – Premium; Single Malt – Super Premium; Single Malt – Ultra Premium; Single Pot Still – Premium; Single Pot Still – Super Premium; and Single Pot Still – Ultra Premium:

https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2019/08/the-irish-whiskey-masters-2019-results/2/

Source: The Spirits Business

Georg J. Riedel Honoured by Wine Spectator Magazine

10TH GENERATION GLASSMAKER ACKNOWLEDGED FOR “DISTINGUISHED SERVICE”

Writing in Wine Spectator, News Editor Mitch Frank states how Georg Riedel “revolutionized how we drink wine by spreading the gospel of his family’s wine glasses”. Georg educated tens of thousands of wine drinkers on the benefits of varietal-specific glassware and brought financial stability to the company in the 1980s through savvy business development and an evangelist’s approach to marketing his products.

“I am sincerely grateful to Wine Spectator for offering me this outstanding reward and it is an honor to be named in line with the most respected personalities of the wine and food industry,” says Riedel. “I am not the first Austrian, but the first glassmaker to be called to the Wine Spectator Olympus, and am very proud to share the honor with my team and family.”

Riedel follows luminaries of the global wine community in his receipt of the award and stands apart as the first glassmaker to receive the accolade. Past honorees include Julia Child, Robert Mondavi, Christian Moueix, Angelo Gaja, Francis Ford Coppola, Andre Tchelistcheff, fellow Austrian Wolfgang Puck, and Californian Governor Gavin Newsom – larger-than-life personalities whose contributions to the wine and culinary world are innumerable.

The Riedel family’s business began in 1756 when Johann Leopold Riedel (3rd generation) founded a glass factory in Bohemia (in what is today’s Czech Republic). In 1945, the successful family business came to an abrupt end due to World War II, when all German possessions were nationalized and German-speaking people expatriated.

In 1956, some two hundred years after the first factory was opened, Walter Riedel (8th generation) and Claus Riedel (9th generation) were offered the unique opportunity to take over the bankrupt glass factory Tiroler Glashütte in Kufstein, Austria. It was in this new period that Claus Riedel became known as the first glass designer to create wine-friendly glassware. His designs were launched from the 1950s to the 1970s, and continue to have a major impact on today’s universally known glass shapes.

Georg Riedel (10th generation, born 1949) joined the family business in 1973 as the company’s accountant. At an early stage, he became passionate about wine and how glass shapes profoundly influence the perception of wine’s aromas and flavors. Gifted with fine senses and supported with strong commercial talents, he quickly took over the company’s direction, developing varietal specific glassware.

At the same time, a New World wine boom created new demand and highlighted new wines of classic varietals grown on foreign soils. The launch of Riedel’s first machine-made line, VINUM – the perfect wine glass at a popular price level – built the foundation for a solid future for the company.

Georg opened his first subsidiary as importer and distributor in the USA in 1979 and have since opened eight more around the globe including China, Japan, and Australia. He was the first to approach wine distributors to represent the Riedel brand, which grew the company’s presence around the world to over 100 countries. As a shrewd businessman, without bank loans and using accumulated company cash, Riedel acquired the then much larger glass companies Nachtmann and Spiegelau in 2004. With this takeover came the opportunity for Riedel to produce all glasses in the company’s own factories.

Today, Georg’s children Laetizia, a solicitor and Maximilian, the current CEO, are the Riedel team members responsible for directing and guiding the family business as the 11th generation.

Source: Riedel, Austria

Wines of Chile to increase small producer participation

Aurelio Montes Sr., president of Wines of Chile, recently outlined his objectives in getting smaller producers involved in the trade group “Wines of Chile”.

Montes took over as president last month has stated that one of his objectives is to offer reduced or free-entry for smaller producers to join the organization.

“My role is to make Chile better known and more respected,” he said. “I think small producers are weaker as they don’t have the resources to travel and put their wines out into the market, in the same way that a larger producer does.”

Speaking more generally about his plans for his two years in office, Montes echoed the trade organization’s goal to raise the profile of Chilean wine.

“I aim to make Chile better known, although we are pretty successful already. In terms of wine production, we are number one among the new world countries and we are fourth in the world as a whole. So that puts Chile in a very privileged position and we’re really happy about that.

“Chile is perceived as a country with good value for money, inexpensive wines – unbeatable value for money I would say. One of my targets is to put Chile where it deserves, although it is already a well-renowned country, it deserves to be a couple of steps higher and in a better position.”

Montes also revealed that the organization was focusing its attention on its top three markets – China, the US and Brazil – with the aim of doubling its activities in each of the markets. In particular, he spoke of a desire to “recover the American market” after losing ground since the financial crisis in 2008.

Montes will be president of Wines of Chile until 2021, and he is a well-respected figure in the industry and a founding member of Viña Montes.

Source: Drinks Business