Category: US Wine

Penfolds’ “Wine of the World” Label

Penfolds has just launched its most radical project to date, the inaugural, four-bottle “California Collection” which are blends from both South Australia and California wine together – a concept that is certainly revolutionary in the fine wine world.

Penfolds, South Australia’s premier winemaker, has again pushed the envelope by releasing the inaugural “Wine of the World” label.

The four wines in this new series are from the 2018 vintage. The top two wines in the collection, ‘Quantum Bin 98 Cabernet Sauvignon’ and ‘Bin 149 Cabernet Sauvignon’ are both blends of Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley, with the Quantum Bin 98 mixed with 13% South Australian Shiraz and the Bin 149 blended with 14% South Australian Cabernet Sauvignon.

The other two wines in the collection are Californian. ‘Bin 600 Cabernet Shiraz’ is a blend of fruit from Napa Valley, Sonoma, and Paso Robles, and ‘Bin 704 Cabernet Sauvignon’ is from Napa Valley. 

The wines were released globally a few weeks ago and are priced at $50 US – $700 US.  

It was also hinted that more wines under Penfolds label will be coming from Bordeaux and Champagne in the future.

 While the idea of doing a cross-continental blend does not seem like a possibility for most winemakers, Penfolds can now say that they have certainly pioneered this concept.

https://www.penfolds.com/

#penfolds #penfoldswine #penfoldscollection #californiacollection #australianwine #californiawine #wine #winenews #instawine #winelovers #redwine #vintagewine #finewine #winecollectors #wineoftheworld #winetrends

Oregon Wine Month Starts Now…. with “Pour It Forward”

Commencing May 1, 2021 Oregon wine lovers are set to celebrate Oregon Wine Month.  This month-long celebration showcases the best in Oregon’s rapidly growing wine industry.

This is the 9th year for Oregon Wine Month – it gives wine lovers different ways to celebrate including in-person and virtual events.

It kicks off with a social media campaign hosted on their Instagram and Facebook channels “Pour It Forward” (#pouritfORward), which serves as a chain of appreciation between Oregon winemakers across the state and globally.

Thirty-one Oregon winemakers are featured in this campaign and are featured daily by video. To see the campaign, go to the Wine Board’s Instagram and Facebook channels during the month of May. Videos will also be posted on the Oregon Wine Month site.

(May 1), features winemaker John Grochau of Grochau Cellars in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA tasting and sharing his thoughts on a Vermentino from winemaker Nate Wall of Troon Vineyard in the Applegate Valley AVA.  On May 2nd Nate Wall discusses a Mencia from Analemma Wines in the Columbia Gorge AVA – videos are featured here clicking here.

The month-long campaign will also feature wineries from all corners of Oregon’s rich and varied winemaking landscape – from The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater to the Chehalem Mountains in the Willamette Valley.

These short videos provide a window into the collaborative Oregon wine industry and give a platform for winemakers to praise wines made by their talented peers. As well as on social media platforms, the videos will also be housed on the Oregon Wine Month site.

Other episodes in the “Pour It Forward” series include winemakers like Master of Wine Billo Naravane from Rasa in The Rocks District and Walla Walla Valley, fellow Willamette Valley alums Doug Tunnell of Brick House, Grant Coulter and Renée St. Amour from Hundred Sons Wine.

The Oregon Wine Month sweepstakes returns for 2021, with an even bigger prize package for those eager to visit Oregon wine country. This year the stakes feature two spectacular prizes with two grand prizes – one trip to the Rogue Valley in partnership with Rogue Valley Vintners and one trip to the Willamette Valley in partnership with the Willamette Valley Wineries Association – Oregon Wine Month sweepstakes

Oregon Wine Month also includes a series of free educational seminars led by Master of Wine Bree Stock. Stock is a leading authority on the Oregon wine industry.

#OregonWineMonth #Oregonwine #wineevent #uswine #pouritfORward @oregonwineboard #oregonwineboard #oregonwines #oregonwinecountry #winemaking #winelover #winelovers #winetime #winecommunity #winestagram #winestory #winereview #winetasting #orwine #instawine

Vinexpo America and Drinks America Plan a Joint Debut in New York – March 9/10 2022

Vinexposium announced that two co-located events—Vinexpo America and Drinks America—that will reunite the beverage alcohol industry (in person) under one roof, in 2022.  The trade-only expos will be held March 9-10, 2022, in the new Hall 3 at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Together, they promise to attract top buyers and decision-makers from across North America, the largest and fast-growing beverage-alcohol-consuming market in the world.

Vinexpo America is a repositioning of the former Vinexpo New York, which for three years served as the premier international exhibition for wine and spirits professionals in North America before a 2021 pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In its new form, Vinexpo America will focus exclusively on wines, with representation from all of the world’s top-producing regions.

Drinks America is a brand-new expo created in response to a forecasted continuing rise in consumption of spirits and ready-to-drink beverages. It will feature a wide array of spirits, beer and sake from producers across the globe as well as beverage alcohol accessories and services.

Both events will provide U.S. and Canadian buyers access to new and established brands that are looking to expand distribution, network and meet with existing customers in North America. From conferences to master classes, two full days of educational programming will address issues relevant to both the wine and spirits worlds.

For attendees, Vinexpo America | Drinks America offers the advantage of one registration for full access to both shows’ exhibits, programming and events—a great value that also optimizes efficiency as they can meet with producers from around the world in one location over two days.

Exhibitors will benefit from visibility to all buyers, decision-makers and influencers from both events, plus unlimited free guest invitations. A new business matchmaking service will facilitate one-to-one meetings during the two-day exhibition.

“We’re excited to renew our partnership with Vinexposium and come back to New York in 2022 with a brand-new, greatly enhanced offering,” said Mary Larkin, president of Diversified Communications USA. “Bringing together Vinexpo America and Drinks America in a single meeting place will enable us to serve the entire U.S. wine and spirits communities—an especially welcome opportunity after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the industry’s major exhibitions in 2021.”

“The launch of our events in the United States in 2022 is designed to coincide with the resumption of trade between Europe and the USA. Under a new name, Vinexpo America aims to embrace the entire North American market, alongside Drinks America. It has become crucial to offer our customers a comprehensive business platform that matches the scale of the American continent and includes spirits, craft drinks and beers alongside wine,” stresses Rodolphe Lameyse, CEO of Vinexposium.

More information regarding the 2022 event will be announced in the coming months.

#GlobalWineevent #inperson #VinexpoAmerica #DrinksAmerica #vinexpo #winenews #tradeevent #wine #winelovers #Vinexposium #wineevent #instawine #wineevent2022

Liv-ex 1000 shows that interest in wines from Burgundy, Champagne, the Rhône, Italy, and US has grown rapidly and unexpectedly

New categories of wine are entering the secondary wine market for the first time, with trading up by 70% from 2019.

Bordeaux, which once dominated the secondary market, now has a share of trade less than half of what it was a decade ago. But it hasn’t fallen out of favour – rather, its share has shrunk as the overall market has surged and interest in wines from Burgundy, Champagne, the Rhône, Italy and the US has grown rapidly.

“Last year was a positive year for the wine market, with all major Liv-ex indices showing gains,” said Liv-ex Director and Co-Founder, Justin Gibbs.

Liv-ex (the London International Vintners Exchange) is the London-based global marketplace for the wine trade, where fine wine merchants from around the world buy and sell wine. What happens on the exchange is a reliable indicator of the health of the secondary wine market.

And what it shows is that the secondary wine market is not just booming, it’s broadening.

Fast Market Growth

The number of distinct wine brands traded on Liv-ex last year was up 70%, from 996 in 2019 to 1,420. The total number of wines – including different vintages of the same wine brands – was 8,735, up 72% from the 2019’s 6,367.

The surge has continued into 2021, with March 2021 closing on the biggest month of trade in Liv-ex’s 21-year history – 1,250 distinct wine brands were traded, of which 130 were newcomers to the secondary market. More than £80 million ($109 million) of live bids and offers, are currently available on the market.

The Liv-ex 1000 index was established in 2014 to capture this broadening. As with all Liv-ex indices, it reflects the activity of e Liv-ex membership – a pool of over 500 of the world’s leading wine merchants, who between them represent the biggest and deepest pool of liquidity anywhere in the world.

Most importantly, as a trading and data resource, it is completely independent. And it shows stark changes in the fine wine market, as new wines enter the secondary market.

One Index Alone Is Up 87%

The most striking example of the changing dynamics of the market is the Burgundy 150. It has risen 87% over the last five years, the beneficiary of collectors putting their capital into a new category.

The Champagne 50 has risen 58% over the last five years, driven by the brand power and prestige of the grandes marques Champagnes, widely available stock, global distribution and accessible price points.

The Italy 100 has risen 45% over the past five years, as merchants and collectors discover the relative value to be found in the great wines of Piedmont and Tuscany.

The Rest of the World 60 – which includes the top wines of California, as well as Australian, Spanish and Portuguese wines – has risen 31% over five years. US wines, in particular, are attracting attention; in 2019, US wines represented just 2% of trade by value on the market. That shot up to 7% of total trade last year.

What’s Driving the Trading?

As elsewhere in the economy, technological innovations have swept through the wine industry, transforming the behaviour of both wine businesses and buyers. This past year has seen the launch of new wine tech start-ups, digital wine apps, soaring online sales and virtual tastings, ensuring that people are no longer anxious about buying or trading online.

“These innovations in technology have had a significant impact on buying patterns,” said Gibbs. “As more of the wine trade go digital – with many enabling their customers to access the market using our Automation services – we are seeing increasing diversity in what is traded as collectors are put in the driving seat.”

As a result, the wines brought through Liv-ex in 2020 not only came from the more traditional fine wine regions like Bordeaux and Burgundy, but also from China, Hungary, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Chile, Argentina and more. Prices per bottle also ranged from £4 to £21,000. As the wine world becomes increasingly digital, this broadening trend is likely continue.

The Market Set to Expand Further

Since 2019, US collectors and merchants have been constrained by the US government’s tariffs on the wines of France, including Bordeaux and Burgundy.

“The tariffs have had a singular effect on the fine wine market over the last 18 months, not least for Italy and Champagne whose wines were excluded from the extra 25% levy,” said Gibbs.

But the recent lifting of the tariffs has had a marked effect on activity – leading to a strong kick in demand for wines of all regions.

There are also other reasons to believe the fine wine market will both grow and diversify further.

“The combination of low interest rates and massive fiscal spending suggests that asset inflation will not be confined to equity, commodity and property markets,” said Gibbs. “The fundamentals of fine wine will also be an attractive option to those with cash to spare.”

#livex1000 #livex #finewine #burgundy #champagne #bordeaux #Rhone #USwine #winenews #instawine #winelovers #winecollectors #wineinvestment #digitalmarketing #finewineregions

 

 

 

The Bollinger Family to Acquire Oregon’s Famed Ponzi Vineyards

The Bollinger family, owners of iconic Champagne Bollinger in addition to four other historic estates in France, announce the upcoming acquisition of their first winery in the United States, with the purchase of Oregon’s famed Ponzi Vineyards. The transaction will unite the Bollinger family with the Ponzi family, building on the legacy the Ponzis have established as one of Oregon’s original wineries, leading the success and growth of the region’s Pinot Noir over the last 50 years.

Bollinger family holding group Chairman & CEO Etienne Bizot comments, “The United States is such an important market for luxury Champagne, Burgundy, Sancerre, Cognac, and other regions in which our family owns wineries. If there was anywhere outside of France where we felt it was critical to invest, it is in the U.S. We have quietly considered opportunities for a number of years, but it is finally with the Ponzi family that we feel we have found the ideal fit. Their bold vision to come to Oregon, the subsequent decades of recognition for continually innovating and improving – we have so much respect for what the Ponzis have achieved, and look forward to building on it together, and connecting all our brands more closely with the U.S. market.”

“We have dedicated our lives to demonstrating Oregon’s Willamette Valley as one of the greatest places on the planet for producing cool climate, high quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay,” remarks Luisa Ponzi, the winery’s recognized leading winemaker who trained in Burgundy. “This transaction makes sense for our respective families because of our well-aligned values and shared commitment to producing wines of the very highest quality.”

“It gives us immense satisfaction to have the opportunity to pass our legacy winery on to the Bollinger family, who will continue to elevate the brand on a global scale,” Winery president Anna Maria Ponzi shares. “This is the natural next step for our brand and winery.”

The purchase includes the winery and hospitality facilities 40 minutes from Portland, Oregon in addition to 35 acres of vineyard land in the newly established Laurelwood District AVA. The winery has been an introduction to the region for countless numbers of people through not only visits but major events that the Ponzi family has been instrumental in creating and supporting, such as the International Pinot Noir Celebration, Oregon Pinot Camp and the Salud Pinot Noir Barrel Auction.

Under the leadership of a new CEO, whose recruitment is ongoing, Anna Maria will continue to lead the sales & marketing over the transition period and Luisa will remain as the Director of Viticulture and Winemaking. The Ponzi family will retain 100 acres of vineyard land and will grow and sell the grapes to Ponzi Vineyards under a long-term contract.

VINTUS, current Ponzi Vineyards national sales and marketing agent, and importer of Champagne Bollinger, Champagne Ayala, Domaine Chanson and Langlois-Chateau, will continue to represent Ponzi’s trade distribution in the United States.

#winenews #industrynews #champagne #bollinger #bollingerchampagne #Ponzivineyards#wineindustry #oregon #wine #oregonwine #willamettevalleywine #instawine #winewednesday @ponzivineyards @champagne_bollinger