Wine News Archives

Town of Cardston, Alberta lifts prohibition law after 121 years

Cardston in Alberta, one of Canada’s few remaining dry towns, has recently voted to remove laws forbidding the sale of alcohol.

It was announced that last week the town council voted in favour of allowing “limited liquor sales.” The historic decision resulted in voting 5-2 in favour of a bylaw allowing restaurants and recreation facilities to apply for a liquor license.

The Mormon-founded town has maintained its Prohibition laws long after the rest of the province axed them in 1923, with previous attempts to have the ban lifted, in 1957 and 2014.

“Do I have fears? I do. But I trust the people,” said Cardston mayor Maggie Kronen. “Changes can be good, changes can be bad — we shall see.”

According to the 2021 census, 62% of Cardston’s residents are Mormons, belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which forbids the consumption of alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine.

It will still be some months before the first alcoholic drink is served at a Cardston restaurant as applications for liquor licenses will take some time to process.

Australian government invests $3 million to improve no/low wines

The Australian federal government has awarded a grant of almost A$3m (£1.6m) designed to boost quality and innovation within the burgeoning low-alcohol and alcohol-free wine market.

This grant from the Australian government’s Cooperative Research Centres Projects funding scheme will be used to drive further innovation and improve standards within the no/low category. The project is called ‘Advancement of Australian Lifestyle Wines’.

Australian Vintage, whose portfolio includes McGuigan and Tempus Two, will serve as the project lead for the research. The chief winemaker Jamie Saint said: ‘The grant allows us to conduct research with a key objective of optimizing the flavor and mouthfeel of no and low products, as well as drilling down into consumer and market insights of the category.’

The company will team up with 10 industry partners to conduct the research: Treasury Wine Estates, whose brands include Penfolds and Wolf Blass, along with the University of Adelaide, the Australian Wine Research Institute, Flavourtech, DrinkWise, Tarac Technologies, S. Smith and Son, Danstar Ferment, Mauri Yeast and CHR Hansen.

‘The opportunity to work with a group of leading industry partners to take the growing no/low category to the next level is something we are enormously excited by, improving the competitiveness, productivity and sustainability of the Australian wine industry,’ added Saint.

‘We want to position the Australian wine sector as the largest global producer of no/low wines.’

In 2022, the market value for no/low-alcohol drinks surpassed $11bn among 10 focus markets across the world, according to IWSR analyst data.

IWSR expects consumption to grow by 33% to $14.67bn by 2026, spearheaded by health-conscious adults in Germany, Spain, the USA, Japan and the UK.

Ancient wine grapes related to today’s grape varieties, research shows

“A recent international study led by two Israeli universities analyzed 1,000-year-old seeds which were discovered at archaeological excavations in the Negev; the findings are ‘significant for Israel’s modern wine industry” research scientist states

A recent study led by the paleogenetic laboratory of the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University and the University of Haifa analyzed DNA from ancient local wine grape seeds discovered at archaeological excavations in the Negev.

One seed was found to be almost identical to the Syriki variety used today to make high-quality red wine in Greece and Lebanon, while another seed is a relative of the white variety called Be’er, still growing in deserted vineyards in the dunes of Palmachim.

The genetic study was led by Dr. Pnina Cohen and Dr. Meirav Meiri of the paleogenetic lab at the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University. The seeds were found at archaeological excavations led by Prof. Guy Bar-Oz from the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures at the University of Haifa, in collaboration with researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority. Other participants included researchers from the University of Haifa, the Weizmann Institute, Bar-Ilan University, and research institutions in France, Denmark, and the U.K. The paper was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“Archaeological excavations conducted in the Negev [Israel] in recent years have revealed a flourishing wine industry from the Byzantine and early Arab periods (around the fourth to ninth centuries A.D.), especially at the sites of Shivta, Haluza, Avdat, and Nizana, which were large, thriving cities at the time,” says Prof. Guy Bar-Oz from the University of Haifa.

“The findings include large winepresses, jugs in which the exclusive wine, exported to Europe, was stored, and grape seeds preserved for more than a thousand years. This industry gradually declined following the Muslim conquest in the 7th century, since Islam forbids the consumption of wine.”

“The cultivation of wine grapes in the Negev was renewed only in

Modern times, in the state of Israel, mostly since the 1980s. This industry, however, relies mainly on wine grape varieties imported from Europe.”

One especially interesting finding was a large hoard of grape seeds, discovered on the floor of a sealed room at Avdat. The researchers explain that these seeds have been relatively well-preserved thanks to protection from climatic phenomena such as extreme temperatures, flooding, or dehydration. To learn more about the seeds, in the hope of discovering which varieties they might belong to, the researchers prepared to extract their DNA in the paleogenetic lab.

“The science of paleogenomic uses a range of advanced technologies to analyze ancient genomes, primarily from archaeological findings,” explains Dr. Meiri from the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University.

“Since the DNA molecule is very sensitive and disintegrates over time, especially under high temperatures, we usually get only small pieces of DNA, often in a poor state of preservation. To protect them we work under special conditions: the paleogenetic lab is an isolated clean laboratory, with positive air pressure that keeps contaminants out, and we enter it in sterilized ‘spacesuits’ familiar to everyone from the COVID pandemic.”

To begin with, the researchers looked for any organic matter remaining in the seeds. For this purpose, they used FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy)—a chemical technique applying infrared radiation to produce a light spectrum that identifies the sample’s content. Finding remnants of organic matter in 16 seeds, the researchers went on to extract DNA from these samples.

The extracted DNA was sequenced, with an emphasis on about 10,000 genomic sites where variety-specific features are usually found, and the results were compared to databases of modern grapevines from around the world: In 11 samples, the quality of genetic material was too poor to allow any definite conclusions. Three of the remaining samples were identified as generally belonging to local varieties. Finally, the two samples of the highest quality, both from around 900 A.D., were identified as belonging to specific local varieties that still exist today.

Further details found here:

https://phys.org/news/2023-05-international-reveals-genetic-link-modern.html

Sources:

Tel-Aviv University, and
National Academy of Sciences

A leading nutrition scientist discovers red wine is good for us, but variety is key

Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, in his recent study which involved participants in the UK, US and Belgium. He suggests that wine drinkers look at drinking a wider range of red grape varieties, including unpopular varieties. In doing this, he states will boost our immune system, fight diseases, healthier gut and improve mental health.

He told Wine Blast podcast: “My advice for wine-lovers is keep loving wine and still drink wine, primarily for the pleasure, but at the back of your mind think, could I be trying different bottles or varieties that might actually be healthier for me and that I might enjoy?”

Professor Spector also states: “diversity is also important – if you take the analogy from foods, having a range of different grape varieties in your diet means that you are going to be helping different gut microbes inside you and you will increase your gut health and diversity. So, don’t just stick with the same wine. Get out there. try the hundreds or thousands of different grape varieties that we generally don’t enjoy.”

“Let’s get those rare ones back on the map again, because each of those could be helping you nourish really healthy gut microbes inside you and improve your health.’ A study led by Professor Spector’s team in 2019 found those who drank red wine had a wider range of gut bacteria. this was not seen for white wine, which may be because red wine has the grape skins left in for most of the fermentation process, so has high levels of polyphenols – plant compounds which are good for the gut.

Professor Spector is not suggesting people have full power to over-indulge in red and states: “The trick is to get the dose right, as always. That’s something that we all struggle with and it’s very individual. That’s why this government approach, [where] most countries say there are a certain amount of units that most men and women should have, is problematic.”

“Your response to alcohol is highly personalised and of course some people can’t drink it at all. So, we think that alcohol on one hand in large amounts is harmful but in small amounts, if might be okay.”

CGA’s December’s “US Consumer Impact Report” reveals that bars and restaurants are essential for driving awareness of drinks brands

CGA by NielsenIQ’s latest consumer research reveals that bars and restaurants are essential for driving awareness of drinks brands, with 61% of consumers more likely to look for new brands in the on premise as opposed in stores and 54% stating they’ve made an in-store purchase of a brand that they first tried in the on premise.

CGA’s Consumer Impact report highlights 1,600 consumer behaviors across Florida, Texas, California and New York. The latest research highlights that the frequency of visits to the on premise have remained stable, with 4 in 5 consumers visiting bars and restaurants 3 or more times in the last three months. Plans for visiting also remain very positive with around 73% of US consumers planning to go out in the next weeks.

Consumers continue to seek out new experiences in bars and restaurants, with consumers more likely to first try a new Spirits or Beer brand in the on premise over an in-store purchase – underlining how important venues are in building brand awareness and encouraging trial.

Trial of new drinks brands in bars and restaurants is highly likely to compel consumers in their purchasing decisions in the off premise too – with 54% of consumers agreeing they have made a purchase in store of brands that they first tried in the on premise. 3 in 5 consumers also agree that they are likely to look for new brands in store if they’ve already tried them at a bar or restaurant.

Not only are on premise purchases informing in-store buying behaviors, they also help to build loyalty – with two thirds of consumers agreeing that if they try a new brand they like in a bar or restaurant, they will continue drinking it on subsequent visits.

Ahead of the holiday season, two thirds of US consumers are planning to visit the on premise throughout this period, with 3 in 10 planning to visit on New Year’s Eve specifically. These consumers are planning to visit a range of food- and drink-led venues, with neighborhood bars, fine dining and sports bars leading the list of most popular venues, while beer is the drink of choice for New Year’s Eve.

Moving into the new year, almost 2 in 5 US consumers predict they will visit the on premise more or much more often than they did in 2022, while half plan to maintain their current frequency of visitation. A third of consumers predict their spend in bars and restaurants will increase over the next 12 months, with 2 in 5 consumers willing to spend more for better quality drinks compared to 2022 – providing significant opportunities for premium drinks brands.

Source: CGA Strategy

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