Wine News & Features

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By Carolyn Evans-Hammond, published in Tidings magazine, Holiday issue 2008

I was at my friend’s place the other day and she asked me if I had tasted the cheese, Chèvre Noir.  I hadn’t.  She sliced me some and it was sublime—struck me as quite similar to Parmigiano-Reggiano cut fresh from the wheel, with its tender-crumbly nutty sharpness.  I skipped over to Whole Foods Market in Toronto to pick some up.  It’s available at many fine cheese boutiques and supermarkets such as Loblaws too.

Chèvre Noir’s creamy colour against its black wax coating reminds me of peep-toe Betty Boop-style shoes, which are big right now.  I like the idea of peep-toe shoes because they extend the footloose and toe free season into snowfall and the holiday soirée season.  And on the right women, peep-toe pumps allude to the archetypal film noir seductress circa 1940—a vampy suggestion not lost on certain men including but not limited to drag queens.

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Sherry: Not Just for Santa and the Over 60 Set

by Carolyn Evans-Hammond, published in Taste magazine's 2008 Holiday Issue

Santa’s preference for Sherry and mince pie shows he’s in the know. 

Sherry is one of the best kept secrets of the wine world.  Just ask anyone in the wine trade and they’ll tell you, it packs more pleasure than almost any other wine style.  Sherry is very, very cool.  And not just for the over 60 set.

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Canadian harvest begins

by Carolyn Evans-Hammond, published on Decanter.com 19/09/08

Canadian wineries picked the first fruit of the 2008 vintage this week and winemakers appear more than satisfied with quality.

Matthew Speck, viticulturalist at Henry of Pelham Winery on the Niagara Escarpment, said they were slightly behind normal harvest but the grapes looked 'fantastic.'

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Can any wine be worth $210,000?  The price of a small house?  If it’s a great Bordeaux under hammer at Christie’s Auction House in London, the answer is yes.  A 1787 Chateau Lafite became the most expensive wine ever in 1985.  And here’s why Bordeaux fetches top dollar. 

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Niagara kicks off 2007 ice wine harvest

by Carolyn Evans-Hammond, published on Decanter.com 04/01/08

Winery workers in Niagara Canada were out in force yesterday for the start of the country's ice wine harvest.

With temperatures dropping below -8C (17.6F) in the early morning of 3 January, the conditions were cold enough to freeze the grapes on the vine – a prerequisite for harvesting ice wine.

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A complex nose with subtle hints of poo: Burgundy is mad for a new kind of winemaking whose secret ingredient is cow dung

By Carolyn Evans-Hammond, Published in Maclean's magazine, 1/16/2006

Nine years ago, the prestigious 289-year-old Burgundy winery Domaine Leflaive hosted a blind taste test of two of its wines. To be exact, the tasters, from the London wine merchant Corney & Barrow, were comparing two samples of the same wine: the 1996 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clavoillon. But one was made with organic grapes, the other with grapes grown using biodynamism, a method that's gaining popularity in wine circles -- although even its advocates will admit it sounds like something out of a Wiccan manual. Growers following one preparation are instructed to pack manure in a cow horn and bury it among the vines during the fall, dig it up in the spring and stir in rainwater vigorously for an hour, then apply it to the land after 3 p.m. The result: better grapes, apparently.

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Constellation raises Vincor bid in 'final offer'

By Carolyn Evans-Hammond, published on Decanter.com, 29/11/2005

Constellation Brands has raised its hostile takeover bid to CAN$1.1bn to acquire Vincor International, North America's fourth-largest wine producer.

'In the absence of cooperation by Vincor, CAN$33 (€23.9) [per share] is Constellation's best and final offer,' Constellation's CEO Richard Sands said.

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Recent studies suggest red wine may prevent ulcers and strokes, clear the arteries, suppress cancer, help the lungs, and act like an antibiotic against certain bacteria. Research has now shown the benefits could be captured in a tablet.

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Plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay have been increasing for the last decade in all of the major wine producing regions in the world, fueled by consumer demand. Now, the wine trade and wine industry is starting to react to what has become a surplus of these two varieties.

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The use of agglomerate was banned on 1st October for all bottling of Beaujolais, and across all appellations. This is just one of the 29 measures presented and implemented during the "Assises du Beaujolais", which took place last July in Lyon.

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Labour shortages and rising production costs have plagued the port industry over the past 50 years and a steady decline in sales since 1980 has burdened the sherry industry. These regional pressures coupled with an increasingly competitive marketplace are spurring investment and innovation in production, marketing and sales.

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Supermarkets account for an ever-growing share of wine sales around the world. This trend is reshaping the playing field, and has prompted a re-evaluation of the ways in which wine producers compete in the demanding grocery sector and beyond.

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At first glance, New Zealand’s wine industry seems to be performing phenomenally well in the United Kingdom.  It commands the highest average retail price per bottle at £5.85; its flagship variety Sauvignon Blanc has never been more popular; and now, the Kiwis predict the 2004 vintage will be a third larger than any previous one.  Yet major challenges lie ahead.

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New Zealand wine producers will face significant challenges over the next few years if export trends continue.

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The value of Australian wine exports has dramatically fallen by over a quarter in just one month, according to a new report issued by the country’s Bureau of Statistics.

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Supermarkets continue to seize an increasing share of retail wine sales globally.  This trend is reshaping the playing field, and gives rise to the question of how to compete in the demanding grocery sector and other market segments.

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Red wine can help fight lung disease, a new study has revealed.

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An Australian cork manufacturer says its Portuguese quality control laboratory rejects a quarter of all corks after analysis by its revolutionary new TCA detection equipment.

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This year will be one of the best years ever, according to Chris White, general manager of Denbies Wine Estates in Surrey—England's largest wine producer. Others agree. Tom Shaw, managing director of Three Choirs Vineyards in Gloucestershire, is calling this year's fruit 'magnificent.'

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Scientists reject GM for cold-resistant vine
By Carolyn Evans-Hammond, Decanter.com, 9/23/2003

Canadian scientists are close to identifying the gene that protects vines from extreme cold – and they're doing it without genetic modification.

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Producers in Ontario expect a drastically reduced crop size this year after extremely low temperatures in January, February and March. Sue Ann Staff, winemaker of Pillitteri Estates Winery in Niagara says, '[W]e will be left with just 30% of a typical crop this year.' Other Ontario vineyards may not be hit as badly.

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