Although all the numbers have not been crunched, industry analysts say that wine consumption in the US grew in 2007 for the 15th straight year. Projected estimates have the nation reaching a record 304 million cases of wine consumed, putting the US ahead of Italy and trailing only France in per-capita consumption. At the current rate of growth, Americans will overtake the French by…

Francis Ford Coppola played a starring role in the recent destruction of one of Napa’s ugliest buildings. Coppola, perhaps channelling his epic Godfather films, climbed aboard a huge jackhammer and struck the first symbolic blow at a huge concrete barrel storage building that had blocked the view of the 19th century Inglenook Estate winery. The building, erected in 1973 when Heublein owned the estate,…

The US wine market showed solid growth of around 4 per cent in 2007, up 12 million cases to 314 million cases, according to Jon Fredrikson, wine market analyst and publisher of the Gomberg Fredrikson Report. Imports continued to show strong gains, up eight million cases, growing twice as fast as the domestic market. Imports now hold 31 per cent of the US…

A recent experiment conducted in California showed that price of wine does influence a consumer’s enjoyment of wine. In a test devised by Antonio Rangel at the California Institute of Technology, 21 volunteers sampled five different bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon. The taste test was blind, but the tasters were told the price of the wine. Without telling the tasters, however, researchers presented two of…

There are eight new members of the California Vintners Hall of Fame. Paul Draper, chief executive and winemaker of Ridge Vineyards, said he was surprised to hear the news because he was “still alive”. “I thought you had to be dead to get in the hall of fame ,” he said. “It really is an honour, especially since I am still around and enjoying making wine as…

Napa Valley winemaker Randy Dunn has sent an open letter to trade and consumers calling for an end to high alcohol wines. Dunn, formerly of Caymus Winery and who now runs his own winery on Howell Mountain, argues that high alcohol wines destroy any sense of terroir. “The subtleties of terroir have been melted together in a huge pot called ‘overripe’ or the…