The 2012 vintage in New Zealand has come in at 269,000 tonnes. That is down 59,000 tonnes, or 18%, on 2011. The growing season was the coolest on record since the early 1990s, according to Jim Robertson, Pernod Ricard Premium Wine Brands’ global wine ambassador, New Zealand brands. David Cox, director, Europe, for the industry’s generic body, the New Zealand Wine Growers (NZWG), tells…

Spain’s banks might be looking to someone else to pick up their tab, but its most famous wine region is in good shape and still dining out on 2011’s export success.  In 2011 Rioja exports hit a record high with an estimated value of Ä370m. Exports made up 35% of Rioja sales over the 12 months from May 2011 to April 2012,…

Once upon a time liqueurs were nothing less than medicinal tonics invented by monks trying to cure the sick. They combined alcoholic extracts from medicinal herbs and spices, sweetened with honey. These drinks evolved into the beautiful liqueurs such as Benedictine and Chartreuse that we still enjoy today. Later these were joined by other products created solely for the enjoyment they provided – liqueurs distilled…

The two brothers Mihaly (33) and Janos Figula (30) of Figula Wines in Balatonfüred on Lake Balaton are a good example of the dynamic momentum we can expect to see among winegrowers in central and south-eastern Europe today. Their father, Hungary’s Winegrower of the Year in 2000, died at an early age in 2008, and when the two sons inherited the estate, they gradually expanded…

C’EST CIDRE NOT CIDER, says the suave, bespectacled gent on Stella Artois’ UK TV and billboard ads. No doubt the irony of the slogan was not lost on the creatives at AB Inbev. Bar a few pockets of popularity in Europe, cider is still very much a drink of the English-speaking world. For the vast majority of its consumers, it is most definitely cider,…

Champion of the DI Cocktail Challenge and Santa Teresa ambassador Jim Wrigley knows his cocktail onions when it comes to rum. Here’s his take on the evolution of the rum cocktail. “The many varied range of rums was adopted into cocktail culture early on, with ‘Professor’ Jerry Thomas’ using combinations of Jamaica, Medford (an early American rum) & Santa Cruz rums in different proportions…

A DEBATE ON CLOSURES among the great and the good of the wine trade could easily fill a room – but the same topic would empty a room of consumers.  This apposite comment from Richard Halstead, chief operating officer of Wine Intelligence, comes in his introduction to WI’s 2011 report on wine bottle closures. Said debate has gone from a vitriolic…