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🗞️ Are paperless bottles the future?
In this weeks DECORKED digest, you will read about AI's first wine, salad wine pairings, wine e-commerce market future, paperless bottles and much much more.
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Happy Sunday! Today's issue arrives just in time for lunch. We hope you savor your meal, and afterward, treat yourself to a nice glass of wine while diving into this week's wine world digest. While things may seem quiet at first glance, there's a development that stands out – AI has begun to help make wine. Read on to find out more.
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INTERESTING THIS WEEK
👩🏼⚖️ British fraudster faces jail after admitting $13m wine and whisky investment scam READ HERE
🇬🇪 Georgian grape varieties: In an ancient league of their own READ HERE
📉 Are reports of wine’s demise greatly exaggerated? READ HERE
🍇 Bored Grapes: A virtual world of wine and NFTs READ HERE
🆕 Could zweigelt be the new pinot noir? READ HERE
📜 The oldest wine in the world READ HERE
We curate, filter, and select only the most interesting and important news for you.
INTRODUCING THE FIRST AI WINE
It's another busy week in wine, with some eye-opening news stories coming out of France. Artificial Intelligence (AI) interface ChatGPT has lent a hand in producing the world's first AI-blended wine. Languedoc-based négociants Aubert & Mathieu's The End cuvée, produced across only 600 bottles, is reportedly the first wine firm to market a wine produced from the "fruit of collaboration between Aubert & Mathieu, quality Languedoc wine producers, and ChatGpt, one of the pre-eminent AI interfaces in the world", as it says on the label. According to the French wine news website, Vitisphere.com, the négociant was the "first to draw" in the lineup of potential wine producers wanting to get on the AI bandwagon.
THERE'S A REASON IT'S SO HARD TO FIND GOOD WINE PAIRINGS FOR SALAD
Before you on the table is a gorgeous salad. It has tender mixed greens, delicate pea shoots, and it's drizzled with a vibrant homemade vinaigrette. Imagine you also have a glass of chardonnay, a good one from a small producer that favors wild yeast and spendy French oak barrels. If you take a bite of that salad with your $80 chardonnay, you'll find that the wine tastes flat and sweet, not at all worth the money you spent on it. Why is that the case? Vinaigrette is notoriously tricky to pair with wine because our tastebuds get used to the sourness of the dressing. The acid in the salad dressing also overpowers most wines, making them taste boring and bland or downright sweet. The flavor of vinaigrette dressing — which can come either from vinegar, citrus juice, or a combination of both — is so strong that only a glass of wine with sufficient acidity like a sauvignon blanc will pair well with your salad.
GLOBAL WINE E-COMMERCE MARKET TO GROW BY $12.06 BILLION DURING 2023-2027
The wine e-commerce market is forecast to grow by $12062.31 mn during 2022-2027, accelerating at a CAGR of 8.15% during the forecast period. The report on the wine e-commerce market provides a holistic analysis, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis covering around 25 vendors. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, the latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment.
The market is driven by an increasing preference for online shopping, a surge in urbanization and packaging innovation, and the increasing popularity of wine consumption. This study identifies the increase in underage purchases as one of the prime reasons driving the wine e-commerce market growth during the next few years. Also, automation in wine warehousing and increasing usage of online payment apps will lead to sizable demand in the market.
ON-PREMISE COMPETITION INTENSIFIES AS RESTAURANTS FAVOR SMALLER WINE LISTS
Post-pandemic, many restaurants have significantly reduced their wine lists, with some, like Burtons Grill & Bar, cutting their selection from over 50 to around 16 options. This has intensified competition for wine suppliers catering to the restaurant trade. California wines, particularly Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Merlot, remain popular among consumers. High staff turnover in the industry has led to a lack of expertise, prompting wine brands to focus on educating serving staff to improve their chances of success in the market.
PAPERLESS BOTTLES: A NEW PATH FOR ECO-FRIENDLY WINE?
From flat bottles to plastic-free packaging and lighter containers, companies across the globe are working on ways to reduce the wine industry’s ecological footprint. Recently, an Australian wine company has thrown its hat into the ring with label-free—meaning paper- and ink-free—bottles. This year, Fourth Wave Wine launched its new, sustainability-focused brand, Crate, created with branding company Denomination. But you won’t be seeing any Crate labels on store shelves … literally. The wines have no labels. Instead, Crate’s name appears solely on each screwcapped wine’s aluminum capsule, along with a QR code leading to information about the wine’s origin, grape, vintage and alcohol percentage, plus brand details and other legally required tidbits. (This information is included on the bottles’ shipping carton, the namesake “crate,” as well.)
“As a starting point, we were interested in addressing two key issues for wine consumers, one being the environment and the second being the need to deliver greater value,” Fourth Wave Wine managing director Ross Marshall told Wine Spectator via email. “Without the cost of labels and unnecessary packaging, etc., the savings can be put back into improving the wine quality.”
Copyright @ Flight centre
WINE REGION OF THE WEEK: BAROSSA VALLEY, AUSTRALIA
The Barossa Valley is an extremely important wine-producing region within the Barossa zone of South Australia, particularly associated with powerful red wines from the red wine grape variety Shiraz. A prestigious and internationally renowned region, it is not only home to some of the oldest vineyards and wineries in Australia but produces some of its most recognizable and sought-after brands. The region lies in the (very flat) 'Valley' created by the North Para river, which connects the main towns of Nuriootpa, Tanunda and Lyndoch. Together with its cooler-climate neighbor Eden Valley - which is best known for dry white wines from the Riesling grape variety - it forms the larger Barossa wine zone.
Many of Australia's best-known wine names are based in the Barossa Valley, where wineries range from small boutique vineyards to those owned by multinational corporations. A striking feature of the Barossa Valley's wine landscape is the presence of very old vines, proudly showcased on many wine labels and during vineyard tours. These yield low quantities of fruit but the grapes are packed with flavor and color and represent some of the best offerings from the region. This part of Australia has never been affected by the phylloxera louse, thanks to strict quarantine laws – hence the age of the vines.
Text by: Wine-Searcher
Copyright @ Tynan’s View
GRAPE OF THE WEEK: SHIRAZ
Shiraz is the name given to the dark-skinned Syrah grape when grown in Australia and selected pockets of the New World. Historically, Shiraz refers to the wine produced around the city of Shiraz in the south of Iran. In the 9th Century, the region was known for producing the finest wine in the world. Although a healthy export of wine has been documented in the 20th Century, post the Islamic Revolution in 1979, wine can no longer legally be produced in Iran due to the prohibition of alcohol.
DNA profiling has shown that Shiraz is a cross between two minor Rhône varieties: Dureza (a black-skinned grape) and Mondeuse Blanche (a white grape), neither of which today are prolifically planted. This proves the varieties Rhône origins, although there are several stories about how its name came about. The earliest Australian documents mentioning the grape refer to it as "Scyras", and Shiraz is likely a corruption of that word rather than a homage to the city in Iran. These low yiedling, gnarled veterans supply small, intense berries for some of Australia and the world's greatest red wines. No other region, including Hermitage and Côte Rôtie, has such a concentration of very old vines.
Text by: Wine-Searcher
DID YOU KNOW THAT?
💦 Wine legs, or tears, indicate alcohol content and viscosity, not quality.
🇮🇹 The world's largest wine producer is Italy, followed by France and Spain.
🪳 Phylloxera, a tiny insect, almost wiped out European vineyards in the late 19th century, leading to the grafting of European vines onto American rootstocks.
🍇 The most planted wine grape variety is Cabernet Sauvignon, followed by Merlot and Airen.
🦠 The term "corked wine" refers to wine contaminated with TCA (trichloroanisole), resulting in a musty, unpleasant aroma and taste.
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