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- 🍷 The future of the wine world
🍷 The future of the wine world
In this weeks DECORKED digest, you will read all about the future of wine, a collector's auction, new technologies, contests, and much more.
Collection of important links, information, and more.
📌 WINE JOB BOARD - find or list your perfect wine job (for free, worldwide)
📌 EMAIL - contact for business inquiries
📌 ADVERTISING - for advertising inquiries contact us via the email above
Happy Sunday! In this week’s issue, you will read all about the future of wine, a collector’s auction, new technologies, contests, and much more. Keep reading! Please take a minute to answer the poll on which day you’d like to receive DECORKED. Thank you.
📣 DECORKED Rewind (monthly edition) is now available for just 1 referral (see the bottom of the email).
📅 When should we publish?Which day do you prefer more? |
INTERESTING THIS WEEK
🏙 Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker’s wine enjoys rapid growth READ HERE
💸 All the wine snobbery moments on “Succession,” ranked by sommeliers READ HERE
🍹 ‘Juicy’ is suddenly what every beer, wine, and seltzer wants to be READ HERE
🇦🇹 Is the best red wine in Austria actually Hungarian? READ HERE
🍇 Bordeaux braces for its first hybrid vintage READ HERE
🍸 Drinking at the bar isn’t so cool anymore READ HERE
We curate, filter, and select only the most interesting and important news for you.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR THE WINE WORLD?
Wither the wine industry? Is natural wine better? What was the most epic wine party at the Classic? A roundtable of experts explores these and other questions about the evolution of wine culture in America. A Zoom panel of wine speakers from Classics past and present was made to talk about the future of wine — and also moments that live in their memory from the years they’ve attended the event. The panelists were June Rodil, Master Sommelier and partner in Goodnight Hospitality; Bobby Stuckey, Master Sommelier and co-owner of Frasca Food and Wine; André Mack, sommelier and owner of Maison Noir Wines as well as restaurants including VyneYard and & Sons Ham Bar; and Carlton McCoy, Master Sommelier and managing partner of Lawrence Wine Estates. F&W Executive Wine Editor Ray Isle moderated the discussion. They shared their experiences, hopes for the future of wine, wine culture throughout the years, and more.
THE MYSTERIOUS STORY BEHIND ONE OF NAPA’S QUIRKIEST WINES
Schramsberg Vineyards makes sparkling wines in California, mostly from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay — the standard Champagne grapes. But there is a curious detail on its vineyard maps, the winery’s use of a third grape variety that we'd never heard of: Flora. Flora was one of many brand-new grape varieties bred at UC Davis in the mid-20th century by one of its legendary viticultural professors, Harold Olmo. To create Flora, Olmo crossed two European grapes, Semillon (a white grape found mainly in Bordeaux) and Gewurztraminer (a white grape found mainly in Alsace). Like many other genetic crossings, Flora was intended to inherit desirable traits from each of its parents — in its case, the honey-like notes of Semillon and the intensely floral aromas of Gewurztraminer. To Schramsberg founders Jack and Jamie Davies, those characteristics looked ideal for sparkling dessert wine. “They wanted to have a unique California expression,” said their son Hugh Davies.
Copyright @ RobbReport
ONE OF THE WORLD’S GREAT WINE COLLECTORS IS AUCTIONING OFF BOTTLES FROM HIS PRIVATE STASH
Oenophiles may be familiar with the Golden Vines Awards, known as the “Oscars of fine wine.” Now they’re being offered a look into the cellar of the awards’ founder, Lewis Chester—plus a chance to take home some of those bottles themselves. On Thursday, Sotheby’s opened up bidding for “The Cellar of Lewis Chester,” a no-reserve auction including 776 lots from the collector’s personal stash. In total, the fine wines have an estimated value of more than $1.2 million, and the selection includes some pretty notable bottles of red, white, bubbly, and more. Among the offerings are a whopping 251 lots of Burgundy alone, including some from the finest domaines, such as Rousseau, Roumier, Leflaive, and Dauvissat. In fact, the lot expected to hammer down for the most money is a selection of six bottles of Bonnes Mares 2014 Domaine Georges Roumier, with a high estimate of more than $16,000.
NEW TECHNOLOGY REMOVES UNDESIRABLE AROMAS DURING WINEMAKING
A new ‘smart surface’ has been shown to successfully remove unwanted sulfur aromas from wine, opening up new opportunities for Australian winemakers. Developed by scientists from Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) and Flinders University, with funding from Wine Australia and in-kind support from Flinders University, the technology is based on applying a thin plasma polymer coating to a surface and then immobilising nanoparticles on that surface, which then bind strongly to sulfur compounds in wine. “A key benefit of the new approach is that it is easily deployable and retrievable. Essentially there’s a one-step process where the smart surface is added directly to the wine and then removed after a certain time period.” AWRI Principal Research Scientist Dr. Mierczynska-Vasilev said.
INFLATION DRIVES CONSUMERS TO DRINK AT HOME
To avoid rising inflation costs, 26% of US consumers are spending more money on beverages to drink at home rather than going out to bars, new data has found. Beverage e-commerce platform Drizly has published its fifth annual Consumer Trend Report, which combines sales data derived from Drizly’s proprietary platform with results from a survey of 1,001 legal drinking-age adults across the US. The data found rising prices in the on-trade are driving nearly one in four consumers to at-home drinking more often in 2023 compared with 2022. This is more so the case with Millennials, 33% of which said they planned to drink more at home than in bars this year. Nearly 60% of female respondents said inflation has affected how often they go out to bars and restaurants, and the number of drinks they have once there, compared with 50% of men. However, 45% of those surveyed said they were opting for more premium or expensive products at home than they would at bars and restaurants, with 27% saying they would pay a premium for dark liquor, and 26% for light liquor. However, 22% said they would proactively shop for deals.
HOW MENTORSHIPS, SCHOLARSHIPS, AND OTHER OUTREACH PROGRAMS WIDEN ACCESS TO THE WINE INDUSTRY
There are as many ways as there are grape varieties to get into the wine business or rise up the ladder, and while there’s a common perception that a wine job means becoming a winemaker or sommelier, the wine road has many lanes and many entrance ramps. That sense of belonging is where mentorships—both formal and informal—scholarships, and outreach programs come into play. Mentorships, which offer exposure to all aspects of the wine industry, are particularly important for women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, AAPI, and people from other underrepresented communities who don’t always see someone who looks like them working in the wine field. Socioeconomic factors also come into play. These programs have been popping up in the wine world, making access more open to all.
BELGIAN WINE WINS GOLD IN FRANCE
Never ones to pass up an opportunity to stick it to their neighbors, a Belgian consumer programme on RTBF (Radio-Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française) decided to take the cheapest supermarket wine they could find, put a fancy label on it, and enter it into wine competition across the border. The wine in question took out a gold medal at the Gilbert et Gaillard wine competition – making headlines in France's neighbors (both Belgian and Swiss news outlets ran stories on this over seven days) although the stunt has so far only garnered a passing mention on a French radio station. "The wine was renamed Le Château Colombier with the addition of a pretty pigeon." After paying €20 for the chemical analysis of the wine and €50 submission, the wine was entered into the Gilbert et Gaillard competition, chosen because "they give out medals every three months". The bottle of Le Château Colombier garnered 88 points, a gold medal, and received the following tasting note: "Suave, edgy and rich palate with clean, youthful aromas that promise a nice complexity. Very interesting."
Learn something new every week.
WINE REGION OF THE WEEK: SWARTLAND, SOUTH AFRICA
Swartland is a large wine-producing area 65 kilometers (40 miles) north of Cape Town in the Western Cape of South Africa. Traditionally a wheat-producing region, it now specializes in making rich, fruit-driven wines, particularly from the Shiraz, Chenin Blanc, and Pinotage grape varieties. Swartland covers a large area, encompassing the vineyards on the northern side of the Paardeberg mountain in the south to the plains of Piketberg in the north. The smaller ward of Riebeekberg and the Kasteelberg Mountain lie in the eastern part of the region, while the cooler district of Darling separates the area from the Atlantic Ocean. The topography is varied, and vineyards can be found on steep mountain foothills or on gently folding hillsides.
The climate is hot and dry, which viticulturists have used to their advantage in Swartland's vineyards. Dry conditions significantly reduce the risk of fungal diseases among the vines, and a lack of water in the soil leads to lower yields and smaller, more concentrated fruit. Hardy, drought-resistant bush vines have been utilized in the hottest, driest parts of the region.
The dominant soil type in Swartland is Malmesbury shale, named for the town of Malmesbury which sits in the middle of the region. There are also pockets of granite, particularly around the Paardeberg area. While these soils are well drained, they also hold enough water in their lower reaches to support the irrigation-free farming technique that is used extensively throughout the region. Bush vines will dig especially deep to get to the water reserves in the soil, resulting in stronger vines and particularly concentrated flavors in the grapes.
Text by: Wine-Searcher
Copyright @ Plant Grape
GRAPE OF THE WEEK: PINOTAGE
Pinotage is South Africa's signature grape variety. It is grown almost exclusively there, making everything from low-quality table wines to rich, concentrated wines with flavors of black and red fruits, spice, leather, and chocolate. It has suffered from a bad reputation for much of its life from both critics and consumers. But determined South African producers are carefully reversing this trend with thoughtful viticultural and winemaking processes.
Well-made Pinotage wines range considerably in style, from easy-drinking table wines to dense, concentrated wines that have some aging abilities. The variety is often employed alongside Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz to make high-quality blends, particularly in Stellenbosch. The variety is a crossing of Pinot Noir and Cinsault with the name Pinotage a portmanteau of its two parents, as Cinsault was once known in South Africa as Hermitage. The grape is an intraspecific crossing rather than a hybrid variety of Vitis vinifera.
Pinotage is a hardy, productive variety, but has issues with viral diseases and can be fussy about both terroir and winemaking. The best examples of the wine come from bush vines: a form of vine training that is common in southern France, Cinsault's home. Pinotage typically ripens early with high yields and sugar levels requiring restrictive vineyard management.
Pinotage likes sunny sites but too much heat at the end of the growing season can cause the grapes to develop an unpleasant acetone aroma or take on a burnt rubber character. The grapes have particularly think-skins which contribute an ample amount of tannin.
Text by: Wine-Searcher
DID YOU KNOW THAT?
🥃 Fortified wines, such as Port and Sherry, have a higher alcohol content due to the addition of a distilled spirit, usually brandy.
📜 Wine had been previously kept in goatskin bags. The Englishman Sir Kenelm Digby (1603-1665) invented the dark green wine bottle we all know today.
💎 The phenomenon of tiny crystals forming in older wine bottles is called "wine diamonds" or "tartrates."
🍇 The world's most widely planted wine grape is Cabernet Sauvignon.
🍷 The shape and size of a wine glass can affect the way the wine tastes and smells.
How are you satisfied with this week's DECORKED?Let us know, so we can do better. Simply click bellow. |
If someone forwarded this email to you, click HERE to subscribe.
Help us grow and earn rewards.
Collection of important links, information, and more.
📌 WINE JOB BOARD - find or list your perfect wine job (for free, worldwide)
📌 EMAIL - contact for business inquiries
📌 ADVERTISING - for advertising inquiries contact us via the email above
Happy Sunday! In this week’s issue, you will read all about the future of wine, a collector’s auction, new technologies, contests, and much more. Keep reading! Please take a minute to answer the poll on which day you’d like to receive DECORKED. Thank you.
📣 DECORKED Rewind (monthly edition) is now available for just 1 referral (see the bottom of the email).
📅 When should we publish?Which day do you prefer more? |
INTERESTING THIS WEEK
🏙 Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker’s wine enjoys rapid growth READ HERE
💸 All the wine snobbery moments on “Succession,” ranked by sommeliers READ HERE
🍹 ‘Juicy’ is suddenly what every beer, wine, and seltzer wants to be READ HERE
🇦🇹 Is the best red wine in Austria actually Hungarian? READ HERE
🍇 Bordeaux braces for its first hybrid vintage READ HERE
🍸 Drinking at the bar isn’t so cool anymore READ HERE
We curate, filter, and select only the most interesting and important news for you.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR THE WINE WORLD?
Wither the wine industry? Is natural wine better? What was the most epic wine party at the Classic? A roundtable of experts explores these and other questions about the evolution of wine culture in America. A Zoom panel of wine speakers from Classics past and present was made to talk about the future of wine — and also moments that live in their memory from the years they’ve attended the event. The panelists were June Rodil, Master Sommelier and partner in Goodnight Hospitality; Bobby Stuckey, Master Sommelier and co-owner of Frasca Food and Wine; André Mack, sommelier and owner of Maison Noir Wines as well as restaurants including VyneYard and & Sons Ham Bar; and Carlton McCoy, Master Sommelier and managing partner of Lawrence Wine Estates. F&W Executive Wine Editor Ray Isle moderated the discussion. They shared their experiences, hopes for the future of wine, wine culture throughout the years, and more.
THE MYSTERIOUS STORY BEHIND ONE OF NAPA’S QUIRKIEST WINES
Schramsberg Vineyards makes sparkling wines in California, mostly from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay — the standard Champagne grapes. But there is a curious detail on its vineyard maps, the winery’s use of a third grape variety that we'd never heard of: Flora. Flora was one of many brand-new grape varieties bred at UC Davis in the mid-20th century by one of its legendary viticultural professors, Harold Olmo. To create Flora, Olmo crossed two European grapes, Semillon (a white grape found mainly in Bordeaux) and Gewurztraminer (a white grape found mainly in Alsace). Like many other genetic crossings, Flora was intended to inherit desirable traits from each of its parents — in its case, the honey-like notes of Semillon and the intensely floral aromas of Gewurztraminer. To Schramsberg founders Jack and Jamie Davies, those characteristics looked ideal for sparkling dessert wine. “They wanted to have a unique California expression,” said their son Hugh Davies.
Copyright @ RobbReport
ONE OF THE WORLD’S GREAT WINE COLLECTORS IS AUCTIONING OFF BOTTLES FROM HIS PRIVATE STASH
Oenophiles may be familiar with the Golden Vines Awards, known as the “Oscars of fine wine.” Now they’re being offered a look into the cellar of the awards’ founder, Lewis Chester—plus a chance to take home some of those bottles themselves. On Thursday, Sotheby’s opened up bidding for “The Cellar of Lewis Chester,” a no-reserve auction including 776 lots from the collector’s personal stash. In total, the fine wines have an estimated value of more than $1.2 million, and the selection includes some pretty notable bottles of red, white, bubbly, and more. Among the offerings are a whopping 251 lots of Burgundy alone, including some from the finest domaines, such as Rousseau, Roumier, Leflaive, and Dauvissat. In fact, the lot expected to hammer down for the most money is a selection of six bottles of Bonnes Mares 2014 Domaine Georges Roumier, with a high estimate of more than $16,000.
NEW TECHNOLOGY REMOVES UNDESIRABLE AROMAS DURING WINEMAKING
A new ‘smart surface’ has been shown to successfully remove unwanted sulfur aromas from wine, opening up new opportunities for Australian winemakers. Developed by scientists from Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) and Flinders University, with funding from Wine Australia and in-kind support from Flinders University, the technology is based on applying a thin plasma polymer coating to a surface and then immobilising nanoparticles on that surface, which then bind strongly to sulfur compounds in wine. “A key benefit of the new approach is that it is easily deployable and retrievable. Essentially there’s a one-step process where the smart surface is added directly to the wine and then removed after a certain time period.” AWRI Principal Research Scientist Dr. Mierczynska-Vasilev said.
INFLATION DRIVES CONSUMERS TO DRINK AT HOME
To avoid rising inflation costs, 26% of US consumers are spending more money on beverages to drink at home rather than going out to bars, new data has found. Beverage e-commerce platform Drizly has published its fifth annual Consumer Trend Report, which combines sales data derived from Drizly’s proprietary platform with results from a survey of 1,001 legal drinking-age adults across the US. The data found rising prices in the on-trade are driving nearly one in four consumers to at-home drinking more often in 2023 compared with 2022. This is more so the case with Millennials, 33% of which said they planned to drink more at home than in bars this year. Nearly 60% of female respondents said inflation has affected how often they go out to bars and restaurants, and the number of drinks they have once there, compared with 50% of men. However, 45% of those surveyed said they were opting for more premium or expensive products at home than they would at bars and restaurants, with 27% saying they would pay a premium for dark liquor, and 26% for light liquor. However, 22% said they would proactively shop for deals.
HOW MENTORSHIPS, SCHOLARSHIPS, AND OTHER OUTREACH PROGRAMS WIDEN ACCESS TO THE WINE INDUSTRY
There are as many ways as there are grape varieties to get into the wine business or rise up the ladder, and while there’s a common perception that a wine job means becoming a winemaker or sommelier, the wine road has many lanes and many entrance ramps. That sense of belonging is where mentorships—both formal and informal—scholarships, and outreach programs come into play. Mentorships, which offer exposure to all aspects of the wine industry, are particularly important for women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, AAPI, and people from other underrepresented communities who don’t always see someone who looks like them working in the wine field. Socioeconomic factors also come into play. These programs have been popping up in the wine world, making access more open to all.
BELGIAN WINE WINS GOLD IN FRANCE
Never ones to pass up an opportunity to stick it to their neighbors, a Belgian consumer programme on RTBF (Radio-Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française) decided to take the cheapest supermarket wine they could find, put a fancy label on it, and enter it into wine competition across the border. The wine in question took out a gold medal at the Gilbert et Gaillard wine competition – making headlines in France's neighbors (both Belgian and Swiss news outlets ran stories on this over seven days) although the stunt has so far only garnered a passing mention on a French radio station. "The wine was renamed Le Château Colombier with the addition of a pretty pigeon." After paying €20 for the chemical analysis of the wine and €50 submission, the wine was entered into the Gilbert et Gaillard competition, chosen because "they give out medals every three months". The bottle of Le Château Colombier garnered 88 points, a gold medal, and received the following tasting note: "Suave, edgy and rich palate with clean, youthful aromas that promise a nice complexity. Very interesting."
Learn something new every week.
WINE REGION OF THE WEEK: SWARTLAND, SOUTH AFRICA
Swartland is a large wine-producing area 65 kilometers (40 miles) north of Cape Town in the Western Cape of South Africa. Traditionally a wheat-producing region, it now specializes in making rich, fruit-driven wines, particularly from the Shiraz, Chenin Blanc, and Pinotage grape varieties. Swartland covers a large area, encompassing the vineyards on the northern side of the Paardeberg mountain in the south to the plains of Piketberg in the north. The smaller ward of Riebeekberg and the Kasteelberg Mountain lie in the eastern part of the region, while the cooler district of Darling separates the area from the Atlantic Ocean. The topography is varied, and vineyards can be found on steep mountain foothills or on gently folding hillsides.
The climate is hot and dry, which viticulturists have used to their advantage in Swartland's vineyards. Dry conditions significantly reduce the risk of fungal diseases among the vines, and a lack of water in the soil leads to lower yields and smaller, more concentrated fruit. Hardy, drought-resistant bush vines have been utilized in the hottest, driest parts of the region.
The dominant soil type in Swartland is Malmesbury shale, named for the town of Malmesbury which sits in the middle of the region. There are also pockets of granite, particularly around the Paardeberg area. While these soils are well drained, they also hold enough water in their lower reaches to support the irrigation-free farming technique that is used extensively throughout the region. Bush vines will dig especially deep to get to the water reserves in the soil, resulting in stronger vines and particularly concentrated flavors in the grapes.
Text by: Wine-Searcher
Copyright @ Plant Grape
GRAPE OF THE WEEK: PINOTAGE
Pinotage is South Africa's signature grape variety. It is grown almost exclusively there, making everything from low-quality table wines to rich, concentrated wines with flavors of black and red fruits, spice, leather, and chocolate. It has suffered from a bad reputation for much of its life from both critics and consumers. But determined South African producers are carefully reversing this trend with thoughtful viticultural and winemaking processes.
Well-made Pinotage wines range considerably in style, from easy-drinking table wines to dense, concentrated wines that have some aging abilities. The variety is often employed alongside Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz to make high-quality blends, particularly in Stellenbosch. The variety is a crossing of Pinot Noir and Cinsault with the name Pinotage a portmanteau of its two parents, as Cinsault was once known in South Africa as Hermitage. The grape is an intraspecific crossing rather than a hybrid variety of Vitis vinifera.
Pinotage is a hardy, productive variety, but has issues with viral diseases and can be fussy about both terroir and winemaking. The best examples of the wine come from bush vines: a form of vine training that is common in southern France, Cinsault's home. Pinotage typically ripens early with high yields and sugar levels requiring restrictive vineyard management.
Pinotage likes sunny sites but too much heat at the end of the growing season can cause the grapes to develop an unpleasant acetone aroma or take on a burnt rubber character. The grapes have particularly think-skins which contribute an ample amount of tannin.
Text by: Wine-Searcher
DID YOU KNOW THAT?
🥃 Fortified wines, such as Port and Sherry, have a higher alcohol content due to the addition of a distilled spirit, usually brandy.
📜 Wine had been previously kept in goatskin bags. The Englishman Sir Kenelm Digby (1603-1665) invented the dark green wine bottle we all know today.
💎 The phenomenon of tiny crystals forming in older wine bottles is called "wine diamonds" or "tartrates."
🍇 The world's most widely planted wine grape is Cabernet Sauvignon.
🍷 The shape and size of a wine glass can affect the way the wine tastes and smells.
How are you satisfied with this week's DECORKED?Let us know, so we can do better. Simply click bellow. |
If someone forwarded this email to you, click HERE to subscribe.
Help us grow and earn rewards.