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Happy Sunday! Some not-so-amazing news this week - AI will replace us all soon, as it seems. The GPT4 model (AI) released this week had already been put to the test facing MW exams and many more - and passing them without a hitch. Read below to find out more.

🍾 Welcome to 195 new readers this week!

🎉 IMPORTANT UPDATES: Introducing not one, but two new features this week! (hint: header and footer of this email)

INTERESTING THIS WEEK

🛍️ A new direct-to-consumer ordering electronic platform may make it easier for restaurant patrons to order wine with a smartphone READ HERE

🇺🇸 The U.S.A. breaks records in its bulk wine import, whilst its exports continue to drop READ HERE

💰 SVB's assets include $1.2bn of loans involving premium wineries and vineyards READ HERE

🏦 FED seizure of bank with ties to wine industry leaves some worried READ HERE

🙉 Wisconsin winery releases the first NFT-labeled wine READ HERE

🌎 Global 2023 market report (PDF) READ HERE

CHATGPT JUST PASSED THREE OF THE MASTER SOMMELIER THEORY EXAMS

While ChatGPT is an undoubtedly impressive tool, the impact it – and other similar tools – will have on our society is yet to truly be felt. OpenAI’s remarkable technology is now available in its newest form: GPT-4. Demonstrations of GPT-4’s prowess abound on the internet, including its seeming ability to write code from scratch for fully-functioning websites. And according to OpenAI, GPT-4 now has the ability to pass infamously tricky tests such as the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), and the Master Sommelier theory examinations.

The Master Sommelier qualification is one of the highest accolades in the industry, split into theory and practical examinations that take many months of dedicated study to successfully navigate. While ChatGPT didn’t attempt the practical element of the qualification (presumably for fear of water logging too many MacBooks), it aced three levels of the theory papers. According to reports, OpenAI’s terrifying invention scored a hefty 92% on the introductory Court of Master Sommelier test, 86% on the Certified Sommelier exam and 77% on the Advanced Sommelier exam.

“GPT-4 is a large multimodal model (accepting image and text inputs, emitting text outputs) that, while less capable than humans in many real-world scenarios, exhibits human-level performance on various professional and academic benchmarks,” OpenAI said on its website. GPT-4 also scored an impressive 163 on the LSAT, a sufficient score to gain entry to a top 20 law school in the US.

READ MORE

CHÂTEAU LATOUR 2015 RELEASED FOR THE FIRST TIME

Château Latour 2015 was released for the first time yesterday (14 March), as part of the Pauillac first growth estate’s well-established strategy of eschewing Bordeaux’s annual en primeur campaign in favour of releasing vintages after several years of ageing. Decanter Bordeaux expert Georgie Hindle rated Latour 2015 at 98 points, after tasting it at the Château earlier this year. ‘Still youthful and quite serious but there’s something so appealing about it,’ she wrote.

Latour 2015 was priced at £6,300 per 12-bottle case in bond at UK merchant Farr Vintners, and Liv-ex, a global marketplace for the trade, also reported the same release price. That makes it more expensive than the slightly lower-scoring Latour 2014, released last year. Liv-ex data showed Latour 2014 was released in the UK at £4,950 (12x75cl in bond) and hadn’t moved significantly in price since then.

READ MORE

FRANCE'S GREEN WARS SPARK "ORGANIC CRISIS"

The French wine industry's efforts to be more environmentally friendly are backfiring, with organic viticulture actually going backwards as a result. According to France's organic agency, Agence Bio (AB), 448 French growers stopped being certified organic in 2022, whereas 188 growers had stopped in 2020. The number of growers who started the conversion to organic certification plunged from 1510 in 2021 to 222 last year.

"Organics is in crisis," says Loïc Madeline, general secretary of Fnab, France's Organic Agriculture Association.

Together with inflation, organic associations like Fnab blame the demise of organic sales on the rise of rival HVE wine producers using the label sell their wines at lower prices. Some 69 percent of businesses that use HVE are wine companies. They also say intermediaries are increasing organic prices in retail.

READ MORE

A NEW WAY TO PINPOINT THE SCIENCE OF TERROIR

The wine industry has long looked for ways to explain the relationship between physical environment and resulting wine. The word terroir is a convenient umbrella term, although terroir deniers claim that it’s mostly a marketing tool. But anecdotally, winemakers have often noted differences in vines and grapes growing in close approximation. Italian geologist Carlo Ferretti, the founder of Geo Identity Research, says a new approach can better identify what in the ground is actually affecting grape production. He calls it Vineyard Geological Identity (VGI). It’s an analytical framework that uses a variety of environmental data—sediment, mineral, geology and geochemistry, soil chemistry, and other physical elements, plus human impacts—and analyses to ascertain specific features of vineyards that could impact winemaking.

READ MORE

CHÂTEAU MALARTIC-LAGRAVIÈRE TO LAUNCH NFT MAGNUMS

The new wines, which will go on sale on 12 April at the start of Bordeaux’s primeurs week, priced at €250 including VAT, will facilitate the easy trading of the wines without the problem associated with logistics, thereby reducing their carbon footprint and preserving the quality of the bottles, which will continued to be stored in optimal conditions at the property. Each NFT will be sold for €250 including VAT and includes a tour of the château. There will be one “golden cap” magnum that will also offer an exclusive experience: dinner and one night’s accommodation at the Château. Malartic-Lagravière’s marketing director Séverine Bonnie says the adoption of the ‘game-changing’ technology will reach a new, younger clientèle who are interested in high quality, innovative new products.

READ MORE

WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE DOING TO YOUR VINEYARD?

Many people know that our climate is changing, but how much everyone understands about the implications of those changes on their daily lives is debatable. It’s important, especially for grape growers, to be aware of what is happening to their climate, no matter where they live. Everyone, whether they grow grapes or not, could watch the webinar, “Climate Change Implications for Grapevine Production,” and learn important information about how climate change is affecting our lives and will continue to do so for years to come. The webinar was held virtually on March 7 as one of the series of the Eastern Viticulture and Enology Forums organized by researchers at Cornell University, Penn State University and Virginia Tech.

READ MORE

WINE REGION OF THE WEEK: ALSACE, FRANCE

Alsace, in the far north-eastern corner of France, stands out from other French wine regions thanks to its strong Franco-Germanic influences. These are the results of the region having switched back and forth between German and French sovereignty in recent centuries – and are evident not only in Alsatian architecture and culture, but also in the wines.

Alsace's wines are produced under three key appellations: Alsace and Alsace Grand Cru for still white wines (both sweet and dry), and Crémant d'Alsace for sparkling. Almost all wine produced in this region fits into one of these three designations. The Alsace Grand Cru wines are produced from one of 51 favored vineyards distributed along the length of the region.

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GRAPE OF THE WEEK: PINOT GRIS

Pinot Gris is a white-wine grape originally from the vineyards of Burgundy. It is now found in wine regions all over the world. For wines in the pale, light style popularized in late 20th-Century Italy, the variety is typically referred to by the Italian name Pinot Grigio. Although sometimes used as a blending component, Pinot Gris is usually produced as a varietal wine as grapes are naturally low in acidity and high in sugars. Flavors and aromas vary greatly from region to region and from style to style. But common features include notes of pears, apples, stonefruit, tropical fruit and even a hint of smoke or wet wool.

Most winemakers avoid obvious oak character in their Pinot Gris, but some use older more neutral barrels for fermentation or aging. This imparts a creamier texture that may slightly neutralizes some acidity. For weightier, more complex styles of Pinot Gris, lees contact and partial malolactic fermentation are commonly used. Sweet late-harvest wines are also common that feature tropical fruits and sweet spice.

READ MORE

DID YOU KNOW THAT?

🌍 There are over 10,000 known grape varieties throughout the world.

🔬 In a 1997 experiment, researchers alternated German and French music in a supermarket for two weeks. They found that customers were more likely to buy French wine when they were listening to French music and were more like to buy German wine when listening to German music.

🍼 The largest bottle of wine is the "Nebuchadnezzar." It equates to 20 regular-sized bottles or around 15 liters.

😱 Oenophobia is the fear of wine.

✖️ Wine yeast multiplies itself many times over during fermentation.

PREVIOUS EPISODES

S01EP03 - CRICKETS AND BREAKS

It was eleven in the morning at the tavern, sometime in June. A weird sound could be heard from the outside: ”chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp…”. It was the crickets if you’re wondering. They were just getting ready for the season, same as our team at the tavern. Polishing their wings to chirp all summer long, you could hear some breaks in-between their song. It sounded like they were taking a break, or just tuning the strings.

Not to go into deep, as for why their songs are so amazing, and their sound somewhat meditative, I will move on to what happened this sad morning.

Along with the full-time members of our staff, people you’ve already met including Gigi, Maria, and the others, there was a boy who came in for an internship, named Jon. The sweetest, kindest, smartest boy you could imagine. Now, what makes him special is that even though our tavern was somewhat complicated and its rules could bend your sane mind - he got it, he fully and utmostly understood. He understood it all - as if he was born for the role.

Jon was so talented he noticed mistakes his older colleagues never dreamed of, and approached the guests with such confidence and vibrance it was a pleasure watching him work. But, and it’s always the but, he didn’t make it through. Just when he was supposed to spread his wings and fly high, showing what he can do - he decided to quit. Why you might be asking? I do too.

Imagine you’ve created the perfect recipe, cooked the most amazing meal of your life, spent hours on end researching how to do it, prepared all the ingredients, stirred and stirred and plated it so carefully not a single drop was off - and someone said: “I’m not hungry”. It was the same for me that day - it was like watching your favorite tv show for exactly 15 seconds; it was too short.

TO BE CONTINUED

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