Altar wine goes natural and a winemaker decries profiteering at auction in this week's news round-up.
Natural wine officially holier than thou
Police in Quebec siezed significant quantities of sacramental wine earlier this month as part of a clampdown on interstate wine shipping outside of Canada's tightly regulated distribution channels. Wines were confiscated in both Quebec and Montreal as they were not sold through the regional liquor board, SAQ (Société des Alcools du Québec). According to Canada's Catholic News Service, the sacramental wines are produced in Napa, California, by Mont La Salle Altar Wines, and then shipped to neighboring provinces before being transported into Quebec. The details of the case are complex, with one ecclesiastical supplier saying the issue had been "dragging on for 40 years", adding that they had "applied for an altar wine license in 1997, but were denied. So we found another solution".
While stocks of altar wine are low, there is little concern at present, as the Covid situation in the country has greatly reduced Mass gatherings in the country. Should things get desperate, succour may be at hand from an unlikely source. According to the Catholic News Service, Monsignor Pierre Murray, the general secretary of the Assembly of Quebec Catholic Bishops, says the issue can be resolved locally as the SAQ may already have wines that could be suitable for worship – in its natural wine selections. According to the Catholic Church "wine used for Mass must be natural, made entirely from grapes, uncorrupted and free of foreign substances".
Jura star pleads for end to auction speculation
Anne Houillon-Overnoy, of the Jura natural wine standard-bearers, Houillon-Overnoy, slammed wine auctions this week after two six-bottle lots of the domaine's wines fetched an eye-watering €2500 per lot at an auction in northern France last weekend. The two lots (six bottles of Arbois-Pupillin Chardonnay and six of Arbois-Pupillin rouge (Poulsard) went for €2560 and €2574, including sales tax and costs. A further two bottles of the 1990 Arbois Pupillin red went for a whopping €1,280.
"The auctions are out of control," Houillon-Overnoy, who has worked on the domaine with husband Emmanuel for more than 20 years, told French paper Le Progrès on Monday. "They [the auctions] don't respect wine. For me, wine is a drink to share on a happy occasion – it's not an object of speculation." Houillon-Overnoy pointed out that the 2005 Chardonnays would have been available to buy at the domaine for €19 all-up. She added that current prices for the Chardonnay and Poulsard were at €25 and €26 respectively (something of a moot point, given the – often glowing – reports of visits to the domaine regularly mention they are sold-out).
"These prices are disrespectful to the winemaker and to the people who can't get hold of them," added Houillon-Overnoy. "I'm launching an appeal: come and visit the winemaker, buy some wine from them and share it with friends, but don't speculate."
According to a report in Ouest-France, "several [Michelin] starred chefs had made discreet inquiries [about the Overnoy bottles]" prior to the auction.
South African and Spanish bulk wine sales to Russia crash
After a nearly a decade of surging sales to Russia on the bulk wine market, Spain saw sales to the country plummet by 81 percent last year, with volumes dropping from 65 million to 10 million liters (83 percent). The fall came after Moscow enacted a new wine law in June 2020, clamping down hard on imports of bulk wine specifically. According to the Spanish Wine Market Observatory (OEMV), 98 percent of Russia's bulk wine imports were made in the first half of 2020. Other bulk suppliers to the Russian Federation that appear to be hit include an already battered South Africa (which saw a drop of 85 percent in value), as well as Argentina (whose bulk sales halved), Moldova, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. Imported volumes of bulk French and Australian wines increased by around 300 percent but this was still not enough to put either country above Azerbaijan (even after the latter had seen a 75 percent drop in bulk volume sales to Russia).
Bottled wine imports to Russian Federation have posted strong growth, however, with Italy, Portugal, South Africa and Spain all showing gains in 2020. Overall, however, this was unable to offset the damage done in the bulk wine sector to Spain (overall down nearly eight percent in value in 2020) and South Africa (down more than 20 percent in value). Portugal and New Zealand showed strong gains overall. According to the OEMV, "last year's controversial new wine law […] restricts imports of foreign bulk wine in order to favor local production".
Young welder dies inside wine tank
A 21-year-old temporary worker at a stainless steel tank factory in southwest France has died of unknown causes while working inside a wine tank on Thursday afternoon. The young man was welding inside the tank when he collapsed. Subsequent efforts by workplace first-aiders, the fire brigade, and paramedics, failed to revive him. Reports of the circumstances differ, with local newspapers Sud Ouest and Ouest France saying co-workers were alerted after not hearing noises from the tank, while regional radio network Francebleu says the 21-year-old was in the tank with an instructor who saw him faint. The cause of death is currently unknown, and the public prosecutor's office in Bergerac began initial inquiries on Friday. The case has been referred to the coroner in Bordeaux.
Nuns move online to shift rosé
Winemaking nuns at a Benedictine monastery in the south of France have moved to online wine sales following the disruption of their usual supply chain by the country’s Covid shutdowns. Tending to eight hectares (19 acres) of vines in the Abbey of Notre-Dame-de-Fidélité in Jouques, near Aix-en-Provence, Mother Marie Jean Bosco told French news channel LCI that the vineyard was one of the abbey's main sources of income. "We're 45 nuns and 45 nuns don't live on fresh air and water alone," she said. With minimal sales in the past 12 months, the abbey was left sitting on a stock of 15,000 bottles, prompting the nuns to move into online wine sales, accompanied by smartphone video clips of them introducing their wines.
The Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence rosé, Exsulta (or "joy") appears to be currently out-of-stock on divinebox.fr (a site specialising in online sales of monastic produce, including Trappist beers), likely due to the television coverage on Friday. Their red wine, however, a 100-percent Grenache – also Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence – called Louange ("praise") is still available at €18 a bottle.
"One can't ignore evolution," added Mother Armelle. "I think that, in any case, we are part of an age and being a sister is also accepting our epoch as it is."
Aveyron follows Bordeaux into cannabis wine
Three friends in France’s lesser-known Aveyron wine region – one a winemaker, another wine merchant and the third a CBD (cannabidinol) salesman – have grouped together to release the country's second CBD-infused wine. The base wine is produced from Syrah and Fer in the Côtes de Millau appellation, although once it is macerated with the CBD (an extract of cannabis – effectively the part that doesn't get people high) the beverage cannot legally be called wine. The trio are entering the market at €20 a bottle. "The hard part was finding the right strain of CBD," winemaker Ludovic Bouviala told news channel France 3. "I'm an organic producer and it's interesting to produce this kind of alcohol aimed at a younger, CBD-consuming clientele," he added.
The trio follow in the footsteps of Raphaël de Pablo, a Bordeaux-based entrepreneur who crowd-funded France's first cannabidiol (CBD) infused wine, "Burdi W" (after Burdigala, the Roman name for Bordeaux and W for weed), earlier this year. With the help of an anonymous winemaker from a "top Bordeaux château", de Pablo, who also runs La Ferme Médicale (a medical hemp farm in the Bordeaux region) combined wine from 100-percent Petit Verdot with La Ferme Médicale’s CBD. Wine consultants Michel Rolland and Alain Raynaud were reportedly among the first to taste the beverage. “It’s a drink I’d have with pleasure,” Rolland said at the time.
Chilean TV star's daughter shocks with boozy aspirations
When she asked her youngest daughter what she wants to be when she grows up, Chilean TV presenter, actress, and Instagrammer, Millaray Viera was expecting something along the lines of, "a vet". However, the star's daughter, four year-old Celeste, had something else in mind entirely: "I want to have wine," she said. Cue laughter and a "What?" in English. "Why?" Viera asks. To drink it, comes the reply. While most of Viera's latest posts rack up likes in the 10-20,000 region, this one clocked a whopping 226,000 likes and more than 1300 comments.
April 25, 2021 at 07:02AM
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