As if the French weren't behind the eight-ball enough already!

According to Decanter, a French court ruled that articles on wine in newspapers should carry the same health warnings as you would see on bottles and in advertising. From Decanter:-

'Any communication in favour of an alcoholic drink, such as a series of articles in favour of Champagne, constitutes advertising and is therefore subject to the public health code,'

The court said that the article was 'intended to promote sales of alcoholic beverages in exercising a psychological effect on the reader that incited him or her to buy alcohol'

French wine is already at a disadvantage on the world market (of course I am ignoring the 0.001% of the worlds wine that is the 1st Growth Bordeaux or Grand Cru Burgundy). Their wine labeling laws even prevent winemakers from specifically naming what grapes make up their wine (educated wine consumers may know that Châteauneuf-du-Pape red wines are a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mouvedre but does 99% of the wine drinking public know that?) unless they are willing to call their wine "vin de pays" (table wine) with all of the negative connotations that have always been associated with it.

No wonder Australian brands like Yellow Tail have beaten the French into submission on the world stage!

Genetically Modified Pinot Noir?

French and Italian scientists announced in the recent issue of Nature that they have successfully sequenced the genome of Pinot Noir. Why Pinot? Because Pinot Noir is one of the most ancient varieties and is the parent of many other varieties - thus understanding the genome of Pinot Noir allows us to understand the genome of the Vitis vinifera species as a whole.

The main thrust of the research was to help find ways to introduce disease resistance in a GM Pinot Noir - for instance it maybe possible to create a resistant breed of Pinot Noir to Pierce's Disease and other grapevine diseases spread by insect vectors (similar to what has been done with Bt Corn).

More intriguingly for now for Pinot Noir freaks like me is a glimpse into what makes this most beautiful of varieties so special. Pinot Noir was found to have 89 genes that contribute to flavor and aroma. These genes contain the coding to create the enzymes involved in synthesizng the volatile compounds that we pick up as "fruits", "earth", "game" etc. Thus it is theoretically possible that understanding these genes and "tweaking them" could increase enzyme production and potentially make a more flavorful wine.

Seeing as we already have a genetically modified yeast strain, where the genes that control acetate ester (e.g. benzyl acetate is "peachy" and isoamyl acetate is "banana-like") production are over-expressed, resulting in a more fruity wine being vinified, can GM wine be really that far away? How could a Gallo or a Casella resist if given the opportunity?

Get on the bus now!

One of my mentors that I have learned a great deal from has officially released the inaugural vintage of Shane Wines.

Shane Finley, who is the Associate Winemaker at Kosta Browne, and learned the ropes working under Pierre Gaillard in the Rhône, and also worked at Torbreck in Australia, Paul Hobbs and at Copain Custom Crush on such brands as Carlisle, Copain and Pax amongst others. A fine resumé of Syrah making indeed!

His initial offering is miniscule, The Unknown, his largest bottling is only 125 cases so get on the list as fast as you can. Shane's wines are a true marriage of New World fruit and Old World vinification resulting in a style that is at once powerful and voluptuous, and yet also complex, elegant and floral.

And at $38 a bottle, an absolute steal for sure!

What says Iowa like wine?

Dr Vino has a fun post up on his blog that plays the old "if you were [insert inanimate object] what would you be game" with the Presidential hopefuls.

My favorite ones:-

John McCain: He used to be more of a loose cannon eight years ago. Now, the fire in the belly appears as mere embers. His wine is a 10 year old Turley Zinfandel, fiery in it’s youth, now sadly without vigor.

Dennis Kucinich: Given his hhhhot young wife (born 1977), he clearly likes youthful reds. We’ll put him down for a California Pinot, most recent vintage available.

John Edwards: he’s made it far on his “two Americas” theme. We know what that means–beer America and wine America. We’ll split the difference and put him down for a Franzia box wine.

It has been rumored though that on a trip to Estonia in 2004 that Hillary and McCain got into a "vodka drinking" contest so maybe wine isn't their tipple of choice!