Cork in a New York minute, cocaine-infused wine, California wine-labeling rules, and wines of Baja California. [level-members]
Baja California
Never mind climate change and the march north. Baja California has more than 100 wineries already, and are organizing to encourage growth. While the wineries are only putting out about about 1.5 million cases of wine per year and only five of the 100+ produce even 20,000 cases, there is a long history of winemaking in the region that current locals are trying to build upon. Read the full article here.
California Wine Labeling
In a move to protect valuable branding, Federal and California state regulators and legislators would like to tighten restrictions for use of phrases like, “Napa Valley.” There’s a lot of cachet – and cash – to famous wine regions like that. But do the rules go too far? Read the full article here.
Cocaine Is Not the Next Big Thing in Wine
At least, not in the view of Chinese officials, who recently caught a Chinese couple attempting to bring cocaine into the country by dissolving it in wine. Any chemists out there who can tell us how you get the cocaine back out? Or is the play to sell the wine as is? Inquiring minds want to know. You can find out more with the full article here.
Cork on the Fast Track
We will sell no cork before its time. And cork does take its sweet time maturing, with the first usable harvest some 34 years after a cork tree has been planted. An experiment is underway now to shorten that time to as little as 10 years. Beware Frankencork in the coming years … for now, you can read the full article. [/level-members]