October 16, 2009
Peter Mitham reported on Wines & Vines that the growing public outcry and increasing media attention have resulted in announced changes in Canadian wine labels.

Canadian Wine Labels Will Change

Ontario and British Columbia address Cellared in Canada designations: Consumers demand transparency

Vancouver, B.C.  — A storm of media attention is prompting changes in the handling — and in some cases the content — of Cellared in Canada wines. “Cellared in Canada” is a designation for wines produced in Canada with foreign grapes and as little as zero domestic grape content. British Columbia has no domestic content requirement for Cellared in Canada wines produced by wineries in that province, while Ontario has required not less than 30% domestic content in the wines.

Ontario originally introduced the designation in 1972 to provide for the blending of foreign wine with domestic wine during periods when domestic grapes were in short supply, but the term has been the subject of widespread criticism this year (see Wines & Vines’ coverage of the issue, Cellared in Canada Wines Under Siege).

Changes announced this week will boost the minimum domestic content …. [read the balance of the article at Wines & Vines].

Winery & Wine Distribution Law Conference

If you are interested in learning more about the leagal aspects of not only this issue but other aspects of the wine trade, consider attending Seattle based Law Seminars International upcoming conference Winery & Wine Distribution Law at the Vancouver Convention Center on November 12-13.  The conference will address a wide range of legal, regulatory and operational issues relating to the wine trade.  One of the panel discussions will focus exclusively on labeling issues, including use of the Cellared in Canada designation.

The Economy Meets the Wine Economy
Experts at Wine Industry Financial Symposium debate when and if consumer wine spending will rebound

The Changing Face of France’s Vineyards
Even in France, where wine tradition reigns, vineyards are changing. A new study by Franceagrimer, the national agriculture trade organization, has found notable changes in vineyard composition in the past 30 years.

WA: Port of Kalama wine bottle plant shutting down
A company that makes wine bottles has shut down its plant at the Port of Kalama. Port spokeswoman Mindi Lindquist says only a few of the 100 workers are staying on a few days following Sunday’s shutdown to help with the closure.

Departure of Newberg, Oregon winemaker prompts vindictive lawsuit
A winemaker’s decision to quit a local label has sparked a lawsuit, not to mention raised eyebrows in the wine community.

Online Wine Magazine Tests Waters
Palate Press is an experimental mix of blogging and traditional journalism, publishers say

NORWALK, Conn.,  Sept. 14 /Reuters/ Overall U.S. wine consumption rose 0.9 percent in 2008 to 294.7 million 9-liter cases, according to the Beverage Information Group’s recently released 2009 Wine Handbook.

Although the growth rate has slowed slightly, this marks the 15th consecutive year of case gains. Due to the current recessionary environment, consumers have become more frugal with their purchases, trading down toward value-priced wines in both the on-and off-premise.

Changing demographic trends are favorable for the wine industry. The 70 million people that make up the Millennial generation (those between the ages of 21 and 30) are changing perceptions of wine. This generation is not as sophisticated about wine as preceding generations and is willing to experiment with wines at lower price points.

Another factor accounting for the rise in U.S. wine consumption is the weakened dollar which has driven up prices of imported wine selections. This has triggered an increase in sales among domestic vintages that are priced more competitively.

“Imported wines dropped 1.8 percent, while domestics rose 1.9 percent — a stark contrast to the recent trend when imported table wines fueled not only the growth of that sector, but of the entire industry,” said Eric Schmidt, manager of information services for the Beverage Information Group, in a press release.

In addition, continued association between moderate wine consumption and decreased risk of heart disease, cancer and stroke remains a key driver of wine’s popularity among an increasingly health-conscious society.

The College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences at Washington State University have implemented the Integrated Plant Sciences (IPS) degree program this August. The program will provide students with a depth of knowledge in crop and soil sciences, horticulture, landscape architecture, entomology, plant pathology and food science not previously offered in a single program.

“It’s now a better degree for students because we revised, consolidated and restructured content and created more courses, which are a better fit for a modern plant science degree,” according to Rich Koenig, crop and soil science department chair.

Three degrees – horticulture, crop science and soil science – have been combined into one degree with numerous options.  Students in the IPS degree program can look forward to jobs in research, consulting, winemaking and more. Collaboration began in fall 2008 during a  review of programs on campus. The dean and associate dean of the College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resources met with a committee multiple times to discuss how the different degree programs fit together, how they could mesh better and which majors were redundant.

IPS majors explore the science of plant development and production from the perspectives of a variety of disciplines. All students in the program take a core set of interdisciplinary courses selected specifically to give them a solid foundation on which they can build expertise in a specific discipline.

• Agricultural Biotechnology
• Field Crop Management
• Fruit and Vegetable Management
• Nursery and Greenhouse Management
• Landscape Design and Implementation
• Turfgrass Management
• Viticulture and Enology

Viticulture and Enology

The Viticulture and Enology major was created for students interested in wine-grape growing and winemaking, as well as contributing to critical research and development opportunities in the wine industry. This program offers the technical, scientific, and practical experience needed to gain the essential skills for producing high quality grapes and premium table wines.

B.C. Winery Goes Carbon Neutral
British Columbia’s Tinhorn Creek opts for added efficiency, eschews buying credits

Industry Glut Spells Bargains
Savvy wine consumers know it’s time to shop around for good value.

Mog Monster – Largest Ever Mog Removal System Goes to Canoe Ridge
The Mog Monster is President Ed Barr’s name for P&L Specialties latest creation. It is easily the largest, domestically built mog separator ever made. Designed and built at their custom fabrication facility in Windsor, California, the mog removal system was recently delivered to the Canoe Ridge crush facility in Walla Walla, Washington.

Farmworkers Union has $2-Million War Chest to Fight Water Bonds
A new ripple appeared today in the fragile negotiations to overhaul California’s water system, as the United Farm Workers union reported receiving a $1-million donation that it could use to fight a possible water bond.

Six States Raise Wine Taxes
While retailers in the six states that raised taxes are frightened they’ll lose business during already tough times, 11 other state governments rejected possible tax increases. But with the economy just starting to show slow signs of recovery, the budget pain will undoubtedly continue, and higher taxes on wine aren’t off the table yet.

Ins And Outs Of Wine Competitions
Just because a certain bottle earns a gold medal, that doesn’t mean you’ll like it.

Wine Country goes solar
Vine-covered hills and crews busy with the 2009 harvest aren’t the only things you’re likely to see in Napa or Sonoma this autumn. Wineries in both counties have been gradually developing a quiet side hobby: using solar panels to produce electricity.

Recession-vintage wineries
Somewhere in every wine lover’s mind is a fantasy about opening a winery. But the reality is a nail-biter of cash outlays, permit wrangling, contract negotiations and harvest logistics that fray the nerves of the stoutest soul.

International Cold Climate Wine Competition Results
A fifteen person panel gathered at the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul campus for a unique wine tasting. They voted on their favorite wines made from fruits grown in cold climates.

Below is an interview Ola Bergman (Bergman’s Bourgogne) conducted with a Burgundy based négociant who has decided to produce only natural wines.

Burgundy: Interview with Maison Sarnin-Berrux

From: Bergman’s Bourgogne – Appetite for Burgundy | August 23, 2009

Maison Sarnin-Berrux is a rare bird in Burgundy. This négociant based in Saint-Romain has decided to produce only natural wines. Starting out in 2007 with a modest production of white wine only Jean-Pascal Sarnin and Jean-Marie Berrux now have an annual production of about 15 000 bottles in both colours. But it is not easy to make natural wines in this part of the world. The supply of organically grown grapes is very limited.

– They are very difficult to find, says Jean-Pascal Sarnin. Only a small part of the winegrowers in Burgundy work organically. While traditional winegrowers sell a lot of grapes these winegrowers usually bottle and sell everything themselves, so they have no grapes to sell. The organic domaines are also often smaller than the traditional domaines and therefore produce less.

Maison Sarnin-Berrux first came to life in 2007. Jean-Pascal Sarnin had left his job in finance in Paris in order to be closer to his family in Saint-Romain. But finding a job in finance outside Paris is not easy, so changes had to be made. He moved from being chief financial officer at one of the major stockbrokers on the Paris stock exchange, to running his own négociant business in Saint-Romain, a village with some 250 inhabitants six kilometres northeast of Meursault.

Jean-Marie Berrux has a somewhat similar background. Having worked in communication and advertising he left in 1999 for a career in wine.

– He worked with a winemaker in Arbois, in Jura, explains Jean-Pascal Sarnin. And he fell in love with wine. He stayed there for a year and then came to Beaune for wine school. After that he worked for a winemaker in Saint-Romain for eight years, so he has a lot of experience, both in the vineyards and in the cellar.

Today the two of them have nine wines in their portfolio. Seven of these are village appellations – Beaune and Saint-Romain in both colours, white Meursault, white Saint-Aubin and white Savigny-lès-Beaune – and there is a Bourgogne rouge as well as a vin de table made from grenache. In addition to that Jean-Marie Berrux produces a white Bourgogne – “Le Petit Têtu” – from his own vineyard.

– You could make traditional from organic grapes, but that would be such a waste, says Jean-Pascal Sarnin. We use organic grapes and then use a natural process to make the wine – no enzymes, no yeast, no filtration. We just use a little bit of sulphites, in fact the minimum, just before the bottling to protect the wine during transport and cellaring.

They buy everything as grapes. Organically grown grapes are scarce, and being a new name on the market does not exactly help.

– It is difficult, says Jean-Pascal Sarnin. I’m not Burgundian. Jean-Marie is not a Burgundian guy either. But we are very serious about what we do, and with a lot of hard work, it becomes easier. Buying grapes is the easiest when you start out. Buying vineyards is very expensive and complicated when it comes to rules and habits.

– There are three criteria for how we choose the appellations we work with – what’s easy to sell, the quality of the appellation and our own preferences. We try to mix these three; but it is not always easy.

– For example we have the appellation Beaune, both red and white. This is not easy to sell. But we like the wine ourselves, and when you do that you are more convinced to sell. Then you have the opposite, with Pommard and Puligny-Montrachet, which are very easy to sell.

– Saint-Romain, where we are located, has a good potential. It’s a small appellation – 140 hectares split equally between chardonnay and pinot noir.  The altitude of the vineyards varies between 300 and 400 metres. The soil is stony calcareous clay. There are no premiers crus today, but there is work being done in order to have certain plots upgraded.

Jean-Pascal Sarnin explains that they want to interfere as little as possible, in order to preserve the maximum taste and to keep the character of the terroir.

– I think natural wines have purer taste, he says. And they are also better for your health. Sulphites are poison for humans, so we want a product that is as clean as possible. The acceptable daily intake for an adult is 25 mg.

– Making natural wines involves more difficulties. They are more sensitive. Diseases affect them more easily. In traditional winemaking, when you add chemical products to the wine at the beginning of the vinification process you kill all microorganisms. A natural wine does not have this kind of protection, so you have to work very carefully. You have to keep the temperature in the cellar very low, around 12°C–15°C. You have to clean all the equipment very carefully, especially the barrels and the tanks. And in order to make sure that your wines are doing OK in the barrels you have to taste every week.

Natural wine is not a big thing in Burgundy. It is more common in the Loire valley and in the south of France. In 2008 1210 hectares, 4,3 percent of the total surface area, were worked organically – viticulture biologique – in Burgundy.

– There is a growing interest from the consumers, he says. There is a big market in Paris and some in Lyon and Marseille. Outside France you Japan, which is a very important market for natural wine. Apart from Japan we also export to Canada and Belgium. And before the end of the year we expect to start working with Switzerland and the US.

© 2009 Ola Bergman

For more information about Ola Bergman and France’s Burgundy Region please visit Ola’s site Bergman’s Bourgogne: Appetite for Burgundy. It is full of great content on the region’s wines, its people, arts, and well, a little bit of everything.