In various news sources today, a white wine that is as healthy as red wine has been developed by scientists in Israel.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2177429/White-wine-with-health-benefits-developed.html

'The Israeli wine contains enhanced levels of plant chemicals which are believed to fight heart disease.

Researchers from Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology, found that they were able to fortify white wine with health-giving polyphenol compounds.

Red wine is naturally fortified with the compounds, which are concentrated in grape skins. The fermentation process releases the polyphenols, giving red wine its colour and its antioxidant properties.

White wine is not made with grape skins and therefore lacks polyphenols.

But scientists at Technion discovered that they could boost white wine polyphenols six-fold, by incubating squeezed grapes in the presence of alcohol for 18 hours, before removing their skins.

The technique produces wine that looks and tastes the same as regular white wine but has the same antioxidant activity as red wine.

Israeli wine manufacturer Binyamina has begun using the recipe to manufacture the new healthier white wine, which is expected to go on sale in the US by the end of the year.

Professor Michael Aviram, a researcher at Technion's Faculty of Medicine, said: "There has been an incredible response from those that have heard about the research, with many thinking of taking up drinking white wine more seriously."

Sorry for the seven day absence, I have been taking a break from the en primeur campaign to have a beautiful baby girl!! Emily Rose, celebrated with a Bollinger Grand Annee 1999, first drink I have been able to not just 'taste and spit' for nine months... we are home, she is being very good with sleeping and eating so far, and just maybe the sunshine will come out properly in Bordeaux soon...

While I've been falling in love, the last few wines have come out, and this strangest of campaigns moves into its next phase. Unlike most years, almost all UK and US merchants have been waiting until the end to really even think about ordering their wines. Waiting to see the best value for money overall, and which wines are really in demand (make that about 10 in total, topped by Climens, Leoville Les Cases and Bellevue Mondotte. I also hear the two Ducrus (Branaire and Beaucaillou) are very sought after.

Many merchants haven't even sent out offers as the wines have released their prices, and have been waiting to send out one overall mailing, such has been the low level of interest. Most negociants here in Bordeaux are hoping that they can start shifting allocations over the next few weeks... we shall see.

Haut Brion and Latour both came out today, both at 240 euros also on the Place, the same price as Chateau Margaux.

The first growths are really showing they are clever business brains - and showing up the rest of Bordeaux, who admittedy don't have quite the same margins to play with... still, I am preparing the name and shame board of the campaign, with those who blew any chance that 2007 stood of being successful by stubbornly sticking to last year's prices... suggestions welcome!

Oh - special advance mention should go to Cantenac Brown, who for the second year running raised the price from 2005. Apparently this wine hasn't even been offered by merchants, as no one thinks for a second that it will be taken up by customers...

From www.vinimarket.com this morning.

A plea for more wine on the Internet

Talking about wine in France is not just a dangerous cause, it has also become a losing battle over the last few weeks. First a French newspaper was fined for inducing the preposterous idea that champagne might be an enjoyable drink, then the Heineken website was forced to close a couple of its windows, and then Microsoft announced to its clients that the keywords and an advertisement related to wine would be removed from their website.

The fine line between promoting and advertising, information and publicity seems to be made of a certain shade of red that French judges can't see, due to some selective colour-blindness. There was hope, in France, that the government would tackle the issue promptly after the last election. Wine professionals are still waiting. There is nothing written in the French Law as to how they should handle information, promotion and advertisng on wine on the Internet. Judges have interpreted the silence of the Law as an invitation to apply the status of all other media to the Internet in that matter. But, for many reasons, we believe that Internet is not like any other media, hence deserves to be treated differently. Wine professionals are still struggling. We'll keep you informed

You think Giscours is having problems with a 15 year old adulterated wine case? http://www.decanter.com/news/257867.html

Producers in Italy are facing a complete ban in the US of their Brunello di Montalcino wines unless Italian authorities comply with US authorities

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-italy-wine_spolar_nujun09,0,6646114.story

As the Chicago Tribune says@
Brunello wine is an elixir of Tuscany, and Americans are its most enthusiastic foreign consumers. The U.S. market drinks 25 percent of the roughly 7 million bottles produced annually.

The American trade bureau has agreed to send investigators to Montalcino to meet Tuesday with Italian officials who are privy to details. U.S. trade authorities also are suggesting extensive laboratory analysis of the suspect wine.

"We've asked the Italians to give us a list of vintages and producers affected," Resnick said. "So far they haven't."

They're all at it now.

Chateau Margaux came out yesterday, at 240 euros (price on the Place of the first tranche), down around 27% from last year. The other firsts should follow pretty swiftly I would think.

Already this morning Pape Clement red (down) and white (up) out, Carbonnieux out, Leoville... it's going to be a busy day for merchants.

The German city of Mainz has become the latest 'wine capital' to join the wine tourism network, Great Wine Capitals.

www.greatwinecapitals.com

The others are Bordeaux, Cape Town, Florence, Mendoza, Melbourne, Oporto, Bilbao-Rioja and San Francisco-Napa.

I'm pleased to see they are expanding, as I really think this is a great idea, and as I follow wine tourism closely, particularly in Bordeaux of course, it's great to see official bodies helping to make it economically viable. I have also been lucky enough to visit all of these wine capitals (excepting Mainz!) and know they really are worthy of recognition.

From the press release:
Meinz is the capital of the German state Rheinland-Pflaz, the most famous wine region in Germany. It is home to the German Wine Institute, the German Wine Fund, and the Verband Deutscher Prädikats- und Qualitätsweingüter Wine Bourse, which brings together the top winemakers of Germany with the wine merchants of the world.

Six out of all thirteen wine regions for quality wine in Germany (Rheinhessen, Pfalz, Mosel, Nahe, Mittelrhein and Ahr) are located in this area. The state is also the only one in Germany to have appointed a wine minister. Today, some vineyards are planted in the city itself, and the old districts of the town house many crowded WeinStube (wine restaurants) where they serve regional food with local Riesling, Muller Thurgau and Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir).

Mainz will now be eligible for this year’s Best of Wine Tourism awards that in 2007 saw over 320 properties from five continents competing for the titles. This year’s international ceremony will be held in Cape Town in November 2008.

Feeling all positive about Bordeaux again this morning (must be the sunshine aswell).

Two more big name estates come out with price drops - La Conseillante down 20% from last year and Brane Cantenac down 16%

From the lovely Corinne at Brane: 'Henri truly made a very special effort for the customers and mostly for the export customers. Here is a copy of what Barrière (Freres negociants) sent out to all their customers as I think it reflects the importance of this decision, the respect of the market and the necessity to listen to its warning signals....'

From Barrière Freres Web site!
Here’s a real smart release !! Finally an estate which has heard the sounds of the market :

Ch Brane Cantenac 2007 22.50 €/b (price -14% vs. 2006 & lowest price for older vintages is in the 27 to 28 €/b range)

Volumes are generally much lower vs. 2006. Nonetheless, congratulations Henri Lurton for having looked at YOUR market and I am sure that this release will continue to re-enforce the market’s appreciation of your brand in the short and medium-term !!'

Besides these two properties, I did a price roundup for Decanter yesterday, here is the link:
http://www.decanter.com/news/257750.html

This was held a few months ago, just after the en primeurs, but I received the press release today about its success, and thought I would share it, as I thought at the time it was an excellent iniative.

Basically, Cahors has realised that they are sitting on a potential goldmine of Malbec, mainly because of the great job that Argentina has done is making it such a popular grape worldwide, so they decided to join forces with leading Argentinian producers and put on a 'Malbec Day' in southwest France.

The final figures were:
110 producers from Cahors, Argentina, Cotes de Bourg (Bordeaux) and the Touraine.
300 oenology students from all over the world
1200 invited professionals
1950 paying members of the public
60 journalists (20 from overseas)
400 different wines presented

The next Malbec Day is due for 2010 in Cahors, and expected to take place every two years from then on.

They also hope to build a centre for research and development on the Malbec grape in the village of Anglars Julliac, in the heart of AOC Cahors, at a cost of over 1 million euros (invested jointl by the government nationally and the Conseil Général du Lot. Opening of this planned for 2010.

More info on: www.frenchmalbec.com

And as we have seen in recent days how well Malbec is doing for Argentina ( http://www.decanter.com/news/257567.html ), it's great to see a French region actually being smart about international partnerships.

I spoke to the Chateau Latour director, Frederic Engerer, today about a property that he has just bought in the Rhone Valley, and took the opportunity to ask him what he thought about the prices this year in Bordeaux, and the news that many English merchants are not buying at all, and many not offering the wines to their customers.

He said: 'The English merchants know what they are doing, they are very astute and have great international knowledge, but unless chateaux are making truly illogical pricing decisions, it is the role of the merchants to at least offer the wines. The fact that many are not even offering their customers what is coming out is shocking to me.’

'But the campaign should move swiftly now if chateaux are sensible. If you want the merchants to offer the wine, at least need to give them some time; they need enough weeks before everyone leaves for summer.’

So maybe we can expect Latour to come out this week??

Turns out I was being too cautious. They have actually come down around 40% ... see the excellent Bordeaux Overview for details:

http://www.bordoverview.com/?wine=Vieux+Ch%E2teau+Certan

Heard the amazing news today that Pomerol's Vieux Chateau Certan has brought its 2007 price down by over 20%... good for them!!

Had pretty much given up on anyone doing that, so let's hope they get rewarded by selling out.

Also sad news that Gerard Tesseron, brother of Alfred Tesseron at Pontet Canet, has died at age 65 of a heart attack. They ran Pontet Canet together, although Gerard concentrated more on the Tesseron Cognac business.