Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Ch. Margaux 1990 - Truly worthy of 100 Points!
Monday, December 14, 2015
Hundreds of Rudy Kurniawan counterfeit wines destroyed
More than 500
counterfeits of the some of the world's finest wines have been crushed
at a Texas waste disposal site almost exactly two years after their
maker, Rudy Kurniawan, was convicted of wine fraud in a US court. See
photos of the destruction below.
A Container of smashed bottles bearing some of the wine world’s most renowned names, including Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Château Pétrus, was all that remained of more than 500 of the Rudy Kurniawan counterfeit wines destroyed by US Marshals late last week.
It is almost two years to the day since Kurniawan was convicted of making and selling copycat versions of fine and rare wines, as well as of fraudulently attempting to obtain a $3m loan.
He produced counterfeit wines at his Los Angeles for several years in an elaborate operation that involved concocting blends in his kitchen sink and printing off fake labels on his computer.
See photos below of several Kurniawan wines being destroyed.
After being pulverised, glass will go to be recycled, while the
liquid contents of the bottles is set to be used as compost, US Marshals
said.
Around 5,000 bottles authenticated as genuine and found in Kurniawan’s private cellar were this month being auctioned by US Marshals.
‘Every thing that’s being destroyed here today has been deemed either counterfeit, that it was part of his scheme, or that had no sale value,’ said Jason Martinez, assistant program manager for the US Marshals Asset Forfeiture Division. His comments were reported on Kvue.com in an article cited by US Marshals on its own website.
At the time of Kurniawan’s conviction, it was believed that some of his counterfeit wine remained unaccounted for.
In mid-2014, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to re-pay $28.4m to victims. His lawyers have continued to appeal against the conviction and argued that their client was penniless.
It is almost two years to the day since Kurniawan was convicted of making and selling copycat versions of fine and rare wines, as well as of fraudulently attempting to obtain a $3m loan.
He produced counterfeit wines at his Los Angeles for several years in an elaborate operation that involved concocting blends in his kitchen sink and printing off fake labels on his computer.
See photos below of several Kurniawan wines being destroyed.
image:
https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2015/12/Kurniawan-counterfeit-wines-crush-1-630x417.jpg
At the demolition in Texas, bottles of counterfeit wine were lined up to be crushed by a crane.
Rudy Kurniawan counterfeit wines await destruction at a Texas landfill site. Credit: Lynzey Donahue / US Marshals
Rudy Kurniawan counterfeit wines meet their end in Texas. Credit: Lynzey Donahue / US Marshals
The damage after Rudy Kurniawan counterfeit wines are destroyed in Texas. Credit: Lynzey Donahue / US Marshals
‘Every thing that’s being destroyed here today has been deemed either counterfeit, that it was part of his scheme, or that had no sale value,’ said Jason Martinez, assistant program manager for the US Marshals Asset Forfeiture Division. His comments were reported on Kvue.com in an article cited by US Marshals on its own website.
At the time of Kurniawan’s conviction, it was believed that some of his counterfeit wine remained unaccounted for.
In mid-2014, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to re-pay $28.4m to victims. His lawyers have continued to appeal against the conviction and argued that their client was penniless.
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Next thing you know, James Bond will be drinking English "Champagne"!
Taittinger to plant vineyards in UK
9th December, 2015 by Neal Baker
Champagne Taittinger is establishing vineyards in the UK, becoming the first Champagne house to invest directly in English sparkling wine.
Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger and Patrick McGrath MW
Around 35-40 hectares will be planted with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Some 20,000 to 25,000 cases are expected to be initially produced.
“We have dreamt for a number of years of working with our dear friends in the UK to create a special Franco/British project,” said Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, president of the Champagne house. “We are very excited that this dream is now becoming a reality.”
The purchased land is a former orchard near Chilham in Kent, close to Canterbury and Faversham.
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier vines will be planted to produce English sparkling wine, although the exact planting figures are not yet known.
The plots have an “ideal terroir” for producing sparkling wine, sitting at a maximum of 80 metres above sea level with chalk soil and south-facing slopes, Taittinger said.
No wine will be produced until the land is fully transformed from orchards into vineyards, with no definite time-scale so far in place.
It is estimated that planting will begin in May 2017, although it could start as quickly as May of next year. However, the first wines will likely not be seen on the market until the mid to late 2020s.
Taittinger has insisted that the English sparkling wine it will produce should not be directly compared to Champagne.
“Our aim is to make something of real excellence in the UK’s increasingly temperate climate, and not to compare it with Champagne or any other sparkling wine,” he said.
Champagne houses have been rumoured to be searching for plots in the south of England for some time as they seek to capitalise on its increasingly similar growing conditions with the famous French region.
Land prices are considerably cheaper in the UK than in Champagne, with an unplanted hectare in Kent costing £10,000 to £15,000 and rising when under vine. A top Champagne vineyard can cost between €1-2 million per hectare.
Furthermore, with sales of English sparkling wine expected to continue rising, the likelihood of further investment from Champagne is increasing.
Taittinger has not revealed the exact financial details of its investment in Domaine Evremond, named after Charles de Saint-Evremond, a 17th century poet and courtier to King Charles II who is buried at Westminster Cathedral.
UK distributor Hatch Mansfield is a joint partner in the venture, along with a number of unnamed private investors.
Patrick McGrath MW, managing director of Hatch Mansfield,
expressed his belief in English sparkling wine, saying: “Our aim is not
just to be an English sparkling winemaker, but also to be a significant
supporter of the whole English wine industry.”
English vineyards are forecast to double in capacity and production over the next seven years, according to trade group English Wine Producers.
The prediction was revealed in September as politicians
toured one of the UK’s biggest wine producers, Rathfinny Wine Estate,
where they also heard about the Sussex winery’s application to the EU to
have the county fully recognised as a wine appellation.
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Pinot Noir more Popular than Cabernet Sauvignon according to Wine-Searcher!
Pinot Pips Cabernet as Most Popular Variety
We look back over the past 12 months to see what you've been searching for.
Judging by what you've all been searching for, Rudolph's nose won't be the only thing that's red this Christmas.
Driven by a sense of curiosity that verges on downright nosiness, we drilled down into our databases to find out what you'd been searching for all year. Not just the usual suspects, like perennial favorites Château Mouton Rothschild and Château Latour, but what types of wine people were looking for interested us – and how much you were willing to pay for them.
The
results contained some surprises. We knew that red wines were likely to
be more popular for searchers, but not to the scale of the past 12
months, when red wine searches outweighed white wine searches by a
factor of 2.5.
Another surprise was which varieties were most popular. Given that five of the 10 most searched for individual wines are Cabernet-based, you'd think that Cabernet Sauvignon would be the major variety being searched, but it is Pinot Noir that emerges as the most popular individual grape, in searches classed by variety.
With almost 11 million searches for Pinot-based wines, compared to a relatively paltry 8.2m for Cabernet in the 12 months to November, this is the second year in a row that more people have searched for Pinot. In the previous 12 months, there were 9.8m Pinot searches and 6.7m Cabernet searches.
Another notable trend is the fading of Zinfandel. Despite Zinfandel producing three times as much wine last year as Syrah in California, drinkers are keener on the Rhône red grape, with searches for Syrah outstripping Zinfandel after spending the previous period virtually neck and neck. Perhaps growers in the US should consider planting more Syrah.
Whites have remained mostly static, with Chardonnay far and away the leading variety, with Sauvignon Blanc a distant second. Contrary to the sommelier brigade, there is no sign of Riesling's oft-trumpeted resurgence. In fact, despite the almost-unanimous praising of Riesling by wine writers for some years now, consumers would appear to less persuaded each year. In the 12 months to November, Riesling searches declined by more than 10 percent from the previous period, falling from 1.71m searches to 1.52m.
One thing was very clear about the way white and red wines are seen by our users – they are more likely to spend up on red wine than white. Once the grape varieties were divided up into three broad price brackets (less than $10, $10-30 and more than $30), it became abundantly clear that more people were willing to search for expensive reds, while economizing on the whites.
The vast majority of red wine searches were in the $10 and more categories, while the whites were where the bargain hunters looked for savings, with most people looking for something less than $30.
Driven by a sense of curiosity that verges on downright nosiness, we drilled down into our databases to find out what you'd been searching for all year. Not just the usual suspects, like perennial favorites Château Mouton Rothschild and Château Latour, but what types of wine people were looking for interested us – and how much you were willing to pay for them.
| Related stories: |
| Most Searched-For Wine a Shock Result |
| America's Most-Searched-For Grape Varieties |
| America's Most Expensive Wines |
Another surprise was which varieties were most popular. Given that five of the 10 most searched for individual wines are Cabernet-based, you'd think that Cabernet Sauvignon would be the major variety being searched, but it is Pinot Noir that emerges as the most popular individual grape, in searches classed by variety.
With almost 11 million searches for Pinot-based wines, compared to a relatively paltry 8.2m for Cabernet in the 12 months to November, this is the second year in a row that more people have searched for Pinot. In the previous 12 months, there were 9.8m Pinot searches and 6.7m Cabernet searches.
Another notable trend is the fading of Zinfandel. Despite Zinfandel producing three times as much wine last year as Syrah in California, drinkers are keener on the Rhône red grape, with searches for Syrah outstripping Zinfandel after spending the previous period virtually neck and neck. Perhaps growers in the US should consider planting more Syrah.
Whites have remained mostly static, with Chardonnay far and away the leading variety, with Sauvignon Blanc a distant second. Contrary to the sommelier brigade, there is no sign of Riesling's oft-trumpeted resurgence. In fact, despite the almost-unanimous praising of Riesling by wine writers for some years now, consumers would appear to less persuaded each year. In the 12 months to November, Riesling searches declined by more than 10 percent from the previous period, falling from 1.71m searches to 1.52m.
One thing was very clear about the way white and red wines are seen by our users – they are more likely to spend up on red wine than white. Once the grape varieties were divided up into three broad price brackets (less than $10, $10-30 and more than $30), it became abundantly clear that more people were willing to search for expensive reds, while economizing on the whites.
The vast majority of red wine searches were in the $10 and more categories, while the whites were where the bargain hunters looked for savings, with most people looking for something less than $30.
Talk to us about Screaming Eagle's Second Flight 2012 and Opus One's Overture!
We have nice quantities for sale!
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