Category Archives: HOT NEWS

Exploring and tasting with the Bourgogne guide #Bourgogne #wines #tourism

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Exploring and tasting with the guide
En route vers les Bourgognes

Discover the latest edition of “En Route Vers les Bourgognes”, the essential guide to the wide choice of quality wine tourism on offer in the region. Organize a tailored program to suit you, as a couple, a family or among friends, and wind your way through the six tourist routes which stretch over 230 kilometers. The 100 Appellations d’Origine Contrôlée of the Bourgogne region are there to be discovered year-round!

The guide in figures

  • „ 343 estates, wine producers and cooperative wineries who all adhere to the De Vignes en Caves* welcome charter
  • „ 92 wine-related events
  • „ Some 100 restaurants bearing the “Vignobles & Découvertes” label
  • „ One pullout map of the Bourgogne wine region produced in partnership with Bourgogne Tourisme and showing the

key sites. On the reverse, mini-maps detail each route

  • „ Eight introductory themes, including “Wine”, “In a Word, the Climats”, “Varietals”, and so on
  • „ 92,000 print run of the new edition
  • „ 834 distribution outlets in the Bourgogne, Rhône-Alpes and Jura regions: Tourist offices, Regional and Departmental Tourist Boards, hotels, camp sites, guest houses, Lyon airport

New features

  • „ Around 20 new illustrations enrich the brochure
  • „ A one-page graphic presents the key figures of the Bourgogne wine region at the end of the guide
  • „ The inclusion of the Bourgogne Climats on the Unesco World Heritage List

And as always…

  • „ In both French and English
  • „ Available free-of-charge on request from the BIVB and tourism points
  • „ Can be downloaded from bourgogne-wines.com, in the “A trip through the vines” section
  • „ A summary listing the regions by color, to help you quickly find the producers, festivals, wine routes and gourmet stop-overs you are looking for

Recap

The national Vignobles & Découvertes label was created in 2009 to establish a network among stakeholders in the wine tourism sector in the same region. Visitors can thereby easily identify all the activities on offer along wine routes. This label is attributed by the Ministries of Tourism and Agriculture for a three-year period. Today, six destinations are currently included in the scheme, three of which have already been renewed**, bringing together 600 label-bearing activities, including 155 wineries.

In chronological order of receiving the label:
Beaune: From Corton to Montrachet**
Dijon Côte de Nuits**
Chablis wine region**
Auxerrois wine region
Mâconnais wine region
Côte Chalonnaise

The Châtillonnais wine region is also taking the necessary steps to acquire the label in 2016.

* The success of En Route Vers les Bourgognes is down to the De Vignes en Caves welcome charter

This charter was created 24 years ago. Signatories commit to continually improving their welcome and the tasting experience in their cellars.

Members commit to:

  • „ Providing a warm and individual reception (including in foreign languages)
  • „ Advertising fixed opening hours for visitors
  • „ Clearly displaying the sign indicating their commitment to the principles of the charter
  • „ A free tasting of at least one wine
  • „ Displaying a list of the appellations on sale
  • „ Offering take-away wine sales (with a minimum purchase of three bottles) and a shipping service for 12 bottles or more
  • „ Supplying information about the Bourgogne wine growing region and the estate

Find all our press releases and thousands of rights-free photos in the online press room at:

http://www.bourgogne-wines.com

 

Champagne Taittinger moves across England #france #england #wine

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French champagne house is about to make history by producing sparkling wine in England.

Taittinger estate will be the first to invest in the UK, in particular in Kent, whose chalk soil is considered ideal for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier vines. Recently, climate change has led to effects of rising temperatures in England and it can create favorable conditions for rich growing vines.

“We believe we can produce a high quality English sparkling wine, drawing on our 80 years of wine-making expertise,” stated the president Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger.

TheTaittinger-English-sparkling-wine deal between Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger and Patrick McGrath of British winemaker Hatch Mansfield shows a sincere friendship between the two countries.

The French estate, one of the largest and oldest in France, has bought 69 hectares in the English village Chilham, and the wine is supposed to be ready in five years. It will be significantly named Domaine Evremond, a famous diplomat very esteemed in England, who worked to abolish frontiers between UK and France.

Taittinger wine house has already gained a considerable success planting sparkling wine vineyards in USA, now it hopes to obtain the same results in England.

The main aim is to create a wine which has its own personality and singular characteristics, completely different from the others, a real expression of British terroir and tradition.

Valentina Gagliano

 

 

Uruguayan wines exceed expectations in Expo Milan 2015 #wine #Uruguay #expo #Milan

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Until now, the success of Uruguayan wines on the pavilion of Expo Milan 2015, goes much further than the expectations thought. This result could opens eyes to new possibilities of increasing exports.

The international megaexposition that started on May 1, shows the country with a board and careful selection of wines to be offered to its clientele.

The participant wineries are Juanicó, Carrau, De Lucca, Garzón, Estancia La Cruz and Grupo Traversa and they were selected by the National Wine Institute of Uruguay.

From the very beginning, the public assistance estimated was around 250 and 300 every day, but during the first fifteen days it achieved 400 diners daily.

The economic effort needed for the participation in this international event has been evaluated and an important boost is expected to increase the volume of exports, mainly on those wines with a preferential quality.

Patricia Fernández Ruiz

 

VINITALY 2015: MORE INTERNATIONAL BUYERS THAN EVER

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150,000 visitors. More than 2,600 journalists from 46 countries. Revival on the domestic market with Horeca and retail operators.

Vinitaly2015_FotoEnnevi_255A7192_20150322The whole world at Vinitaly, with professionals from 140 countries – 20 up compared to 2014. “The result achieves the goal that we h:ad set ourselves. Thanks to an increase of 34% in investments dedicated to incoming promotions and cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Development, the Italian Trade Agency-ICE and the Ministry for Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, we further boosted the already high involvement of foreign buyers,” said Ettore Riello, President of Veronafiere.

Total visitors came to about 150,000, but compared to the past there were more from the Far East, especially Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia. Mexico and Africa also grew, with interesting new entries such as Cameroon and Mozambique. Even North Africa performed well, with a recovery by of Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco both for wine and olive oil at Sol&Agrifood.

“The huge US and Canadian markets alone account for 20% of international visitors totalling 55,000 people. German-speaking countries – Germany, Switzerland, Austria – confirmed their status as the most important with 25% of overall attendance; the United Kingdom took third place with 10%, followed in numerical terms by buyers from Scandinavian countries and Benelux,” said Giovanni Mantovani, CEO & Director General. We have seen considerable satisfaction among exhibitors as regards Vinitaly’s capacity year and year to improve the number of foreign buyers and the quality of visitors, maintaining a high number of contacts, so much so that several leading private-sector companies have already signed three-year renewals for coming editions.”

This is also thanks to new visitor profiling system adopted this year, with further refinement of visitor target selection and registration of all persons entering the show: this will create a database of extraordinary value for future marketing initiatives and international development.

The top ten countries saw impressive growth by France, ahead of Japan, while China, Hong Kong and Taiwan took eighth place. Russia came in ninth, the only country going against trends – the outcome of the current difficult geopolitical situation. The list closes with Brazil in tenth place.
Attendance from other European Union countries also improved, in particular from Poland and Romania.

This edition of Vinitaly also saw the return of a degree of optimism on the domestic market, with operators arriving from all over Italy.
The event was attended by more than 2,600 journalists from 46 countries.

Massimo Paccagnella

 

Photo Credits: Vinitaly 2015 – Foto Ennevi

Vinitaly 2015, a model for wine promotion between business and product culture #business #vinitaly #wine #italy

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 «Today we can present a fundamental appointment for the Italian system since Vinitaly represents the entirety of Italy’s wine experience all over the world. Verona will provide an occasion to take stock of what has been done by the Government to simplify bureaucracy and promote the internationalisation of companies, as well as to launch new objectives going beyond Expo 2015, including the consolidated law on wine, with a focus on reorganization of the sector».
The press conference presenting the 49th Vinitaly (22-25 March 2015) held yesterday in Rome at the Auditorium Via Veneto so heard Agriculture Minister Maurizio Martina re-launch the Government’s commitment to support Italian wine and the validity of the collaboration with Veronafiere to implement economic development policies and promote Made in Italy on international markets.
«We are aware of the role acknowledged to us by companies and institutions», – said Ettore Riello, President of Veronafiere, – «as a platform of services for business internationalisation. It is with this commitment that we are working to achieve the goal launched last year by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi during his visit to Vinitaly to increase wine exports by 50% by 2020».
«In keeping with the b2b identity of the exhibition,» explained Giovanni Mantovani, CEO & Director General of Veronafiere, «Vinitaly 2015 will bring to fruition the intense incoming activities we have created and enhanced with the important support of the Ministry for Economic Development and the Italian Trade Agency–ICE – as well as the Ministry of Agriculture. Joining forces in this way has enabled us to involve buyers and delegations of selected operators from around the world, with an increase of 34% in the financial investment compared to last year»
2014 was a difficult year for various international situations but the sentiment of companies is positive – as emerges from a Vinitaly survey involving 30 of Italy’s most important wine realities. This is a “scientifically unrepresentative” but undoubtedly significant panel in terms of business dynamism and overall turnover coming to approximately 2 billion euros. It appears that 2014 saw growth in revenue by Italian wine cellars of 5% compared to 2013 and, importantly, 55% expresses confidence for 2015; 35% in these first two months of the year has already achieved positive feedback and 5% envisage a very positive year. «We have learnt that it is difficult to make forecasts in times such as these and that numbers change quickly, especially in the light of sudden and unpredictable changes in international geo-political frameworks that can have direct effects on the sector, yet there is no doubt,» as Mantovani concluded, that the Italian wine sector is highlighting all its liveliness and capacity for growth».
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The 49th Vinitaly has been specifically designed to help producers and operators expand currently emerging opportunities and also create new ones. B2b meetings have been organised between buyers, guest delegations and exhibitors within the scope of the International Buyers Lounge. A major convention – requested by tutelage consortia, wine-makers and other realities in the sector – will analyse ITTP talks (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the United States). This will be joined by focus meetings discussing Hong Kong, China, USA, Russia, Brazil and Australia.
Confidence in the quality of initiatives at Vinitaly is confirmed by figures consolidating attendance by more than 4,000 exhibitors and display area bookings of more than 91,000 square metres – which leap to 100,000 with Sol&Agrifood and Enolitech, respectively the quality agro-food event (with the section dedicated to olive oil organised in collaboration with Unaprol) and the technical show for wine and olive oil production systems scheduled at the same time.
Major events during Vinitaly include OperaWine scheduled on 21 March in collaboration with the authoritative American magazine Wine Spectator and, 16-20 March in Verona, the first certification course for specialists in Italian wine. This is an innovative initiative set in motion by VIA-Vinitaly International Academy (the Vinitaly International educational project with the scientific direction of Ian D’Agata), which, after a final exam, will issue two types of certificate: Italian Wine Ambassador (IWA) and Italian Wine Expert (IWE). Fifty highly professional candidates from the sector (managers of several major international hotel chains, journalists, Masters of Wine) will take part from China, United States, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Korea, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, United Kingdom and Ukraine. VIA is also organising three Master Classes+ during Vinitaly, not only involving Italian wines. Collaboration with Ismea includes a convention on craft wines, another great wealth in Italian wine-making.
Vinitaly will also host the official presentation of Vino – A taste of Italy – the Wine Pavilion set up inside the Italy Pavilion at the Universal Exposition in Milan, organized by Veronafiere-Vinitaly on the invitation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Padiglione Italia and Expo 2015 SpA. «I am indeed extremely grateful for the work carried out by Veronafiere.» – said Minister Martina at the end of the Press Conference, – «as well as its efforts as the country prepares for Expo 2015».
Antonio Gala
 

 

SUMMER EARTHLY DELIGHTS AT ALAJMO’S RESTAURANTS

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Summer is in full swing in Italy, and as a result of Alajmo kitchen pantries are packed with ripe and colorful ingredients.

alajmo

In celebration of all the earthly delights that continue to arrive at Alajmo doorstep, Max has created new menus for all six of the Alajmo family restaurants and bistros.

At Le Calandre, start your meal with a cold melon soup with lobster crudo and green celery sorbet, followed by olive oil-based risotto with fresh watermelon, mullet bottarga, Tropea onions, bergamot and pistachio.

Next door at Il Calandrino, you will find eggplant ravioli served with a mix of Mediterranean delicacies, like datterini tomatoes, basil pesto, black olives and anchovies. And be sure to save room for a pistachio semifreddo with peach sauce and raspberry puree.

Across town at La Montecchia, the summer menu features mouth-watering dishes like beef carpaccio with hemp seed sauce, lime and chili pepper and bigoli with squab and mushroom sauce.

For a causal lunch on-the-go or a relaxing dinner al fresco, head to abc Montecchia where you will find a wide selection of pizzas and bruschette, as well as Italian summertime classics like eggplant parmesan and vitello tonnato (veal in tuna sauce).

If you find yourself in Venice don’t miss Ristorante Quadri this summer.  Treat yourself to an extra virgin vegetable garden made with sun-soaked summer produce, followed by Venetian-style fried fish with Quadri sauce. And for dessert, choose between Per-Bellini, peach and prosecco sorbet with apple and peach meringue, or gin tonic fruit salad with pineapple mousse.

And for a quick lunch or dinner, stop by abc Quadri for acold tomato soup with crispy vegetables or club sandwichwith light curry mayonnaise.

http://www.alajmo.it/

Henry BORZI

BELGIAN BEER EXPERIENCE PROJECT AT BRUSSELS STOCK EXCHANGE IN 2018

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The City of Brussels approved the idea of establishing a temple dedicated to belgian beers at the previous Brussels stock exchange “La bourse”. 

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Failing to be recognized intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO, one of our national treasures will soon have its temple: beer. It will be a public/private  cooperation between the City of Brussels, the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region and the federation of belgian brewers to make discover the belgian cultural beer traditions.

Philippe Close, alderman for tourism, expects over 400000 visitors a year, the temple will become  among the five most touristic attractions of the City. The temple for belgian beers will present in a recreative and educational way to this national symbol: beer !

The project will be based on the experience of the brewers to make discover belgian beers and all the culture of the brewing world.  The visit will generate both curiosity and the senses of visitors, polls of intentions have already been made ​​and are very positives.

The belgian brewers federation director, Sven Gatz, saying: “nevertheless maintaining the international reputation of our country, is added the will to strengthen our image of expertise in the brewing industry. Then, as well belgians as tourists will discover the sector of belgian beers in an emblematic neighbourhood in the historical center of Brussels.”

Even the Ministry for Budget and Finance of the Brussels-Capital Region invests in a feasibility study dedicated to this project. The brewing world will be discovered in all its culture, diversity and history.

More details on this project from these three partners will be announced in september.

To be discovered…

Olivier BULTO

 

NEXT WEEKEND: THE “ROUTE REGIONALE DES SAVEURS” IN NAMUR

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After a first success in 2012, the  “Route régionale des Saveurs” will be back in Namur on may 25th and 26th in a beautiful site, the medieval citadelle, a fortress, of Namur (50km south of Brussels).

 

1368799215La “Route Regionale des Saveurs”  wants to show the food&cook know-how of the Walloon regio. The fait will unfold in a pedagogic, tastfull and entertaining journey in which visitors will discover the typical products of the region. They’ll meet more than 50 local producers  and will taste the dishes made by talented chefs.

There will be this year a host country: Switzerland and its beautiful dishes.  A swiss village will be installed in the heart of the citadelle to discover the richness of this country.

Olivier Bauche et Philippe Garcia, two well known chef will revisit some traditional

The spectacular location of the citadelle de Namur, a XVIIth century fortress


The spectacular location of the citadelle de Namur, a XVIIth century fortress

recipes. The belgian sommelier and wine connoisseur Eric Boschman will take part to the event and will explain the origin of the used products, the career of the chefs and how their recipes are so special.

 

 

Practical information

Free tickets for children under 12 years.

Ticket is 5€ in presale and 7€ onsite. This pass allows free entrance to the market of local products and participates in tasting the products offered from 10h to 18h.

With “Culinary Passport” at the price of 24€ visitors can enjoy 5 Walloon recipes and Swiss recipe.

More details are available on www.larouteregionaledessaveurs.be

Henry BORZI

SOAVE IN LONDON WITH “VOLCANIC WINES”

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“Volcanic Wines of Italy” will kick off on May 7th at the Chandos House in London. This event will be dedicated to whites wine of volcanic origin and organized from Consorzio of Soave and the Association of Volcanic doc.

 

4 TThe event, which is the London event of Vulcania, international forum of white wines from the volcanic soil, requires the presence of more than fifty Italian wineries.

Initially reserved for the press and industry operators, Volcanic Wines of Italy will also opens the door for consumers and wine enthusiasts who will be able to taste Soave wine and other with the purpose of tasting and  researching the different organoleptic characteristics of each of them.

The choice of London for this new event is not a hazard: the English market is the second most important market for Soave wine. In fact 24% of production goes to UK. 30% are bought from Germany, which remains in first place. Moreover, in recent times, mainly due to the Decanter magazine and its italian correspondent Monty Waldin, the british press has become increasingly interested in the wines of the volcans.

“The London meeting is a very important day. For some of the producers, it  is an opportunity2013-04-12T133356Z_929459037_GM1E94C1NUT01_RTRMADP_3_ITALY for a pleasant return, for many others it is only a first step to create curiosity for the Soave wines”. – Stated Arturo Stocchetti, president of the Consortium of Soave. He stated further: 

“Once again, volcans wines is a winning topic: the waiting list ois long for our seminar and also for tasting. This drives us to do even better and to believe we have the right project. “

Massimo Paccagnella

SPIRITS EXPORTS HIT THE RECORD 2012

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European spirits’ exports reached €10.2 billion in 2012, a positive growth of 20% from the €8.5 billion in the previous year.  As a result, spirits are and remain the EU’s biggest agri-food exports and generated a positive balance of trade close to €9 billion last year.

logoThese are great results, and show the competitiveness of the sector in some very difficult markets around the world.  At a time when many domestic European markets are struggling, we underline the importance of these thriving export markets to this sector.  These exports generate jobs and investment in Europe at a time when both are badly needed.  And, they generate close to €9 billion net for the European economy, as imports of spirits to the EU remain steady.

Looking closely at key exports markets:

  • A solid growth in the USA (over €3 billion with a 22% increase) and Canada (with a 31% increase compared to 2011).  These two markets continue to be attractive for our European products.
  • Growth for premium branded European spirits remained strong in emerging markets, driven by China (+19%) despite the economic slowdown, and South East Asia (+25%). FTAs with ASEAN countries are necessary to continue to target the huge potential in South East Asia that remains untapped.
  • Growth in Eastern Europe is driven by Russia (+37%, the second largest export market overall) despite a challenging market environment.
  • While India is a growing market, EU imported spirit drinks only represent a tiny fraction of the total market which should grow substantially with the conclusion of an FTA, currently being negotiated.
  • Growth is driven by the whiskies category (44% of spirits exports) followed by cognac (26% of total exports).
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