Wine Reviews

Vineyard Defaults Surge as Lost Land Values Undermine Napa Wine In California’s Napa Valley, producer of the most expensive U.S. wines, 2010 may be a vintage year for foreclosures as the industry is squeezed by falling land values and a consumer shift to cheaper brands.

After Earthquake Chilean Wineries Count Damage, Trust Exports Last week’s massive earthquake in Chile caused widespread damage to the country’s wineries, although current supplies should help avert significant disruption in export sales.

Viennese Meat Dishes Waltz Well With Elusive ’Blue Frank’ Wines After a bitter cold morning in Vienna on a tour of “The Third Man” movie locations, I deserved lunch at Plachutta, which serves the city’s best tafelspitz of boiled meats, horseradish and sour cream.

Hong Kong Signs Agreement to Speed Up Wine Exports to China Hong Kong reached an agreement with China’s customs agency that will speed up the export of wines into the growing mainland market, the city government said.

Billionaire Koch Expects More Fake-Wine Lawsuits in 2010 I think of the past 10 years as the counterfeit-wine decade.

California Wine Shipments Fall First Time in 16 Years (Update1) California wine shipments fell in 2009 for the first time in 16 years as purchases in the U.K., the biggest export market, plunged during the global recession, according to researcher Gomberg, Fredrikson & Associates.

Secretive ‘Lord of Wine’ Made Italy’s Best White: John Mariani I’ve been drinking wine with pleasure for a very long time and the jaw-dropping moments have been few and far between. Sometimes the wines I expected little of proved to be a revelation, which was the case when I had my first sip of Edoardo Valentini’s Trebbiano d’Abruzzo 30 years ago at a seafood restaurant in Italy.

Garlic, Pest-Eating Geese Guard Chile’s New Pinots: Elin McCoy “See those white bands around the vines? They’re soaked in garlic and oil,” says Chilean winemaker Matias Rios as I kneel down for a sniff. The pungent smell keeps fat insects called burritos from destroying pinot noir vines at Cono Sur Vineyards & Winery, the oldest in Chile.

For Wine in 2010 Expect Price Drops, Screwtops, Thirsty Chinese Not since the millennium folly in 1999 have I seen so much frenzy in the wine market.

‘Texas Boy’ Investor Can’t Resist Taste of New Argentine Winery Michael Brochu, chief executive officer of Global Market Insite Inc., is always looking for new investments. So when a friend called with an opportunity, Brochu was ready to listen.