California Cabernet 2013 ‘better than 2012’, say winemakers
Expectations are still rising for the California Cabernet 2013 vintage, which many winemakers believe will turn out better than the already highly rated 2012. Two bumper and high quality California Cabernet vintages in 2012 and 2013 have helped winemakers to move on...
Merlot’s Quiet Comeback
Is California Merlot back? Well, sort of. There may not be as much of it as there once was, before consumer backlash and the Pinot Noir renaissance took hold. But what's left is better than ever-and can be truly exceptional. "We all know what happened to the variety,"...
DEBUNKED: The 7 biggest myths about American whiskey
The Prohibition Era left a gap in America's knowledge of whiskey, leading to a slew of myths and misconceptions. Whiskey and spirits enthusiast Noah Rothbaum debunks some of these myths in his new book, "The Art of American Whiskey," which uses 100 vintage and modern...
How to halt wine world’s biggest killer?
There are currently 7.5 million hectares under vine globally - 1.5 million suffer trunk diseases. Imagine a vine disease with no cure that affects an area the size of France and Italy's vineyards combined. We're not talking about phylloxera, the vine louse that once...
Craft distilleries: The next local liquor boom?
As craft beer explodes, makers of small batch whiskey, rum, gin and vodka hope to follow suit. The surge of interest - and sales - in the craft beer industry is having a spillover effect. The explosion in craft distilleries is showing no signs of slowing down - though...
Thirsty for Growth, Liquor Giant Taps African Market
For 20 years, Leonard Odhiambo has run a thriving business off a dirt path in Kibera, the biggest slum in sub-Saharan Africa. He brews changa'a, a potent spirit made from molasses and mashed grain. A half-liter bottle sells for just over a dollar. Changa'a is illegal,...
Is There a Better Way to Talk About Wine?
When the wine critic James Suckling described a Château Haut-Brion in the pages of Wine Spectator in 1992, he needed just a single phrase to sum up the taste: "Big and meaty, with lots of fruit and full tannins, but featuring a sweetness and silkiness on the finish."...
Argentina reports on ‘intense’ 2015 harvest
Heavy rainfall and frost contributed to a 10% drop in Argentina's grape harvest in 2015, with Mendoza bearing the brunt of the bad weather. Publishing its 2014/15 harvest report today, Wines of Argentina said that by 30 April 2015, the harvest of grapes in Argentina...
These 11 brewers make over 90% of all U.S. beer
The story of beer in the U.S. in 2015 is basically whatever narrative you choose to believe. The Brewers Association craft beer industry group tells us there are more than 3,400 breweries in the U.S., the most since 1873, and that choice abounds. However, about 1,400...