The OIV, a Paris based organization, recently published the State of Vitiviniculture World Report for 2005. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the OIV, they describe themselves on their site as:

…an intergovernmental organization of a scientific and technical nature or recognized competence for its works concerning vines, wine, wine-based beverages, table grapes, raisins and other vine-based products.

Each year they release a report showing where wine production and consumption stands in the world. The report lays out in detail how much wine is being produced in each country, how much land is planted under vines, and how much wine is being consumed by countries worldwide.

Interesting facts and figures in this year’s report include:

The next two points I want to address go hand in hand, consumption of wine by country and volumes exported. It really comes down to the fact that if you can’t drink all the wine you produce, you better have someone to sell it to! So who’s drinking it? (more…)

First one is from the legendary Wine Lovers Page, and is noted in their 30 second wine advisor section. They highlight this week a tempranillo from Tierra de Castilla, called: Bodegas Tikalo 2004 “Rubens”. Giving it a thumbs up they recommend others seek out small treasures from Spain’s lesser known regions. Read their Spanish wine tasting note here.

The second is from a place that when I think of it I rarely think of Spanish wine, Honolulu. Todd Ashline the manager and sommelier of Chef Mavro restaurant, has a nice article about Spanish wine and the importer Jorge Ordonez. Check out his article on Spanish wine here.

I recently stumbled across an article about a lunch put on at New York’s Daniel Restaurant exclusively for wine writers, educators, sommeliers and retailers. Peter Sisseck(Pingus) and Alvaro Palacios (Palacios Remondo of Rioja and Finca Dofí of the Priorato) had been invited to show off their wines, and talk a bit about the level of quality that they maintain in their wines. Hosted by ICEX, the branch of government here in Spain who is both responsible for foreign trade and for whom can be a perpetual thorn in the side of anyone trying to help foreign trade here in Spain, have a series of video interviews in English on their site with the people involved with this dinner.

Although the videos with Peter and Alavaro are fun to see, I don’t think ardent followers of their lives will find anything new on the video. On the other hand, it is great to hear from two of Spain’s wine legends. Have a look and let me know what you think.

From The Wine Academy’s website, this event will be held June 15th and 16th of this year in Barcelona:

The Barcelona Wine Festival is the new name given to the International Wine Symposium which, until now, had been organized in the city of Marbella, in 2004 and 2005.

For 2 days, the event offers master classes, seminars and guided tastings conducted by the most prominent personalities of the national and international wine industry. Amongst some of the wine celebrities that have taken part in the past two editions are Jancis Robinson, José Peñín, Alejandro Fernández, Carlos Falcó, Stephane Derenoncourt, Miguel Torres, as ell as representatives of prestigious organizations such as Wines of Chile, Wine of Australia, Wines of South Africa, University of California Davis and Crus Classes de Graves, amongst many others.

It’s a great chance for the public to meet some of the most important faces in the wine world while tasting some great wines. However, I unfortunately, will not be able to make it this year, but I do encourage anyone who will be in Barcelona to check it out. For the “low” price of 100 Euros, you can taste over 600 wines which neither covers the seminars nor the professional tastings offered. At the high end, an all inclusive ticket will fetch 342.20 Euros. For that price, I truly hope the ticket includes all the seminars and tastings!

Just to give you a bit more information, here’s the line up of celebrity speakers:

Dewey Markham - Wine writer
Jancis Robinson - Master of Wine
Thierry Gascó - Pommery
Charles de Philipponat - Champagne Philipponat
Serena Sutcliffe - Master of Wine
Ramón Llagostera - Celler Mas Doix
Victoria Pariente - Bodegas Dos Victorias
Pedro J. Martinez - Casa de la Ermita
Francesc Grimalt - Anima Negra
Agustí Torelló - Agustí Torelló Mata
Jaume Gramona - Gramona
Delfí Sanahuja - Castillo de Perelada
José Buján - Freixenet
Juan José de Castro - Codorniú
Luis Lopes - Revista do Vinho
Rene Barbier - Clos Mogador
Thomas Lignier - Perrier Joüet
Javier Zacagnini - Aalto
Pedro Aibar - Viñas del Vero
Nico Manessis - Wine Writer
Christophe Jacquemin - Louis Roederer.

Despite the price, the festival does look as if it would be a great time. If you’re going to be in the area and want more information, please go to The Wine Academy’s website.

Early last week, I came across this article: '’Put a Cork in It'’ regarding a new law in Catalonia which effectively outlaws the use of anything but cork for sealing wine bottles. At first, I was stunned, shocked and outraged when I read the article. “How can they do this?” I said to myself while I was picking my jaw up off the floor. For years now the move to alternative closures for wine bottles has been an indicator of wineries who understand the problems and issues which result from using cork. In fact, as witnessed by this lively discussion over at the Wine Bulletin Board eRobertParker.com, my outrage is not an isolated reaction to this news. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the debate, it basically comes down to the issue of Cork Taint or TCA.

Depending on who you ask, 1%-7% of all bottles sealed with a cork exhibit an “off odor” that can ruin a wine as a result of a chemical occasionally found within the cork called TCA. In order to combat this, wine makers for years have looked into cork alternatives such as screw caps, plastic corks, or even special glass enclosures in order to combat this from happening. Fortunately, these alternatives have generally been quite successful. In fact, if you ask any educated wine drinker their opinion regarding cork alternatives, they most likely will agree that the use of cork alternatives for young wines meant to be drunk young, nothing could be better.
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