The Silly Season - Some News Stories You May Have Missed

True or false?

Cold To Trot

A winery in Brazil is about to produce its first vintage of a Cabernet Sauvignon eiswein.

Holy Moses!

After recent climatic travails an enterprising Victorian winery has released a cuvee called Burning Bush Shiraz which, apparently, goes very well with dishes featuring chard.

Being Savvy?

Never shy at putting technology at the forefront of marketing, New Zealand’s most famous winery has introduced “Cloudy BayBook” – a kind of Facebook where people can chat to each other endlessly about their experiences of Cloudy Bay wines.

More Is More

Meanwhile, in Marlborough, developers are flattening a mountain to make way for more vine planting. “If we don’t increase vineyard planting exponentially, we don’t know what will happen”, explained a spokesman for the region.

Green Regime

In the light of the news that Chateau Latour intends to convert its vineyards to organic status by 2010 there has also been a mooted label redesign which will still feature the famous castle tower motif only with the addition of a ladybird looking out of one of the windows.

We’re Lovin’ It

Following on from the burger joint in California where you can buy Napa Valley Merlot with your onion rings, MacDonalds has got in on the act with its De Luxe MacBurgundy Meal which it aims to pilot and then introduce into a small number of its European franchises . Their hamburger (gherkin optional) comes with a village Burgundy, the quarter pounder is teamed with a premier cru wine, and, of course, the big Mac is accompanied by a Styrofoam wine cup of one of the grand cru wines.