Plus news of the largest transport of wine by sailboat to date, underway on the Anemos, a ship owned by TransOceanic Wind Transport (TOWT).
New study on wine and health
JAMA Network Open, an open-access medical journal published by the American Medical Association, published a study on 12 August on the effects of occasional, low, moderate and high alcohol consumption in adults 60 years old and older who were either healthy or had existing health problems or lower socioeconomic status. They found that individuals who had existing health problems or lower socioeconomic status saw increased mortality even when drinking small amounts of alcohol. In contrast, healthy individuals saw no increase in mortality even with moderate drinking – which they define as around 3 drinks a day for men and 1.5 for women. Heavy drinking – anything exceeding those moderate limits – had deleterious effects on both healthy and at-risk drinkers.
But the study went even further – it divided out those who prefer wine over other alcoholic beverages (meaning that wine made up more than 80% of the alcohol consumed by an individual) and/or a proclivity towards drinking with meals. They found that these drinkers had lower mortality rates than those who consumed other types of alcohol and drank outside of mealtimes.
Wine by sail gains speed
Way back at the beginning of April we published a highly informative article by Louise Hurren on the increasing effort to decarbonise international wine transportation by employing wind power. While efforts have been ongoing since 2008, it has, as Hurren addresses in her story, often been seen as a gimmick. And that’s because, until this year, each journey has carried, at most, a few thousand cases of wine.
That changed this year.
On 15 March, Grain de Sail II, a 50-metre custom-designed cargo sailing boat, left on its maiden voyage. It made the trip from St-Malo, France, to Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 24 days and carried 180,000 bottles – or 15,000 12-bottle cases.
Last week on 9 August the Anemos, an 81-meter-long cargo sailing boat owned by France’s TransOceanic Wind Transport (TOWT) left on its maiden voyage. It’s expected to cover the same distance – this time from Le Havre, France, to New York – in 14 days, with 400,000 bottles – or 33,333 12-bottle cases. The majority of the cargo is champagne and cognac made by the Pernod Ricard group and also includes Chablis and Côte de Beaune white wines from Maison Joseph Drouhin.
Both of these vessels show a 90% carbon emission reduction over conventional cargo ships.
TikTok’s new alcohol guidelines
This would not generally qualify as news as it happened on 3 June – but TikTok didn’t announce it. That day, the platform updated its alcohol advertisement guidelines for the US and Canada to allow for alcohol advertising to individuals 25 and above. The news popped up in The Spirits Business and Meininger’s this week.
Why the change?
There’s an American advertising code for the beer, wine and spirits industry that states, ‘Beverage alcohol advertising and marketing materials are intended for legal purchase age adults who choose to drink. Thus, these materials should primarily appeal to individuals 21 years of age or older and best efforts should be taken to ensure they are placed in broadcast, cable, radio, print, and internet/digital communications where at least 73.8 percent of the audience is reasonably expected to be 21 or older.’
If you’re wondering about the bizarre number – it’s because the 2020 US Census data determined 73.8% of the US population to be over 21. So, in essence, if it’s a media platform that caters to youth, advertisement of alcohol isn’t allowed.
And until last year it was unclear whether or not the TikTok demographic contained too large a percentage of under-21s to allow for alcohol advertisement. But in December 2023 a complaint was lodged with the Beer Institute against BeatBox – a ready-to-drink cocktail company – for violating the advertising policies of the national trade association with its TikTok video ads. During the legal proceedings TikTok confirmed by email that their audience met the legal drinking age requirement. The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) and Beer Institute then revised their social media policies and TikTok followed.
I don’t know how to feel about this. The restriction around advertising on TikTok means that most alcohol brands have steered well clear of the platform. Despite changes having gone into effect, I still don’t see huge liquor or beer brands such as Grey Goose, Absolut or Modelo with accounts on the platform and that makes me wonder if it’s been sufficiently legally sussed out. For now, my advice would be to secure your handle and not to post until there’s more information available. I see that at least Bacardi has done that much.
Ackley acquires Charles Smith
Ackley is a relatively young company, established when they acquired Willamette Valley’s Montinore Estate in 2016. After acquiring Montinore they acquired Tidalstar Vineyard and Laughlin Road Ranch Vineyard in Willamette Valley before launching Landlines Estates and Borealis Vintners brands in Oregon, Cataclysm Wine Co in Washington and First Sight in California. In April of this year, they acquired Columbia Winery and Hogue Cellars in Washington from Gallo. Then in May they acquired Betz Family Winery. And, last week, they acquired the Charles Smith Wines portfolio – made up of Kung Fu Girl Riesling, The Velvet Devil Merlot, Band of Roses rosé, Eve Chardonnay, Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon and Boom Boom! Syrah.
In the last 12 months the company has more than quadrupled their annual production volume to around 350,000 cases of wine – which makes them one of the largest wine companies in the Pacific Northwest.
Generally speaking, I would worry that a rapidly expanding company might overstep and tank the brands they were trying to save … but part of that worry would be based on outside investors not seeing the growth they wanted. Ackley isn’t venture capital. They are family-owned and the first two things they say about themselves on LinkedIn are ‘well-capitalized’ and ‘long-term’. They have also focused their efforts on making biodynamic- and organic-certified wines. I’ve got my fingers crossed that they have continued success and perhaps bring more organic and biodynamic certifications to Washington – something that’s currently lacking.
Early harvest in Austria
Last week I mentioned the beginning of harvest in Sicily, Hungary and California. I missed Burgenland, Austria, which began harvest on 5 August. This is Austria’s earliest start to harvest in four decades.
If you have information on the start of harvest in areas I haven’t mentioned, please email me at news@jancisrobinson.com.
Photo at top courtesy Piriou.com.
This is a transcript of our weekly five-minute news broadcast, which you can watch below. You can also listen to it on The Wine News in 5 Podcast. If you have breaking news in your area, please email news@jancisrobinson.com. And if you enjoy this content and would like to see more like it, please subscribe to our site and our weekly newsletter.