And, on a brighter note, Gigondas Blanc has arrived, and the Austrian digital wine atlas (shown above) just got even better.
Gigondas Blanc, a new AOC
This week we published an article from Alistair Cooper MW, on the 1 July release of a brand-new AOC wine category – Gigondas Blanc. The Gigondas AOC was established in 1971 but only red and rosé wines qualified for the appellation label. White wines had to be labelled as Côtes du Rhône. In 2011 growers began discussions with the INAO – the body responsible for granting and regulating appellation status in France – to add white wines to the appellation. It took 11 years but they finally won that approval in September 2022. The 2023 vintage, released a bit over two weeks ago, is the first vintage eligible for this category. I highly recommend you check out Ali’s article for more detail and for tasting notes!
Ontario strike update
Two weeks ago, I told you that 9,000 Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) employees belonging to the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) went on strike, effectively closing 669 LCBO retail locations. The strike is in large part because Premier Doug Ford planned to allow the sales of ready-to-drink cocktails in grocery and convenience stores rather than solely through the LCBO. Throughout the strike, private alcohol sales have remained available through restaurants, bars, grocery stores, bottle shops and convenience stores. But last week, the union picketed LCBO warehouses and delayed trucks responsible for restocking the warehouses.
This week, because of reduced warehouse inventories, a group called Restaurants Canada called on the Government of Ontario to cancel their original plans to partially reopen 32 LCBO retail locations on 19 July. They stated that bars and restaurants are having a hard time restocking – with many products out of stock – and that the limited resources should go towards protecting independent businesses. The government agreed to this on 14 July. On the 15th they announced that they were accelerating their alcohol expansion plan and would allow grocery stores to sell RTDs from 18 July rather than the previously projected 1 August. In the last month the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario has issued 3,153 licenses to convenience stores to sell beer, wine, cider and RTDs, and issued new licenses to 54 grocery stores.
Considering all of this information, it seems like the strike is speeding up privatisation. And it seems that OPSEU workers are getting desperate. Yesterday I received an anonymous tip from a business owner that the union was picketing Trillium – a specialty services warehouse that almost exclusively deals in private orders for restaurants and bottle shops. This actively blocks small independent importers from dropping off goods, and independent bottle shops, wine schools and small family-owned restaurants from picking up product they desperately need. While I understand that people are afraid of losing their jobs, restaurants are just beginning to recover from COVID-19 closures, and this is actively harming small businesses.
Fortunately, Friday morning the LCBO announced a tentative agreement with OPSEU. The only details currently available are that, if ratified, the strike will end on 22 July and stores will reopen on 23 July. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!
Hail in France’s Ardèche
French publication Vitisphere has reported that on 11 July, 800 hectares (1,977 acres) in the Ardèche were hit by hail. The area affected is about 60 km (37 miles) south and west of Cornas and was already experiencing sub-optimal vintage conditions due to mildew pressure.
Accolade’s acquisition
Way back at the beginning of May I told you that three of Australia’s five largest wine producers were in merger talks. At the end of May, Accolade Wines ended merger talks with Australian Vintage but were still in talks with Pernod Ricard. As of this Wednesday, 17 July, it has been announced that Accolade will purchase all of Pernod Ricard’s Australian, New Zealand and Spanish wine interests. Pernod Ricard will keep its Champagne brands – Perrier-Jouët and Mumm – as well as the recently acquired Sainte Marguerite Provençal rosé, but will largely focus on its premium spirits portfolio. The sale is expected to be finalised at the beginning of 2025 and will, in all likelihood, see Accolade Wines overtake Treasury Wine Estates as Australia’s largest wine company by volume.
Crisis distillation in Portugal
As of 10 July, the European Union has approved €15 million in subsidies for Portuguese wine producers to distil excess wine. This is the second year that producers have received crisis distillation funds – in 2023 they received €20 million in subsidies.
But why does Portugal need these funds? Why do they have so much excess wine?
In part because exports have dropped, in part because the 2023 harvest was relatively large, but the most problematic reason is because Spain is selling its bulk wine to Portuguese producers and retailers for criminally cheap and often undercutting what Portuguese producers need to charge for their wine. Barnaby Eales at Meininger’s recently reported on this phenomenon, writing, ‘five-litre bag-in-box wines in Portuguese supermarkets with an average price of €5.99, are often packaged with Portuguese emblems. Closer examination reveals small lettering stating “Producto da UE” (EU product) – indicating that the wine originated in Spain.’
Because of the extent of this problem the government has declared that any producers who have imported wine in the last three years do not qualify for aid and that they will be strengthening inspections on wine imports. Some producers are calling for controls on the amount of wine that can be imported.
To everyone watching or listening to this newscast, you’re invested in this industry – you wouldn’t be tuning in otherwise. Please remind your family and friends to read labels. This isn’t just a Portuguese problem – in the last few months I’ve told you about issues with misleading labelling in California and British Columbia, and I am certain that this is not the extent of it.
Austria’s Digital Wine Atlas improvements
If you are a wine student, someone who likes Austrian wine or someone who likes maps, and you haven’t already been on AustrianVineyards.com, you should do so immediately. The Austrian Wine Marketing Board has the best online atlas of any trade body bar none. The level of detail is insane – if you click on a region the map will show you the generic growing region, the specific Districtus Austriae Controllatus (DAC), the number of planted hectares and how much of that is terraced, the percentage of white vs red, and the average temperatures for each season. Then you can zoom in to look at individual vineyards and see their elevation, slope and aspect. But this has all existed for a while – the news piece of this is that as of 3 July, Austrian Wine has added the type of bedrock, soil type and soil texture to all listed single vineyards.
You guys, who needs TV? I have spent hours perusing this site in the last few days.
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.