The mood at Vinitaly this year matched the warm spring weather of Verona, with the fair buzzing with ideas and visitors. The general programme included discussions about the threats from the health lobby and the opportunities for alcohol-free wines. A report from Meininger’s.
Creating wine-based, non-alcoholic products that take the category seriously has opened up new markets for Chavin, including the halal market. Felicity Carter reports.
When a host says 'can I get you a drink?', they're rarely offering No-Lo wines or sparkling tea. Robert Joseph suggests that, despite not containing any alcohol, these are ‘drinks' too – and deserve rather more recognition than they're currently given.
Robert Joseph suggests that, if the wine industry is to combat the threat of Neo-Prohibitionism, it needs to work together with producers of other forms of alcohol, to create a strategy, acknowledge some of its own failings, and to understand where its foes are coming from.
In response to declining sales, several Bordeaux winemakers are adopting innovative, sober strategies. Meanwhile, France is engaged in a debate over regulations for partially de-alcoholized wines with protected geographical indications.
Niederösterreich, Austria’s largest wine-growing area, consists of eight independent quality regions designated as DACs, or Districtus Austriae Controllatus. They stretch in close proximity to one another, often taking their names from their own distinctive landscapes.