Chile Seduces China and a Winemaker Romance

© Concha y Toro | Australia's difficulties have become Chile's opportunities in China.

While everyone gasped at space-aged Pétrus going up for auction with an astronomical seven-figure estimate, and while the French wine industry mourned the loss of three influential winemakers and growers (Laurent Vaillé of Grange des Pères in Aniane, Pascal Clairet of Domaine de la Tournelle in Arbois, and Laurent Grimaud, a grower in Provence), here are some of this week's headlines you might have missed...

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Chilean wine exports to China grow

Australia's trade spat with China looks unlikely to be resolved soon with Beijing announcing on Friday that it was suspending economic talks with Australia due to "the current attitude of the Australian commenwealth government". According to broadsheet The Australian, the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission accused Australian government officials of "disrupt[ing] the normal exchanges and co-operation between China and Australia out of Cold War mindset and ideological discrimination". The paper said the news would be a "blow to a swath of industries that have been hit by trade tariffs, including wine, agriculture and resources".

As Australia grapples with the ongoing trade dispute, reports suggest the likes of Chile and Spain have stepped into the gap. According to Chilean news outlet La Tercera, local wine giant Concha y Toro's exports to China have surged 128 percent, year-on-year, in the first quarter. Spanish news agency EFE reported on Wednesday that Chile had overtaken Australian exports to China in both volume and value, bringing the South American country to a second-place export position behind France. Spain had also posted strong gains, according to the report, and "due to the Australian collapse [had] positioned itself as the third largest exporter to China by volume."

Non-alcoholic wine sweeps Australia

With a year-on-year growth of 800 percent, non-alcoholic wines are reportedly Australia's fastest-growing drinks category. According to the Brisbane Times, the sector is set to be worth AUS$15 million by the end of the year. "It's been growing for a couple of years now but probably in the last few months there's been an explosion ... especially from new start-ups," Paul Andrade of Australian non-alcoholic wine pioneers Edenvale told the paper. "I think a lot of people are surprised by its taste and aroma," he added.

Napa mom pens "sensual" romance

TV writer and mother to a Napa winemaker, Linda Sheehan has penned a romantic novel covering the amorous trials and tribulations of an American winemaker. Titled "Decanted", the novel spans France and the US, mixing winemaking and romance. "I wanted to add a lot of fun knowledge to make it interesting, without making it a study guide. The world of wine can be an intimidating subject for a lot of people," Sheehan told the Napa Valley Register. Sheehan's daughter, Samantha, who runs Poe Wines (as well as offshoot brand Ultraviolet, which is featured in the book), served as the inspiration for the adventures of the book's main character, Samantha Goodyear. "A lot of the winery incidents in the book are based on what happened to my daughter when she was first learning about winemaking," said Sheehan, who has worked as a producer and writer in film and television..

"Fans of women's fiction will find the flavor of this read more full-bodied than a romance, embracing career and growth as much as it embraces the wine industry and Samantha's mercurial explorations of life," said Diane Donovan of the Midwest Book Review.

Decanted is due for publication this week.

France gets creative with wine deliveries

After a year of Covid lockdowns and despite strong progess recently in their vaccine rollout, the French wine industry continues to grapple with the effects of the virus. Wine delivery services have seen strong growth while others have found novel solutions under the constraints. Winemaker Xavier Moissenet, of Les Champs des Thémis in Bouzeron on the Côte Chalonnaise, was advertising a wine delivery service in Le Creusot, a sizeable town nearly 50km (30 miles) southwest of Beaune, on Friday. Not only was the organic Aligoté winemaker offerring to drop off wines at individual clients' houses, he also set up shop in the Place Schneider, north of the town where wines could be picked up or bought under social distancing protocols.

Meanwhile in Nantes, in western France, a couple have started their own wine delivery service on bicycles. Running everything through their Instagram account (named Bamboche, or "party"), Romain and Léonor coordinate sales and delivery in the centre of town. Loading up their specially adapted cargo bicycle, the ordered wines are then pedalled over to selected handover points throughout town – they charge extra for rendezvous further afield. Delivery isn't immediate – "we organize delivery at a time that suits everyone", Romain told newspaper Ouest-France. The couple source their idiosyncratic, and mostly natural wine, selection direct from winemakers in the south of France, the newspaper said. The couple launched their service in February and currently shift around 60 bottles a week.

Cases of Lafite and Opus One stolen

Thieves got away with an estimated €60,000 ($73,000) in wine on Friday night/Saturday morning after breaking into a truck parked up in a northern Bordeaux suburb. According to local newspaper Sud-Ouest, the thief or thieves got away with several full cases of prestige wines, including Château Lafite-Rothschild and Napa's Opus One (a favourite of actor Christopher Walken, apparently). The police are investigating.

Côtes de Provence to reintroduce forgotten grape

The almost forgotten local Provence grape Rousseli is set for something of a revival with France's national appellations body (the INAO) set to formally accept the grape as part of the region's official varieties next month. According to Nicolas Garcia, head of the Côtes-de-Provence winemakers' union, the grape, also known as Rosé du Var, is well suited to the region and will help the region combat the effects of climate change.

"These are late varieties, giving lower alcohol levels and that can cope with drought conditions," he told French broadsheet Le Figaro. One hectare of the obscure variety has been cultivated for the last few years at the Château de Berne, from which it produces a wine under the IGP Méditerranée title (under which the grape, as "Rosé du Var", is allowed).

Rousseli has a distinct pink skin and is classified as a "rosé" variety (as opposed to the "noir" red wine grapes of Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon, the "blanc" Chardonnay or Sauvignon or the "gris" of Pinot Gris). It is one a long list of varieties to count Gouais Blanc as a parent.

"It's a variety with big, rosy, juicy berries, it ripens late and has low sugar concentration," Alexis Cornu, Château de Berne's winemaker told the paper. "It's an old variety of the Var that can't be found anywhere else and is well adapted to the climate and the rosé [wines] we're making today. In the 70s, it was dropped because we were looking for more weight in the wines."

The grape fell off the permitted list of varieties in the Côtes-de-Provence in 1977.

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