News and views from the wine world: 

Think pink? Mais oui: Fueled by younger consumers, the French are drinking more rose than white wine, according to this report. About one in every five bottles sold in France is a rose’. Reaction: Given that the Tavel region was a progenitor of the pink stuff, maybe these kids are just honoring tradition.

Rioja Libre: That’s equal parts tempranillo and Coca-Cola to you and me, one of a slew of  “wine cocktails” that are catching on from San Francisco to Arlington, Va., according to this article. Giganto wineries R.H. Phillips and Ecco Domani have hopped on board this bandwagon as well. Reaction: As a longtime fan of sundry sangrias, and an advocate of (almost) anything that will bring more consumers to wine (especially in a low-alcohol kind of way), I find nothing wrong this tend. But I’ll still take rum, not Rioja, with my Diet Coke.

Not-so-blue Sunday: There’s encouraging news here, or actually elsewhere and not literally here. Twelve states have repealed “blue laws” restricting Sunday alcohol sales since 2002. Reaction: I suppose it’s inevitable that as the home state of Andrew Volstead, sponsor of the bill that produced Prohibition, we would be behind the curve in this one. The always-lively Tom Wark has a droll post on this topic at his Fermentations bloig.

Hazy outlook: The wildfires in California have abated, but it’s possible that their effect on this year’s wines will be noteworthy. This blog post takes a close look at the history and science of this issue. Reaction: Good thing there’s so much great wine available from elsewhere, just in case this year’s vintage in California is smoke-marred — although the plummeting dollar could create a double-whammy.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 3:12 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.