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You are here: Home » Food + Drink » Archive » April 2008-1
April 2008-1
Food and Drink Archive: April 1-30, 2008
French vintners consider screw-top caps
AP. April 30, 2008
Screw tops, boxed wines, colorful easy-to-understand labels and
sophisticated marketing _ innovations pioneered by countries like
Australia _ are making inroads into tradition-bound France, even if
many still sneer at them. The change comes in response to New World
winemakers that have wooed wine lovers and gained market share with
jazzy marketing campaigns.
> More
French vintners to go on trial in wine fraud
Expatica. April 25, 2008
Sixty French winegrowers, traders and supermarket executives are to go
on trial accused of adding hundreds of tonnes of sugar to Beaujolais
wines from 2004 to 2006, officials said A[ril 22, 2008. Authorities in
the Beaujolais region of eastern France opened an inquiry in December
in connection with the irregular sale of 600 tonnes of supermarket
sugar, thought to have been sold on to dozens of local winegrowers.
> More
Bordeaux’s star chefs
NewYorkTimes. April 22, 2008
It’s just one of the remarkable food experiences in the region, where a
cadre of experimental French chefs including Nicolas Magie (La Cape in
Cenon), Thierry Marx (Cordeillan-Bages) and Philippe Etchebest
(Hostellerie de Plaisance), have pulled Bordeaux into the 21st century
of cuisine, leaving Paris kilometers behind. “The potent food and
atmosphere work an intoxicating spell … This is food so excitingly
good, it even eases the sting of the weak dollar,” says the Times.
> More
French villages in spat over champagne name
Telegraph. April 22, 2008
Envy and recrimination is spreading through France's Champagne region
where a new official survey has given another 40 villages the right to
label their sparkling wine "champagne". Delight among the winners has
been matched by opprobrium from other villages who failed to gain entry
to the Champagne region and win the status this accords.
Marchais-en-Brie has struck liquid gold by becoming the only village in
its county to be added to the list. Local farmers have won a remarkable
agricultural jackpot, with the price of their land expected to increase
from less than 8,000 euros per hectare to more than a million.
> More
Asian buyer sets French wine auction record
Reuters. April 20, 2008
An anonymous Chinese billionaire paid a record $500,000 for 27 bottles
of Romanee Conti, a Burgundy wine considered to be among the world's
most exclusive with only 450 cases produced each year. "It is the
highest price that has ever been achieved for a single lot," said
Managing Director Stephen Williams of the London- based Antique Wine
Company.
> More
AOC camembert must use raw milk
TTC. April 18, 2008
In a huge victory for small cheese makers, experts ruled that Camembert
sold with the AOC label must indeed be made with raw, not treated,
milk. France's two biggest industrial dairy firms, Lactalis and Isigny
Cooperative, which together produced 80 percent of AOC Camembert,
pulled out of the AOC system because they use treated milk. They warned
that raw milk cheese is ahealth hazard. But the French public and
government disagree.
> More
Robert Parker: Bordeaux 2007 'disappointing'
Decanter. April 18, 2008
The majority of Bordeaux 2007 wines are disappointing, American wine
guru Robert Parker told French broadsheet Le Figaro. Parker said that
although the vintage was impressive in places, overall the wines were
poor. Underlining what many producers, merchants and tasters have said
about the vintage, Parker said that last year's warm September seems to
have 'saved' some of the wines.
> More
Review: Alain Ducasse’s new restaurant Adour
NewYorkTimes. April 18, 2008
With his new restaurant Adour Alain Ducasse in the St. Regis New York,
French chef Alain Dicasse may be making amends for the excesses of his
previous failed restaurant Alain Ducasse at the Essex House. It’s a
glorified wine bar. One critic calls it a “qualified victory.” It’s not
through-and-through rapturous, but it’s first-rate: polished service, a
knockout wine list, beautiful oil-poached cod, gorgeous roasted lamb
and exquisite desserts.
> More
Does French cuisine merit UN stars?
IHT. April 14, 2008
La cuisine française has been reduced to heirloom status, and the odd
thing is that the French themselves have colluded in the process, led
by President Nicolas Sarkozy, who in February announced his wish that
it be listed for protection under Unesco's heritage scheme. Unesco's
Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage -
which includes oral traditions, performance art, traditional crafts,
social practices and "knowledge and practices concerning nature and the
universe" - that Sarkozy wants French cooking to be enshrined. Yet the
last time the French startled the food world was in the 1970s with "la
nouvelle cuisine," with its oversized plates, undersized portions and
undercooked chicken and fish.
> More
Bargain White Rhone wines
WineSpectator. April 14, 2008
Southern Rhône whites can be a hodgepodge thanks to the region's
numerous appellations and a mix of grapes. They make good food partners
with fish, pork or chicken dishes. With the cost of French wines in
general, it's easy to forget that there are still some great values out
there. Here's a selection of whites from the Southern Rhône, most of
which cost under $20 a bottle.
> More
Bordeaux 2007: a white wine year
Decanter. April 8, 2008
The white wines of Bordeaux are set to be the success story of the
vintage, experts say. Both the sweet wines of Sauternes and the dry
wines of the Graves have impressed professionals in Bordeaux for en
primeur 2007. Decanter's Sauternes specialist David Peppercorn MW is
confident the wines he has tasted have good potential. 'It's a great
vintage,' he told decanter.com.
> More
Bordeaux 2007: the early verdict
Decanter. April 8, 2008
Bordeaux producers are struggling to generate excitement over the 2007
vintage, with visiting press and trade wary of both the quality of the
wines and the likely prices.The vintage, which by September was all but
written off following a dreadful summer and a month of rain in August,
was partially saved by a spectacular Indian summer. Despite the
reprieve, however, the Bordelais have yet to convince commentators that
the vintage is anything better than mixed.
> More
Psst! A Great, Unknown French Wine
BusinessWeek. April 8, 2008
Only a 20-minute drive from Châteauneuf-du-Pape and planted with the
same varietals is the appellation of Vacqueyras (pronounced
"Vac-ke-rahs"). This region, which remains under most consumers'
radars, produces reasonably priced wines that are better than most
Côtes du Rhônes and nearly as good as the finest Châteauneuf-du-Papes.
> More
2007 Bordeaux: Good but Nothing Special
WineSpectator. April 8, 2008
Bordeaux is introducing its 2007 vintage to the world, but instead of
generating excitement, this year the process has felt monotonous. It's
clear that 2007 is a good but nothing-special vintage for most of the
well-known wines of Bordeaux. Sauternes and dry whites are the
exceptions; they can be fabulous. And there are a few outstanding reds
as well. But overall, I am not sure the new vintage is even on the same
level as 1999.
> More
French booze giant buys Absolut
BBC. April 2, 2008
French alcohol giant Pernod Ricard is to buy Vin & Sprit, maker of
Absolut vodka, from the Swedish government. The 55bn kronor ($9.24bn;
£4.6bn) deal follows months of speculation over who would buy the
state-owned firm and the world's second largest vodka label. The
manufacture of Absolut will stay in Sweden.
> More
The Inconvenient Truth About 2007 Bordeaux
WineSpectator. April 2, 2008
As one wine producer told me today after I tasted his barrel samples of
2007 Bordeaux, "It's a so-so vintage. We can't really expect much out
of it." I have to agree. I have spent the better part of this week in
Bordeaux, and have so far tasted nearly 150 wines, in château cellars
and blind tastings at my hotel. The 2007 vintage will never be
remembered as a serious vintage, or even a good year. It's average
quality at best, producing aromatic, lightly fruity and finely tannic
wines
> More
France overrun by boars
Guardian. April 2, 2008
Experts at the French National Office of Hunting and Wildlife say the
population of wild boars is for the first time above a million -
despite a record 500,000 killed by hunters last year. 'It's an
invasion. We need a war on boars.' Boars have thrived because they are
protected by hunters during the off eason. But they cause millions of
euroes worth of damage to crops.
> More
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