Perdue, who has helped kill legislation allowing Sunday package store sales of alcohol, also signed a measure letting limo companies sell alcohol.

Perdue signed the liquor bills, along with dozens of others, on the day before the deadline to sign or veto legislation.

Under state law, today is the last day for Perdue to act on bills passed during the 2008 session.

The governor is waiting until the last minute to sign or veto some of the most controversial legislation lawmakers approved during the 2008 session.

That includes a bill allowing permit holders to carry concealed weapons on public transportation, in restaurants that serve alcohol and in state parks.

The governor’s opposition to Sunday alcohol sales at grocery and convenience stores helped stall the issue the past two legislative sessions.

Perdue likened allowing a vote on Sunday sales to letting Georgians decide whether to legalize prostitution.
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According to the Future of Wine report, drawn up by London-based wine merchants Berry Bros & Rudd (BBR), China, which is already the world’s sixth largest producer, will lead the world by the year 2058.

The report, which predicts the state of world of wine in 50 years, also says China will ‘rival the best of Bordeaux’.

‘I absolutely think China will be a fine wine player rivalling the best wines from France,’ said Jasper Morris MW. ‘It is entirely conceivable that, in such a vast country, there will be pockets of land with a terroir and micro-climate well suited to the production of top quality wines.’

Based on the opinions of its four Masters of Wine, the report also spelled out some encouraging predictions for lesser-known wine countries and stark warnings for other, bigger producers.

Climate change, it said, would favour eastern European countries such as Ukraine, Moldova, Croatia, Slovenia and Poland, as well as Canada, which, BBR said, ‘could rival its American neighbour’ the US.

The UK also stands to gain on its cross-channel neighbour, with the amount of English land devoted to wine production ‘may rival that of France’.

Australia would be the big loser, it said, with the country too hot and arid to support large areas of vine.

‘It will become a niche producer, concentrating on hand-crafted, terroir-driven, fine wine,’ said the report.

Tasmania, it added, would be one of the beneficiaries.
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This extensive wine tasting was expertly conducted by Wes Marshall, award-winning author of The Wine Roads of Texas. It was a blind tasting, meaning that tasters did not know the identity of the wines.

So, we all sniffed and sipped a series of mystery wines and waved our hands to vote for favorites.

When the wines’ identities were disclosed, Texas wines once again showed their worth.

In the sauvignon blanc flight, Llano Estacado Sauvignon Blanc 2007 ($9) won over the crowd despite being paired against far more expensive wines.

The viognier tasting ended in a tie between Becker Viognier 2007 ($15) and Brennan Viognier 2007 ($19). These are both fragrant, balanced and peachy wines, with the latter having a hint of sweetness.

In the chardonnay flight, Becker Vineyards Reserve Chardonnay 2006 ($22) bested the highly regarded Clos Du Val Napa Valley Chardonnay 2006 ($24).

California deserves honorable mention, however, because the second favorite was Meeker’s Lobster Cove Chardonnay 2005 ($13), tough to beat at that price.

The top merlot was Fall Creek Merlot 2005 ($12), another great value. Fall Creek Meritus 2004 ($40) and Becker Vineyards Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 ($27) showed beautifully in the cabernet sauvignon flight.

Last but not least, the syrah flight had votes divided among Becker’s flavorful Prairie Roti 2005 ($16), Brennan’s balanced Syrah 2006 ($17) and McPherson’s lighter-bodied Tre Colore 2006 ($14).

Deloitte partner Gary Doran said Global Wine Holdings had been selected from 14 short-listed parties that had “expressed an interest in acquiring the assets”.

Palandri Wines went into voluntary administration in February with millions of dollars in debts to 2,500 creditors, many thought to be from financial planner client investments in debentures in Palandri Finance.

Global Wine Holdings is a newly-formed private company controlled by Chinese entrepreneur Xibo Ma – who was formerly the second largest shareholder of Palandri and has considerable industry interests in China.

Doran said the administrators believed the “sale of the business as a going concern was the optimal result for all Palandri stakeholders”.

“In recent weeks we have been in negotiations with short listed bidders and the secured creditors in an effort to maximise returns to all parties.”

Ma has invited former Palandri directors Darrel Jarvis and Chris Brown to the position of non-executive directors to “provide knowledge of the business”, Doran said.

An independent chief executive officer will be appointed to manage the company.

You remember when the grapes that survived 2007’s wild weather yielded some of the best wines you’ve ever sipped.

You remember when North Carolina’s wine country was just taking off.

What’s pushing the state’s wine culture to the next level? A little bit of national buzz and a run of rough weather that winemakers are making the best of.

Late last month, “Today” show food editor Phil Lempert proclaimed Napa Valley winemaking out — doomed by global warming — and said North Carolina was poised to claim Napa’s crown. And while wine boosters in our state aren’t ready to agree that Napa is kaput, they are happy to get Lempert’s nod.

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Source: The News & Observer

Over 300m nine-litre cases of domestic and imported wine were shipped into the US in 2007, a rise of 4% over 2006, according to the Gomberg-Fredrikson Report. At the same time, the market’s value rose 8%, as consumers gravitated toward premium wines from home and abroad.

The increase further cement the position of the US as the world’s biggest wine market by value. The nation is also poised to overtake France and Italy in volume terms – and may even have already done so, as official 2007 figures are not yet available for either country.

‘Wine continues to enjoy a positive standing with the press, government and consumers. Many positive news reports on moderate wine consumption and health have also contributed to its positive image,’ said wine industry consultant Jon Fredrikson.

‘Though the economy is slowing, wine is gaining traction among American adult consumers, and it is likely that wine consumption will continue to expand over the next decade.’

The figures also signal the continuing slide of California’s market share by volume, thanks to imports. In 1997, it was 74%, in 2006 62.%, and in 2007, 61.3% - despite an increase of shipments of 2% by volume and 6% by value.

However, US wine exports (95% from California) increased 8.6% in value to $951m, while volumes were up 12% to just over 50m cases.

California Wine Institute president and CEO Bobby Koch said ’strong consumer interest’ was fuelling the increased consumption of the state’s wines at home and abroad.

Source: Decanter

“It kind of came out of nowhere,” Lil Jon told The Associated Press of his new venture, Little Jonathan Winery. “We were just going to do some private label stuff (for parties) and we did it, and people was like, ‘Hey, it’s pretty nice.”‘

Lil Jon acknowledges that he’s no wine connoisseur. “I’m not no ‘drink wine every day’ kind of dude,” he said in a telephone interview. “I’m not like an expert, so don’t ask me no questions … I just like the taste.”

And he knows what he likes, including white wines and dessert wines (winemaker Alison Crowe is responsible for the label, made in California).

Little Jonathan Winery is not Lil Jon’s first venture into the drink market: He launched Crunk!!! Energy Drink a few years back: The concoction took its name from the rap style he made famous. But he is treating his venture into winemaking with a more serious approach, which is why he decided against using his stage name for the label.

“My full name is Jonathan,” the Atlanta-based artist said. “The wine is more nature: I wanted to not just have a direct connection, but make it just a little bit more upscale than regular ‘Lil Jon.’ … This is not no ghetto Boone’s Farm; this is some real wine.”

Lil Jon has more time on his hands these days for winemaking and other ventures: While he continues to produce hits, he hasn’t released an album since 2004’s best-selling Crunk Juice with the Eastside Boyz. It may be a little while longer before fans hear new music, since his label, TVT Records, recently went bankrupt.

Lil Jon said he has an album ready to go — he’s just waiting for the TVT situation to resolve itself.

“I want to get it out asap, but TVT has top figure out there business, and that’s about all I can say,” he said with a laugh.

Source: USA Today

Other winners included Good Wine Under $20 (best wine review blog and best single subject blog), Tablas Creek Wine Blog (best winery blog), Grape Radio (best wine podcast/video blog), The Wine Collector (best wine business blog), and Chateau Petrogasm (best wine blog graphics).

The awards were started last year by Tom Wark, who publishes his own wine blog (Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog) and runs Wark Communications, a Glen Ellen-based wine public relations and marketing firm.

Wark said he started the award to bring attention to the genre by highlighting the best wine blog. “The number of wine blogs on the Internet has grown to well over 700 and represents a change in the way consumers and wine lovers obtain information about wine,” he said in a March 31 statement. More than 2,000 voters and a panel of judges jointly determined the winners.

Twenty-four blogs in eight categories vied for the awards. Nominations were made by voters, and then winnowed down by the judges, followed by a vote of both the public and the judges to determine the winners. The public’s tally got 70 percent of the weighting.

Judges included Jack Everitt, of the Fork & Bottle blog; Dan Fredman, of Dan Fredman Public Relations; Steve Heimoff, Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s West Coast editor; Derrick Schneider, Obsession With Food blogger; Wolfgang Webber, Wine & Spirits Magazine’s associate editor, and Tori Wilder, of Wilder PR, according to Wark’s web site.

Source: San Francisco Business Times 

Georgians would be able to go online and purchase up to 12 cases of wine a year directly from wineries, under a bill that’s now headed to Governor Sonny Perdue.The bill passed in the state Senate 40-6 on Monday. It’s already passed in the House.

Perdue doesn’t drink and is opposed to repealing the state’s blue law banning alcohol sales at grocery stores on Sundays. It’s unknown if he’ll sign the online wine bill.

Thirty-seven other states already allow direct sales online from wineries.

State Senator Renee Unterman said she had received thousands of letter and e-mails pressing for online wine sales. The Republican from Buford said it would be a boost to north Georgia’s wineries. Without the change in the law, Georgia wineries would no longer be able to ship their product to out-of-state consumers.

Separately, the Senate voted 35-6 to allow winery tasting rooms to also sell beer and liquor.

Chester, PA. March 28, 2008 – WineMarketer.com has recently started a newsletter that focuses on wine Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, and conventional Marketing. Industry professionals from both the wine and marketing worlds have signed on to be regular presenters of various topics as the newsletter moves forward. Now up and running, WineMarketer.com hopes to bring together top minds in the field and share their expertise, while prompting discussions and debates on their website forums.

“This is a really special project, and I’m excited about it” says Mark Spangler, Founder of WineMarketer.com and VP at ClassicWines.com. “There is no shortage of newsletters out there, but this one really behaves as an authoritative resource for anyone interested in wine and marketing. The newsletter has already got some great writers, and more are slated to go.”

Two writers who have contributed to the newsletter include Tom Wark and Mitch Tarr. Tom Wark is a name familiar to anyone involved in the online wine industry, especially in regards to interstate wine shipping laws. Wark is the driving mechanism behind The Specialty Wine Retailers Association, a group of individuals and companies concerned with the state of wine shipping laws.

When asked why he decided to become a member of the Wine Marketer Newsletter, Wark replied, “More than anything I liked the motivation of the folks behind the Wine Marketer Newsletter as well as quality of the fellow writers.” And as to what he thought he could contribute, “My expertise is in wine public relations and communications and I’ll be focusing on very specific and simple tools marketers can immediately employ to help move their business forward.”

Mitch Tarr is CEO of ZinMarketing.com and an email marketing specialist. He has been assisting costumers with online marketing since 1998. When asked why he joined the WineMarketer.com team, he replied, “I wanted to participate in the Wine Marketer Newsletter because I believe that a newsletter is a terrific way to keep your brand name in front of your readers. If there is valuable content there, you build up a solid readership by sending a periodic newsletter.” And as to what he would contribute, “I am an evangelist for the proper use of email marketing to help retain existing customers and to acquire new ones. I’ll be writing about how to use email properly and handle problems like spam and deliverability.”

Mark Spangler intends to present articles by these authors and other specialists on a weekly basis. “We’re focused on quality of content for this newsletter, and hope to generate interest and conversation for each topic. By having a weekly release, we can stay on topic of the hottest issues in the industry.”

Wark echoes Spangler’s sentiment. “There are only a few sources for good, solid wine-related marketing information. The addition of another source of information that helps folks can only be welcomed, particularly as the tools of the trade change and evolve so rapidly.”

Current guest editors include highly-regarded industry professionals: Paul Mabray, CEO of Inertia Beverage Group; Brian Pasch, CEO of Pasch Consulting Group; Tom Wark, Owner of Wark Communications; Mark Spangler of WineMarketer.com and ClassicWines.com; Mitch Tarr, CEO of Zin Marketing; Rob Rubin, CEO of R&R Wine Marketing.

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WineMarketer.com is a site dedicated to the discussion and dissemination of ideas about marketing in the wine industry with daily news links, active message boards and a weekly newsletter. Wine Marketer focuses on SEO, SEM, and traditional marketing and encourages active participation by its users. To sign up for the WineMarketer.com Newsletter, visit here - http://www.winemarketer.com/wineseo/.

Windsor, CA (PRWEB) March 28, 2008 - U.S. consumer direct wine sales reached record levels in 2007, according to the latest research results published today by wine marketing advisors, VinterActive LLC.

Based on their annual VinQuest™ survey of the nation’s 3500+ bonded wineries, VinterActive reports that tasting room, wine club, internet, mail order and telesales grew to a record $2.8 Billion in 2007 as more wineries than ever sold their wine directly to U.S. consumers across the country.

At many established wineries, results were mixed in 2007 as gains in tasting room sales were offset by reported reductions in wine club spending, growing competition from other wineries and the significant barriers still posed by interstate shipping regulations.

Key findings of this year’s research reveal:

• Total direct sales by U.S. wineries in 2007: $2.8 Billion
• Year-over-year change in consumer direct sales at established wineries in 2007: - 2%
• Tasting room sales growth in 2007: 29%
• Wine club sales decline in 2007: -4%
• Online wine sales growth in 2007: 3%
• Phone order growth in 2007: 33%
• Direct mail sales decline in 2007: -11%
• U.S. wineries projecting consumer direct as their fastest growing sales channel in 2008: 57%

Despite a sluggish economy and rising fuel prices, winery sales managers remain upbeat about prospects for growth, with most wine regions forecasting direct sales gains of 10% to 20% in 2008.VinQuest™ 2008 also identifies the most effective sales/marketing practices used by consumer direct wineries in all regions and provides a detailed comparison of tasting room, wine club and online direct sales metrics at U.S. wineries of every size.

The complete 70-page VinQuest™ 2008 research report including detailed response to all survey questions, best-practices analysis, time-series views and proprietary regional winery performance data is available from VinterActive LLC at a cost of $1595.

About VinQuest™ 2008
The VinQuest™ 2008 research project was conducted by wine marketing advisors VinterActive LLC with support from a national coalition of wine industry associations in an effort to better understand the size and dynamics of the U.S. consumer direct wine sales channel. Now in its fourth year, VinQuest has become the largest and most widely used source of consumer direct sales data in the U.S. wine industry.

Participating winery associations include: WineAmerica, Napa Valley Vintners, New York Wine & Grape Foundation, Illinois Wine, Russian River Wine Road, Heart of Sonoma Valley Association, Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance, Oregon Wine Board, Michigan Grape & Wine Industry Council, Seneca Lake Wine Trail, and the Paso Robles Wine Alliance. Initial guidance and encouragement was provided by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

About VinterActive LLC
VinterActive LLC is a leader in the research and practice of consumer direct wine marketing and winery ecommerce. Founded in 2001, VinterActive’s global team of direct marketing experts, wine sales advisors, and system engineers have identified and developed proprietary techniques for increasing tasting room, wine club and online sales that have proven effective for both large and small wineries seeking to maximize their share of the rapidly growing consumer direct sales channel.