Chateau Montrose to be sold

Martin Bouygues, head of the French construction giant Bouygues, is looking to buy Montrose, the second-growth Bordeaux château. Although Bouygues and his brother, Olivier, are acting alone, the bid to buy the estate was confirmed by the Bouygues Group, which also includes a telecommunications arm, has an estimated market value of US$14.4b and the Bouygues family is, according to Forbes, worth around $1.3b. Chateau Montrose is considered the 'Chateau Latour of Saint-Estephe and, by a general consensus, produced the "wine of the vintage" in 2003. (source: Oliver Styles - Decanter.com)

France: wine crisis spreading

An angry group of protesters, members of Jeunes Agriculteurs (the young farmers') union, heaped a tonne of manure outside Stéphane Page's office, a wine broker at Bordeaux, in protest at his activities for selling wine at EUR 700 per barrel (900 litres) . The Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur union attempted to establish a minimum price of EUR 1,000 per barrel in December 2005 in a effort to halt falling wine prices. According to winemakers, the figure of EUR 1,000 per barrel is the minimum price to ensure their livelihood.

The broker, Stéphane Page, defended his actions saying the minimum price did not reflect the current market. This action mirrors that of the FNSEA union (Fédération Nationale des Syndicats d'Exploitants Agricoles) which recently bricked up the CIVB Bordeaux trade body's headquarters in a similar protest. "The CIVB is convinced that only the balance between supply and demand can establish the market price", said a spokesperson. In January 2006, the unions put forward a plan to withhold A.O.C (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) certificates from producers who do not sell their barrels for the minimum price of EUR 1,000. (source: France3)

Bordeaux 2005: CIVB Chief calls on producers to limit yields as exports suffer

Christian Delpeuch, the President of the Bordeaux wine trade body (CIVB) called on producers to limit the yields of the Bordeaux 2005 harvest to counter the plunging price of the region's wine. Delpeuch asked producers to limit production to the lowest recommended yield - around 55 hectolitres per hectare for generic Bordeaux. The President warned winemakers that stocks are nearly one million hectolitres higher than they were in 2004. Recent figures show that in the first six months of 2005, Bordeaux wine exports fell by 17.9% in value and that the current market price of a barrel (900 litres) of generic Bordeaux wine is below EUR 700. The abundant 2004 vintage was slow to sell at the Bordeaux futures market, partly due to the large amount of wine produced. Bordeaux winemakers also fell short of the 500,000 hl industrial distillation targets after France asked Brussels to finance a crisis distillation of surplus wines. (Source: Decanter.com)

Crus Artisans classification revived

A Bordeaux classification, the Crus Artisans du Medoc, once drawn up in the 19th century but since fallen from use, has been revived by a group of winemakers in the in the Medoc region of Bordeaux. Potential cru artisan wines have to be tasted and their estates evaluated by a jury of 11 wine professionals. In 2005 it has given the Cru Artisan status to 44 out of 59 producers. The current classification is valid for 10 years, after which it is up for renewal. Cru artisan wines currently retail in France within a 5-10 EUR range. (Source: AFP Agency)

Oenologist Michel Rolland now active in Bulgaria

The Bordeaux-based winemaker, who advises more than 100 wineries in some 12 countries, has added another country to his portfolio of consultancies – Bulgaria with Telish Wine Cellars, specialising in red wines using Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. He has started by using a new pruning system in existing vineyards to improve fruit exposure and will carry out crop thinning and leaf plucking later in the season. Rolland said his target was to produce the best grapes and to adapt the vinification process to make the best wine. And Rolland is not alone: St Emilion proprietor Stephan von Neipperg of Canon La Gaffeliere is leading the Bessa Valley Project in Bulgaria, with 105ha of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Syrah on French rootstock and clones. The wine should be ready by 2008. 

Bulgaria – which was one of the world's biggest wine producers in the 1960s – has seen rapid development of premium wines and estate wineries, helped by generous EU subsidies ahead of the country's joining the EU in January 2007. (Source: Caroline Gilby - Decanter.com)

The cost of French wine boycott in the US

The unofficial boycott of French wine in the US has cost the country an estimated US$112m (£64m), according to an official study. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, at its peak, the boycott resulted in a 26% slump on weekly sales with 13% lower sales in the six months following the US invasion of Iraq. The boycott was a result of France's opposition to the war in Iraq in 2003. Anti-French feeling at the time was running high and many media outlets, including the New York Times, reported on the rejection of French products – most famously with French Fries renamed as Freedom Fries. (Source: Bordeaux Central  - Decanter.com)

A rare wine fetches £55,000

A wine connoisseur has splashed out £55,000 on what is thought to be the most expensive bottle of white wine in the world. The 1787 vintage Sauternes from Chateau d'Yquem was snapped up by a US-based collector. It was sold through the Antique Wine Company of London which acquired the lot from a private collector in France. It's quite amazing to think that when these grapes were picked, French 1789 Revolution hadn't happened yet, James Watt was working on developing a steam machine and George Washington had just been nominated the first President of the United States of America. (Source: ITN - Channel9)

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