After years of unparalleled success, nature has thrown a curve ball at Australian producers already reeling from overproduction, falling prices and declining margins. But is the cure worse than the disease?
Wine lovers have strong feelings about provenance. They are, however, happy to buy Italian shoes from China, Toyota cars from British factories and Leica camera lenses from Japan.
As the film Sideways revealed in 2004, wine tourism is big business in California. In France and many other regions, however, the notion of visiting wineries for fun is still in its infancy.
Described last year by Angelo Gaja as “the best Vinitaly in 30 years”, the 2007 edition will open with great expectations. It will be larger than ever before, and the organizers expect the number of visitors to set new records.
Though only open to wine professionals, more than 30,000 visitors are expected to taste and sell wines at ProWein in Düsseldorf on 18–20 March this year. That is twenty times more than when the fair first opened its doors 13 years ago.
The Russian wine and spirits market is facing its most serious crisis since Gorbachev’s notorious “prohibition” in 1985. After nine months of chaos and tension, authorities are still incapable of righting the situation...
