South Africa want to water down their wine!

Yes they really do. According to decanter.com, the official proposal to do this, to legalise the adding of water to the grape must, has already been passed by the South Africa's Wine and Spirit Board and it is now being under review by the Government. The plan is for the new law to be in place before the Spring 2012 harvest (southern hemisphere = spring harvest).

Apparently their reasoning is that they want to produce more lower alcohol wines, as these are growing in popularity.

What they haven't taken into account is that EU wine law prohibits this, so none of the wine will be allowed into the EU. As this is a key market for South African wine exports, it seems that they are shooting themselves in the foot here.

What bothers me more than their economic suicide bid, is that surely the wines will suffer. You add water, you dilute the flavour. Is bland newly fashionable?

We do not offer any South African personalised wine at Euromarque. That is certainly unlikely to change now.

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This is just so wrong - Wine Flavoured Sweet Cigarillos

Yes indeed, a new product to upset both the anti-drink brigade and the anti smoking lobby. I doubt it will ever make it to Britain.

A strange new product in the US. A cigarillo is a long, thin cigarette-like cigar, about 4.5inches long, like this
 
But this one is wine flavoured! To me this is just a weird idea

To me this sounds like ruining two perfectly acceptable products. If you don't like cigarillos, don't hide the flavour, just smoke them. If you like wine, just drink it.

Of course if you are a hard drinker, why not go straight for the tequila flavour?

I think I'll just stick with drinking my personalised champagne.

Hat tip to Good Grape for noticing this.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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On-line wine selling is the fastest growing area of UK retail

Its not all down to Personalised Wine labels of course!

According to research by IMRG/ Capgemini, the UK beer/wine/spirits sector has increased by 23% in the year to April 2010. That puts the UK on-line wine market at a value of £200 million, which is pretty sizeable but not dominant. In comparison the traditional mail order wine sales are £700 million.

I always wonder how many of the wine websites are actually legal. To sell wine to the public in any quantity, the business must hold alcohol licenses, but not sure everyone does. And I'm certain the local authority enforcement is minimal at best. The best way to police this is for you the customers to only buy from sites that state their license details, like us of course. 

More on the on-line sales figures at the drinks business.

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Roman wine discovered on the sea bed

Four Roman trading ships with their complete cargoes have been found near the Pontine Islands off Italy’s western coast.

The wrecks were discovered by the archaeological section of the Italian culture ministry and Aurora Trust a US seabed exploration company.

At a depth of nearly 100 fathoms, the ships have lain undisturbed by modern trawlers. Nonetheless, the 18 metres long wooden structures have been completely eaten away by marine organisms leaving only the cargo intact.

It is thought that at one time they would have contained wine, olive oil, and a pungent fish paste the Romans enjoyed from Spain, North Africa and Italy. It is unlikely that the amphorae will still be sealed, and even if they were, the wine would be undrinkable by now

As the small fleet is the second to have been found in the area in recent years, the island group is believed to have been used as a staging post for trade fleets sailing to and from Roman ports.

As Italy has signed a new UNESCO agreement they are obliged to leave the wrecks as they are, although further dives are permitted for archaeological purposes.

Thanks to the Drinks Business for this.

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Alcohol linked to lower risk of arthritis

Another bit of good news for us drinkers, scientists have found that regularly drinking alcohol both reduces the chance of getting rheumatoid arthritis and eases the symptoms if you do get it. Rheumatoid arthritis it an auto-immune disease where the body attacks itself and drugs are normally targeted at controlling inflammation. It is a painful progressive condition that can affect people of all ages, not just the elderly.

A team from Sheffield University, under Dr James Maxwell, a consultant rheumatologist at the Rotherham Foundation NHS Trust and Sheffield University, found that drinking on more than 1 in 3 days reduced damage, pain, inflammation, and disability.

The findings are published in the journal Rheumatology. See the Telegraph for a bit more info.

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Police officers who confiscate booze from teenagers and pour it down the drain are breaking the law!

According to the government watchdog The Environment Agency, this is a serious crime.
The action is polluting Britain's waterways because alcohol is poisonous - and offenders face a £50,000 maximum fine or 12 months in prison!
Police have tipped thousands of litres of booze, from cider to spirits, down drains to teach under-age drinkers a lesson since the Confiscation of Alcohol Act came into effect in 1997.

Embarrassed police forces say they will now dispose of the drink legally. So if you see a copper staggering around under the weight of drinks bottles, he is merely taking it back to the station for proper disposal.

Thanks to The Drinks Business for the heads up.

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WRAP's wine bottle environmental scheme Glassrite saves 35,000 tonnes of carbon emissions

Wrap's four-year Glassrite project for wine bottles has led to savings of almost 35,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year through a mix of packaging developments and bulk importing.

Launched in 2006, the Glassrite project's aim was to examine potential environmental and commercial savings in the UK wine sector, and Wrap hopes to build on this, in both the UK and internationally, through increasing bulk importing of wine for bottling in the UK. Bulk importing stops the build up of surplus green glass in the UK market, which has few alternative applications.

Nicola Jenkin, Wrap's drinks market key account manager, said: "We know that huge opportunities exist to use more lighter weight bottles and increase the use of recycled content in UK manufactured glass bottles.

"This is what will achieve a more resource efficient international wine supply chain."

Jenkin highlighted the work done to produce a 300g screwcap bottle as well as the research to introduce light-weighting to the heavier sparkling wine bottles.

"Internationally, almost 175,000 tonnes of glass savings could be made through using lighter weight bottles that are still fit for purpose," she said.

GLASSRITE RESULTS

35,000 tonnes CO2 savings
27,048 tonne reduction in glass bottle weight
44,295 tonne increase in recycled glass usage due to bulk imports

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