And no, I am not talking about fault lines in California, Mexico, Japan or even… of late, Chile. The ‘plates’ I am referring to have to do metaphorically with the dramatic shifting in the UK wine market and the fact that France no longer appears to be most anyone’s favorite when shopping these days. Not first, second, third, or now even fourth… are you amazed?

In restaurants, when I was first learning about wine in the late 1970s (yes, back in the proverbial day), it was all about French wine. Bordeaux and Burgundy were the pinnacles, and yes we tipped our berets to the Loire Valley, the Rhône, and a few bits and pieces of Provence and the Languedoc. We studied and consumed Italy at the peripheral level (Chianti and Barolo), enjoyed our token Germans, and locally were fiercely proud and supportive of an emerging local but, at the time, globally insignificant California wine industry. Continue reading »

I was glancing through the myriad emails that come my way this past week when I saw a headline in Wines & Sprits Daily.com that read: SOME FRENCH PRODUCERS USING NEW WORLD TRICKS. Needless to say, I was intrigued. It’s not a secret that French wines have been having a hard time of late selling in the American market and it’s not exclusively due to the tough time the dollar is having versus the euro. Continue reading »

Sometimes dramatic things happen with very little fanfare. Such is the case of a fairly significant change in law in France that went into effect on July 1st. According to a little box I came across when reading Gourmet Magazine’s July 2009 issue (page 25 to be exact!), the new VAT (Value Added Tax) on food (but not on alcohol) has been reduced from a very high 19.6% (where alas it still will be for wine) to a far more modest 5.5%. This is a huge victory for French restaurateurs who have been lobbying for years that they should be levied at the same rate as fast food outlets which were only being levied that 5.5%. Does this mean that fast food wasn’t considered food? Hmm… one has to wonder… Continue reading »

Hard to believe that only a matter of weeks after coming back from South Korea that I am back in Asia- this time in Hong Kong and then Singapore. No wine judging this time out, this trip is MS driven as the Court continues its courses and ‘brand building’ in Asia. Hong Kong is an amazing city with a growing interest in wine fueled by the elimination of tariff on imported wines this past year. A trip to most any premium wine store will leave you amazed at the availability here. Continue reading »