Circle Update

€40,000 to €80,000. Two directors of Caves Pierre Fabrehad their fines increased: Jean-Paul Barral from €6000to €10,000 and Didier Beltran from €5500 to €8000 with€3000 of this total suspended.Between January 2006 to March 2008 some 18.5mbottles of fake Pinot Noir – made up of mainly Merlot andSyrah – were sold to E&J Gallo and Constellation Wines,netting a profit of €7m for those involved. The wine wentunnoticed into Gallo’s Red Bicyclette brand, a situationwhich head winemaker Gina Gallo later admitted was‘something of a disaster’ for the company.Constellation also imported Pinot Noir from Sieurd’Arques between 2006 and 2008, but the company said ithad ‘every reason’ to believe the wine was genuine.The scandal reached the US government, with theAlcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) carryingout its own investigations.The appeal was held in early June in Montpellier, andthe decisions were announced on 12 th October. Judgmenthad originally been due on 21 st September but shortage ofcourt staff delayed the announcement.Masters of Wine:2011 examination creates 11 new MWsThe total number of Masters of Wine in the world hasreached 300 for the first time in the title’s history. They arespread across 23 different countries.The 11 new Masters of Wine, with their nationality andcountry of residence, are:Michele Anderson MW (Australian living in USA)Christy Canterbury MW (USA national and resident)Sam Caporn MW (UK national and resident)Mary Gorman-McAdams MW (Irish living in USA)Andy Howard MW (UK national and resident)Emma Jenkins MW (New Zealand national and resident)Richard Kershaw MW (British living in South Africa)Paul Liversedge MW (British living in Switzerland)Caro Maurer MW (German national and resident)Mai Tanaka MW (Japanese living in UK)Clem Yates MW (UK national and resident)In addition to those listed above, the first two newMasters of Wine in 2011 were announced in May, aftercompleting their dissertations. They were:Antony Moss MW (UK national and resident)Dr Liz Thach MW (USA national and resident)2011 AXA Millésimes scholarship winnersannouncedSix students in the Institute of Masters of Wine studyprogramme have been announced as the winners of theprestigious 2011 AXA Millésimes’ Scholarship. The 2011scholars are:Philip Hedger, co-founder and principal of VinumXtremusLLC.Anne Krebiehl, freelance wine and food journalist.Nova McCune Cadamatre, winemaker for Emma Pearl andassociate winemaker for Souverain at Asti Winery in theAlexander Valley, California.Ray O’Connor, commercial manager for the InternationalWine Challenge.Patrick Schmitt, editor of The Drinks Business magazine.Nigel Sneyd, director of international winemaking at E & JGallo Winery.Chile overtakes South AfricaThe latest Nielsen data that tracks the UK off-tradeup to October 2011 reveals that Chile has moved upto fifth place in the list of best-selling wine countries,overtaking South Africa for the first time.In the gloomy economic climate that is depressing winesales generally, Chile was one of only four counties whichincreased volumes over the past 12 months (the others areNew Zealand, Italy, and Spain). Chile’s off-trade sales of8.5 million cases, valued at £452 million, gave it a marketshare of 9.1% overall.Montalcino throws out Rosso changesOn 7 th September Montalcino’s producers overwhelminglyrejected proposals to change Rosso di Montalcino’sOther newsproduction code. The proposals put forward by theConsorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino were to allowother grapes in Rosso di Montalcino, permit irrigation andchange current vineyard regulations.The majority of Consorzio members attended theassembly, and 69% voted not to change Rosso diMontalcino.Voting rights depend on winery size: small to mediumsizedwineries had an average of three votes each, whilethe biggest wineries had up to 60 votes.The landslide victory left most producers buoyant. “Thisis an important milestone for Montalcino’s producers whowork so hard to create unique, terroir-driven wines fromSangiovese,” Gigliola Gorelli of Tenute Le Potazzine, oneof Brunello’s rising stars, said. Col d’Orcia’s FrancescoMarone Cinzano said, “Montalcino’s producers have onceagain spoken out in favour of protecting the pedigree ofour wines.“But I am very upset over the amount of time, effortand expense this call for a vote has cost everyone herein Montalcino. There was no logic or planning to theirproposals, they just decided to call for the vote.”Jacopo Biondi Santi, who distributes his father Franco’sBrunellos along with his own Castello di Montepo,supported the ‘no’ vote.He told Decanter.com, “Thankfully Montalcino madethe right decision yesterday, not only in terms of image, butin commercial terms. These proposals would have led tomany more vines registered to Rosso production, and theywould have saturated the market.”Consorzio board member Fabrizio Bindocci said,“Montalcino has lost a great opportunity to have twoRossos that would have satisfied all markets. But thiswas a democratic vote, done by secret ballot, and theproducers have spoken. At least now we know what routeto take for the future”.(From decanter.com – news story written by KerinO’Keefe.)Circle Update October 2011 59