French wine makers sail towards a greener future

French shipping firm Compagnie de Transport Maritime à la Voile (CTMV) has revealed plans to begin exporting wine by sail boat as part of the industry's attempts to cut its carbon footprint.

According to reports in The Guardian, the company is preparing to ship 60,000 bottles from Laungedoc to Ireland using a three mast 19th Century barque. The voyage is expected to last four days, but will save 4.9oz of carbon per bottle, delivering a total reduction in carbon emissions of 18,375lb.

French Wine Exports Set for Slowdown, After Record in 2007

Sales of Cognac, which remains an overseas favorite, climbed 12 percent, down from the first half's 23 percent. France sold 1.7 billion euros worth of Cognac in the year.

Sales of wine from regions such as Languedoc, Bordeaux, Loire and Burgundy rose 8.9 percent in the year. The Burgundy region gained the most, with 21.5 percent. Bordeaux added 8.8 percent.

Volumes rose less than prices for most wines, the survey showed. Foreign consumers choose high-end products and seek out wines with simple labels that leave out detailed regional information, studies by a wine producers' association showed last year.

Bordeaux's upcoming wine futures campaign

The Bordeaux primeur system, which offers wine for sale two years before it is bottled, is unique in the wine world and has always attracted much attention, both positive and negative.

In the last two years, prices paid for top wines have reached record wholesale prices of 400 to 500 euros per bottle, as demand exploded, with customers paying per bottle retail prices of up to 1,000 euros for a few of the most sought after wines like Petrus, Ausone and Cheval Blanc.

The Greatest Wine on the Planet

Château Cheval Blanc, which dates back to the 1830s, is located in Bordeaux's Saint-Émilion appellation, on the right bank of the Gironde River. Although Saint-Émilion is mainly Merlot country, Cheval Blanc normally contains a high percentage of Cabernet Franc, which has always made for a very distinctive wine.

That's because the '47 Cheval is probably the most celebrated wine of the 20^th century. It is the wine every grape nut wants to experience before he dies, a wine that even the most jaded aficionados will travel thousands of miles to taste.

French farmers attack Spanish wine lorries

Around 50 members of the young farmers’ group, Jeunes Agriculteurs, blocked the lorries’ path at a toll station just outside Montpellier on Tuesday.

Moments later, protestors cracked open four lorries’ vats and sent more than 100,000 litres of red and white wine pouring onto the motorway floor. Other lorries carrying fruit and vegetables were also attacked.

New french wine shops open in Shanghai,

French wine imports at 15,517,251 litres in the twelve months to the end of 2007 more than doubled their 2006 values, which were already twice those of 2005 (3,424,764l). Although not quite as strong in growth, but nonetheless soaring by 90%, Australia remained in second place on the charts with a total volume of 8,783,927 litres, again more than four times the figure for 2005 (2,260,360l).

Cotes du Rhone: French wine at a nice price

We find ourselves trying more and more Cotes du Rhones because of their value — they are among the most underpriced wines in France. Unfortunately, you never know what you will get: a complex wine that can be aged or a limp wine with raging acidity and little fruit.

An appellation since 1937, Cotes du Rhone is most often made in southern Rhone. However, wine producers often use the name to identify wines that don't meet the standards required to use a label identifying a top-level appellation, like Hermitage or Chateauneuf du Pape.