Not satisfied with the pain they have inflicted on me so far this month with the Royal wedding and surrounding hype….the Royal family has now decided to move onto wine production. They are planting vineyards with the three Champagne varieties in Windsor Great Park and the Duke of Edinburgh….. when he is not getting totally munted on gin & tonics…… is said to be taking an active role in the project. Liz’s Fizz is expected to be released from the 2013 vintage onwards.
Our brothers and sisters in Germany are having a bad week…..the imposingly named B50 High Mosel Bridge….being built over some of the finest terroirs in the Mosel looks like it will be going ahead. The Green party took power from Angela Merkl’s Christian Democrats (CDU) in Baden-Württemberg, one of Germany’s richest states, and won 15.4% of the vote in Rhineland-Pfalz, where the bridge project is located…..and in a gut wrenching back-flip the Greens ceded to the pressure of their coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD)….which sounds a lot like Adrian’s pet hamster from “The Young Ones”……and approved the project.
There’s some comment on the situation from Sarah Washington from Pro-Mosel over at Jancis Robinson and also over at the Pro-Mosel website.
B50 Bridge Route
Several days after the bridge decision, the region was hit by the worst frost in 30 years with temperatures down to -5 causing major damage. In Rheinhessen, the areas most affected were those on the plain of the river Rhein and valley floors. In Franken and Württemberg, losses are estimated to lie between 30% and 50%. In the regions of the Rheingau, Pfalz and Nahe, the prospective crop was reduced by 5% to 20%. The areas that have seemed to escape damage are the Mosel, Mittelrhein, Pfalz-Weinstrasse, Baden-Kaiserstuhl and the lower Ahr.
After the decreased crops from the 2010 vintage this certainly doesn’t come at a good time and will cause some problems for a few estates. It appears early varieties such as Dornfelder and some Pinot Noir (Spätburgunder) have been hit worst…..more over at Decanter.
And some naughty Chinese fellow seems to be acting like Augustus Gloop from Willie Wonka & The Chocolate Factory when it comes to 1st Growth Bordeaux……details of the massive Chinese petroleum giant, Sinopec and 1,176 bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild over at The Washington Post.
Always hide your Ch Lafite from the politburo comrade!
