Booze Briefs: All the News that's Fit to Drink

New York Wine & Food Classic: Two of my favorite wineries in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York took home the top honors in a recent statewide competition. Dr. Konstantin Frank's Vinifera Wine Cellars was named the 2006 New York Winery of the Year and Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyards 2005 Dry Riesling beat out 702 wines to capture the Governor's Cup silver chalice.

While I was living in the Syracuse area, these two wineries were always on the list to visit whenever my wife, Sandy, and I would take a drive through the vineyards. Category awards were handed out to Chateau Frank (sparkling), Swedish Hill (white), Chateau Lafayette Reneau (rose or blush), Jamesport Vineyards (red), Baldwin Vineyards (specialty), Wolffer Estate Vineyards (dessert) and Hermann J. Wiemer (white). New York has 239 wineries.

+++ +++ +++

No Free Beer: South African Breweries has alerted consumers in South Africa that a widely circulating email promising 12 cases of SAB's beers for free if the message is forwarded to 10 friends is a hoax. Darn, I guess that delivery I was expecting won't make it in time for the weekend!

+++ +++ +++

Scotch in Play: Distiller Whyte & Mackay is said to be the target of United Breweries Group of India in a $862.7 million bid. Vijay Mallya, chairman of United Breweries Group and a member of the Indian Parliament, controls the Kingfisher beer brand and airline, French wine maker Bouvet Ladubay , American craft breweries Mendocino in California and Olde Saratoga in New York, McDowell's Brandy and the world's third largest spirits marketer.

+++ +++ +++

Put My Plastic Bottle in a Paper Bag: Wolf Blass Wines is launching Bilyara Reserve, a new Australian wine in PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) bottles. The Wolf Blass Bilyara Reserve line includes 2005 Bilyara Reserve Chardonnay and Bilyara Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. The wines are sealed with a screw-cap closure, which is a good thing because I'm not sure a cork in a plastic bottle is a smart idea.

+++ +++ +++

Cincinnati Delighted: Greg Hardman, the president and majority owner of Christian Moerlein Brewing Co., is on a mission to restore some great beer brands from Cincinnati's past. In May his company acquired the remnants of the old Hudepohl-Schoenling Brewery from Snyder International Brewing Group of Cleveland, which had owned the brands since 1999. Hardman's company has launched a retro version of Hudy Delight using the tag line "Show your Hudy...and I'll show you mine."

+++ +++ +++ +++

Casualty of War: Vineyards face many challenges each growing season. Too much rain, too little rain. Too much heat, not enough sun at the right time. Pests range from birds to deer to insects to mildew -- now rockets. Israeli vineyards have been hard hit by the war along the Lebanese border. The Upper Galilee region is the Nappa Valley of Israel. At Kibbutz Manara, which supplies the Recanati Winery with much of its grapes, Hezbollah's Katyusha rockets have destroyed the vineyard manager's home and kept workers out of the fields. At least half the crop is a loss due to poor quality.

+++ +++ +++ +++

Sapporo Makes Strong Bid: It looks like a major Japanese brewer will be playing a key role in the Canadian beer market. Sleeman Breweries Ltd., Canada's third-largest brewer, has recommended shareholders accept a bid by Sapporo Breweries Ltd. to take control of the company. Several bidders made offers for the company, including Molson Coors and InBev, which owns Labatt.
According to Sleeman officials, the sale to Sapporo would preserve more jobs at the company's four breweries than the bids by Molson Coors or InBev.