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A grape variety still used in wine production in France today can be traced back 900 years to just one ancestral plant, scientists have discovered. With the help of an extensive genetic database of modern grapevines, researchers were able to test and compare 28 archaeological seeds from French sites dating back to the Iron Age, Roman era, and medieval period. ...a team of researchers from the UK, Denmark, France, Spain, and Germany, drew genetic connections between seeds from different archaeological sites, as well as links to modern-day grape varieties. It has long been suspected that some grape varieties grown today,...

If global temperatures continue to rise, the taste of your favourite wine could either drastically change, or the drink could be off the menu completely. A wine expert has warned that fine wines in particular, such as Pinot Noir, are having their flavour significantly altered due to climate change. And, as a result, vineyard owners are ditching these grape varieties in favour of those that are better equipped to handle the increases in global temperature.

Three environmental groups are challenging Sonoma County's approval of a 54-acre Annapolis vineyard in a case that reflects long-standing conflict over expansion of the county's $600 million a year grape industry. If the lawsuit were to succeed, it would wipe out the county's vineyard development law, itself born amid controversy between growers and environmentalists 14 years ago. That friction has intensified with the recent growth of forest-to-vineyard projects near the coast, a cool region hospitable to pinot noir grapes, the most expensive varietal grown in the county. The law — officially named the Vineyard Erosion and Sediment Control Ordinance, known...

The French call pinot noir "the noble grape" and have long considered it a source of inspiration. Now it can also be appreciated as the reason for an extensive, localized climate record. A study found a close match between pinot noir grape harvest dates in Burgundy, sea surface temperature trends and the Western European climate. The relationship could be used to forecast harvest dates months in advance. Yves Tourre, from the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y. and the French meteorological service, Meteo-France, in Toulouse, presented research on the significance of a nearly 700-year record of pinot noir grape...

French Producers Found Guilty Of Selling Fake Pinot Noir Wine To US Supplier 22 hours ago (RTTNews) - A court in France on Wednesday found a group of 12 French wine producers and traders guilty of selling millions of bottles of fake Pinot Noir wine to U.S. wine-industry giant E. & J. Gallo Winery. The judge in Carcassonne, south-west France, ruled that the producers and traders involved in the case had severely damaged the reputation of the Langedoc region, and handed out suspended jail terms and hefty fines to the defendants. "The scale of the fraud caused severe damage for...

LONDON, Dec 19 (Reuters Life!) - Italian scientists have cracked open the genetic make-up of Pinot Noir, responsible for the great red wines of Burgundy, in a breakthrough that may lead to hardier vines and cheaper fine wines. The researchers said on Wednesday they had found more than 2 million genetic variants within the Pinot Noir grape, providing winegrowers with a "treasure trove" in the hunt for new strains. Pinot Noir, made famous by the 2004 film Sideways, has been dubbed the "heartbreak grape" because it is so difficult to grow and susceptible to disease. Understanding what makes up the...

Okay. We get it. You need money to run the joint.You have your quarterly fundraisers and they seemed to be working out.Must you put VisaMasterCardDiscoverAmericanExpress logos all over the place now as well?It cheapens the joint.

Riesling was planted in Oregon vineyards as our industry developed at the end of the sixties. It was an easy grape to grow here, but the wines produced pleased the unsophisticated consumer and turned more worldly types away with their tendency to sweetness without the benefit of the acidity transmitted by rocky slopes as in Germany.A majority of Oregon winemakers soon abandoned riesling production and moved to Chardonnay plantings. However, the Oregon industry has now realized that northern Oregon growing conditions are ideal for the white "cousins" of our popular Pinot Noir...Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc. These varietals as produced...