The flavor of microbio in wine

New research on grapevine trunk diseases has shown how fungi can collaborate to attack a vine via a kind of ‘extracellular bomb’. Antioxidants may help wineries to fight back, said the international group of researchers led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Grapevine trunk diseases (GTDs) have been of growing concern to vineyard owners in recent decades. Almost 20% of the world’s vineyards were affected, said the International Organisation for Vine & Wine in 2015. A 201 ...

A domaine’s long history hoists its inanimate wines into life; biography brings meaning to the simple sensual pleasure of tasting a grower’s efforts. It’s important, though, to know what we are doing when we tell stories. And to know what to tell them about. Winemakers take the messy chaos of natural processes and add discipline, giving shape and direction to produce a stable and enticing wine. This was never nature’s intent. The storyteller takes a messy chaos of random events, either imagined ...

A trade deal signed by the UK and New Zealand this week promises benefits for winemakers, merchants and drinkers, according to industry bodies. Miles Beale, CEO of the UK Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA), said the deal means the country’s wine lovers ‘will have greater choice’. He said it was also ‘a very good deal for the wine and spirit industry’. New Zealand Winegrowers, representing the country’s wine sector, also welcomed the free trade deal, which was signed in London yesterday ( ...