The area of vines grown in the province of Neuquén in Argentinean Patagonia has doubled in five years. At San Patricio del Chañar and Añelo there were 954 hectares of vines in 2003, compared to almost 2,000 today, according to the National Institute of Winegrowing. Last year, production increased by 36.5% compared to 2006, reaching nearly 85,000 hectolitres, mainly of red. (Source: VSB)

A new structure has now been created for Pernod Ricard’s Denmark operations, following its takeover over the V&S Group on 23 July 2008. According to Jan Rose Pedersen, CEO of Pernod Ricard Denmark, the new name for the new giant will probably be Pernod Ricard Denmark, but this won’t be finally decided until the end of the year. (Source: Wine Business International.com)

No other country in the world consumes as much sparkling wine, or “sekt” as Germany. In 2007, that was 3.8 litres per head, but down from over five in the early 1990s. In 2007, total domestic sales of all sparkling wine were more than 413m bottles, 335m of which were “made in Germany”.

2 000 sparkling wine producers in Germany are estimated, and Germany boasts three of the world’s five largest wine producers. (Source: Wine Business International)

Advertising of alcoholic beverages could soon appear on the Web. Despite strong opposition from anti-alcohol organisations, the French Minister of Health has accepted in view of the development of new technologies, that Internet becomes a vehicle for drinks advertising. “The promotion of alcoholic beverages must bear clearly visible health warnings that are adapted to Internet and should respect the principle of neutrality required by the ‘Evin’ law”, added the Minister, Roselyne Bachelot. (Source: Le Figaro)

Bulgaria’s Executive Agency on Vine and Wine revealed that as many as 6,200 hectares of new vineyards were planted, bringing the country’s total vineyard area to 136,000 by the end of 2007. This is good news for producers, as Bulgaria has long suffered shortage of sufficient quantity. (Source: Wine Business International.com)

The use of new oak casks in ageing quality wines, which spread to all winemaking thirty years ago, has produced a worldwide taste that has finally ended up satiating drinkers everywhere. The woody taste is progressively leaving the scene in practically all the world’s wine producing areas, and the quest is on today mainly to produce more pure, fruitier wines. (Source: Le Point)

Chile’s Vina Errazuriz is moving its core range of wines to lightweight bottles in order to reduce energy consumption in produce and transportation. The company, which claims to be the first in Chile to make such a large-scale commitment, plans to put all its Estate red wines apart from Pinot Noir into Bordeaux bottles weighing 425g, 60g lighter than the previous bottles, by the end of 2008. (Source: Decanter.com)