Oeno-File

The Oeno-File: Canadians Are Becoming Total Winos; Côtes du Rhônes Deemed Underwhelming

That's a swell Burgundy, eh?!
That’s a swell Burgundy, eh?! Photo: iStock Photo

• Hosers aren’t just drinkin’ beer anymore: Wine consumption in Canada is growing at six times the world average, putting them likely in third place behind China and U.S. within three years. [Montreal Gazette]

• Eccentric Bonny Doon winemaker Randall Grahm complains about how corporate and money-driven California winemaking has become. “In the old days no one had the expectation of making tons of money in the wine business … Winemakers would say back then, ‘If nobody buys the wine, fuck ‘em; I’ll drink it myself.’” [BOOM]

• The Times wine panel, led by Eric Asimov, were “frankly underwhelmed” by 20 bottles of 2009 vintage Côtes du Rhône, partly because the weather that year got too hot in the Rhône, resulting in wines that are “powerfully jammy and overly alcoholic.” [NYT]

• Brown-bag alert: States like Virginia and Maryland, which have had longstanding corkage/BYOB bans, are starting to reconsider. [Wine Spectator]

• In an effort to protect against pricey bottles getting cooked in the back of FedEx trucks, wineries are going to be rolling out more temperature-controlled shipping options. [Wines & Vines]

• The Journal visits the Douro Valley in Portugal, famous as a port-making region, and finds the industry struggling a bit with very slow sales. The Chinese, it seems, haven’t taken to port yet. [WSJ]

The Oeno-File: Canadians Are Becoming Total Winos; Côtes du Rhônes