Oeno-File

Young Italians Aren’t Drinking Wine; Coppola Opens His ‘Winery Park,’ With Swimming Pool

After a bottle and a half I can do a mean triple front flip!
After a bottle and a half I can do a mean triple front flip!

• A report found that Italians aged 16 to 35 (remember, this is Italy) are drinking way less wine than their parents and grandparents. And the country’s high unemployment rate is partially to blame. [Decanter]

• Last week, Francis Ford Coppola’s enormous new winery and country club in Sonoma opened its pool facility with adjacent bocce-ball courts. Somehow, we don’t see swimming, flying balls, and alcohol as a great mix, but Francis does! [Grub Street]

• The royal wedding reception for Prince William and Kate Middleton will most likely feature Bollinger Champagne, a royal tradition that dates back to Queen Victoria. Bollinger is thus shilling some Champagne breakfast pairings for the Americans who will be watching in the wee hours of the morning. [Wine Spectator]

• More Coppola news: Francis bought the esteemed Inglenook brand and is renaming his Rubicon Estate winery in Napa back to Inglenook, the name it bore back in the mid-20th century. He’s also hired a famous French winemaker to take over operations there and return the Inglenook name to its former glory. [Press-Democrat]

• In Bordeaux, 2009 was “a year where châteaux on both sides of the Gironde, such as Château Margaux and Vieux Château Certan, made some of the best wines in their history” and now they’re saying 2010 is “a vintage that will age for a century.” No one except the winemakers have tasted them of course, but … [WSJ]

• Also in 2009, the price-point “sweet spot” for wines was around $25. Two years later it’s more like $15. Gone are the heady mid-aughts when $40 bottles were an easy sell. [LAT]

• We mentioned it earlier, but the flash-sale market for wines is booming, and consumers can generally find “screaming” deals on high-end wines that “any wine store can’t come close to touching.” [NYT]

Young Italians Aren’t Drinking Wine; Coppola Opens His ‘Winery