A top class restaurant in London called L’Anima has decided to allow the public to decide on new wines to add to their list.

Barcelona has a lot of very good restaurants. Two of the best are Moo and Comerç 24. The two are similar in many respects, but where they diverge is in their attitudes towards wine. I interviewed both their sommeliers in order to distill some of the trends in wine & fine dining from their words.
Both restaurants have one Michelin star, are beautifully appointed, are playful & inventive with their dishes, while being excellent in service and preparation. Both restaurants also have an impressive pedigree: Moo in being run by the brothers Roca of el Cellar de Can Roca, while Comerç [...]

Platypus has designed a simple, ingenious way to transport wine without having to deal with bulky glass bottles, or  boxes. The PlatyPreserve can hold an entire bottle of wine,  is flexible, leak-proof and airtight. Due to the container’s ability to keep out the flavor-killing oxygen, the container can also be used to preserve wine for days or even weeks.
[via Kitchn]

We’ve covered the emergence of the social media tasting trend before and are interested in seeing the likes of Macallan dipping their toes in. We’re sure other brands will follow.
One of the most powerful pieces of feedback that we’ve heard about social media tastings, by the likes of Twitter Taste Live, is the fact that they aren’t very sociable if you are at the actual event. Everyone is busy twittering, taking photographs and broadcasting their digital opinions around the web. It works well if you are stuck at home, joining in remotely. But as a physical event, surrounded by [...]

As I waited in Newark Airport for our plane to Europe earlier this week, I noticed a new bar opened up. Vino Volo has a very different feel than the regular badly-pretending-to-be-a-city-bar type venue that you find in many US airports. It’s bright and open, uses contemporary furniture and simple interior design tricks to pull off a modern look. Oh, and everyone is sat around drinking wine – not supersized pints of beer.
What’s more interesting than the look is the menu. When it gets handed to you as you sit down, you expect to be handed a arms length list [...]

The fashion designer who brought “trucker chic” to the mainstream is now producing wine – and sources say it might actually be quite good. Ed Hardy is known mainly for loud, graffitied t-shirts, trucker hats, and jeans worn by the likes of Britney Spears (and her kids), but designer Christian Audigier is now betting that his very recognizable brand will help push bottles too.
[via Luxist]

Slate takes an insightful look at factors contributing to the sharp downturn suffered by the Australian wine industry which, depending on who’s reporting, has seen exports to the US fall by 15 percent to 26 percent in value during the last year. While a number of a uncontrollable circumstances – fluctuations in the global economy causing inflation in the Australian dollar and unforeseen environmental factors – can’t be dismissed, the most influential player in this current spiral might come down to branding.
Due to the overwhelming success of Yellow Tail - a cheap and flavorful wine with an easily recognizable label – a number [...]

Online tastings are hardly new. Brands such as Laphroaig have done worldwide whisky tastings over the Internet. But with the advent of Twitter we are seeing them evolve and become more popular as people find new ways to engage and educate.
Recently in London, Robert McIntosh and Bibendum wines invited a group of around a dozen food and wine bloggers to a Twitter wine tasting at the Saatchi Gallery. For an hour we tasted 3 wines which had also been sent to a bevy of wine and social media enthusiasts who couldn’t make it in person.

As we tasted the wines we [...]

There has been a continuous evolution of wine packaging throughout the years from bottles to cardboard boxes, corks to screw tops and more recently the emergence of Tetra Paks – essentially box 2.0 with less environmental impact.  And now South Africa’s The Company of Wine People have unveiled their new eco-friendly design, the wine pouch, a product that on first glance resembles a Capri Sun for grown-ups.
Treehugger examines this newest entrant as part of their ongoing debate on which design is the best choice from the standpoint of its sustainability as well as its overall practicality.  The wine pouch gets points [...]

Jake Kloberdanz, CEO of Hope Wine, has taken the idea of “cause branding” where for-profit corporations partner with non-profit organizations to release limited edition products and services to raise money for charities and created a company around it. Realizing that these short term relationships were beneficial for everyone involved – corporations could promote themselves as socially conscious while simultaneously bolstering sales, non-profits received much needed funding and customers could make purchases they felt good about – Kloberdanz didn’t see any reason these same ideals couldn’t function as a sustainable business model year round. Launched in early 2007, the Southern California based company currently [...]

Shoppers who want a decent bottle of wine with dinner — but don’t know the difference between a sauvignon blanc and a pinot noir — often feel overwhelmed. But many have decided to avoid serious guides to wine and instead look for a cool label, the Cox News Service reports.
The growth of American wines, which don’t have the long history of many European wineries, has led to vineyard owners who are willing to have a little more fun with their labels, not take themselves so seriously.
Cox News Service

A new wine from France….