Oeno-File

France Ousts Italy As World’s Top Wine Producer; Choosing the Best Bottles for Thanksgiving

“Suck it, Italy!”

• France lost the crown to Italy as the world’s largest wine producer four years back, but owing to a big French harvest this year, and bad weather in Italy, France is poised to retake that title. [Reuters]

• Under cover of darkness, thieves have been raiding vineyards across southern Germany stealing grapes, and the estimated losses of pinot noir and ice-wine fruit is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. [HuffPo]

Über-influential wine critic Robert Parker tells a Hong Kong wine mag that his influence is now “on the wane,” and, “I never thought I was as influential as some people thought I was.” Whatever, Parker. [Harper’s UK]

“Suck it, Italy!”

• It’s that time of year again, when Eric Asimov and the Times panel gather to taste wines for pairing with the “hodge-podge” of a Thanksgiving feast. This year’s favorites include a versatile dry Riesling from the Finger Lakes. [NYT]

• The low yield this harvest at some wineries in Sonoma, owing to an especially cool summer, means trying to make the most of high-sugar grapes for dessert wine and stomping them by foot the old-fashioned way to decrease waste. [Sonoma News]

Simi Winery, which was one of the few wineries in Sonoma County to survive Prohibition by maintaining a small business selling wine to churches for those dark thirteen years, is celebrating 135 continuous years in business this week. [PR Web/SF Chron]

France Ousts Italy As World’s Top Wine Producer; Choosing the Best Bottles