Pierre Castel, founder of the French Castel Group, has been sentenced to pay back taxes and a fine of the equivalent of €424 mill. in Switzerland. 

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Italy's wine sector is undergoing a strong concentration. Between 2010 and 2020, the number of wineries fell by a third to 255,520. This is the result of a census for agriculture conducted by the statistics office Istat in 2021. The industry association Unione Italiana Vini (UIV) has analyzed the figures for the wine sector. Veronika Crecelius reports.

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Sicilian wine company Planeta is taking over the management and distribution of the Feudi Spitaleri winery on Mount Etna, with immediate effect. The winery cultivates 60ha of vineyards and is the oldest winery on the volcano - a legend that had almost fallen into oblivion.

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It is probably the news of the year in the French wine world: Artémis Domaines, owned by the billionaire family of François Pinault (who also owns Château Latour), is merging with Maisons & Domaines Henriot, as international media report.

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The planning for ProWein takes shape. First details have already been determined.

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Following a decision by the the Environmental Protection Agency – EPA - US grape growers can continue to use Roundup to help to keep their vineyards free of weeds.

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Penfolds, the renowned brand of Australian wine giant Treasury Wine Estates (TWE), is also producing in Ningxia, China (as Meininger's has reported). The first Chinese Penfolds wine is to be launched in October - first exclusively in China, but a global launch is planned for mid-2023, as reported in the Chinese trade media Vino Joy.

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The year 2050 is the target for climate neutrality in the wine sector for the whole of France - Burgundy wants to reach this goal 15 years earlier. The industry association Bureau interprofessionnel des vins de Bourgogne (BIVB) reports in French media that the region should be CO₂-neutral by 2035.

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The United Kingdom has one of the highest tax regimes on alcohol in the world. It was feared that a new regime to be applied next February would have made matters even worse, while introducing unworkable impracticality into the UK trade. Those threats have been lifted. For the moment.

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The 2022 harvest in Champagne, which began on 20 August, is over, and grapegrowers and winemakers are looking forward to replenishing the region's empty cellars with plentiful stocks of high quality wine.

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The sluggishness of the bulk wine market over the last three months or so in many producer countries is explained by inflation in key export markets, and possibly a lag in the shipping of wines that have already been purchased. Only some significantly smaller-than-average Northern Hemisphere crops are likely to stimulate buying activity. Report by wine broker Christian Jungbluth.

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This week, while partnering with the ASI – Association de la Sommellerie Internationale, Moldova’s winemakers also lent a helping hand to their neighbours in Ukraine, justifying the description 'Small Country; Big Heart' by which this country is becoming known.

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The Gigondas appellation has announced that it will also be able to produce white wines with AOC status from the 2023 vintage. The National Institute of Origin and Quality (INAO) has voted in favour of extending the AOC Gigondas to include white wines. 

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The enterprising winemaker Gérard Bertrand from the Languedoc-Roussillon region has acquired the Domaine de Cause wine estate in the Lot district of the Occitan region. 

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According to the US Department of Agriculture's crop forecast, California is facing its third small crop in three years.

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