by Allison Abell Schwartz at Bloomberg.com

Constellation Brands Inc., the world's largest winemaker, fell the most since March 2007 in New York trading after sales rose less than analysts’ estimates and purchases of international wine decreased.  Constellation’s shares have dropped 17% this year.

by Victor Godinez at The Dallas Morning News

An ultrasonic wine gadget, said to be able to turn poor quality wine into one that tastes like a rare aged vintage has been released. Apparently it works by recreating the effect of decades of ageing. Unfortunately, the inventor has failed to mention if your looks will recover if you accidentally point the device at yourself.

by Chantal Chi

China is a competitive world. After the Olympics in Beijing, the sommeliers have now also tested their mettle in a competition held in Shanghai on the 22nd of September. According to co-organizer ASC, the largest importer in China, over 100 candidates...

by Elissaveta Velianova

The latest half-year figures for Bulgarian wine exports show a negative trend - between January and June 2008, almost 48m litres of wine were exported, compared to 58m litres for the first six months of 2007. This is a result of diminishing exports of still wine, which accounts for virtually all exports.

by Jung Yong Cho

The Korean wine market is now returning to normal in the aftermath of unusually strong growth last year. Comparatively ‘sluggish’ sales are expected this year. Nonetheless, compared to the same period last year imports rose again by 29.3% in the first half in 2008 to $69.7m.

an analysis by Igor Serdyuk

Abrau-Durso, Russia’s historic sparkling wine producer, is launching a new investment program, aiming to restore its status as the industry’s flagship after 20 years of decay – another sign of an emerging viticultural renaissance in Russia

from The Age

In Cyprus, where the reservoirs are almost dry and the taps often cease to flow, another liquid may also become scarce. Parched by a chronic drought, the island's wine industry, among the oldest in the world, is under threat; output in 2008 is likely to plunge by 15% to 25%.

by Ladka Bauerova at Bloomberg.com

The chief executive of Champagne Duval-Leroy, a family owned vineyard that sells about 6m bottles of the sparkling wine a year, says she's worried. “We are entering a difficult period, and I'm not sure consumers will put up with excessive price hikes,” she said. “This is the first time we are seeing such a confluence of grape-price inflation and a financial crisis.”

by Sophie Kevany

France’s largest producer of burgundy wines, Boisset, has sold off its spirits business, citing a need to recentralise on still and sparkling wines, given rising credit costs and an increasingly tougher business climate.

by Sophie Kevany

Bordeaux’s mayor has written a letter to France’s prime minister demanding that laws currently making it illegal for wine and other alcoholic drinks websites to exist, be changed.