News Briefs for May 21, 2012

•Boisset Family Estates’ Raymond Vineyards has created a 2010 Sommelier Selection Cabernet Sauvignon intended exclusively for the on-premise market. Selling for $10-$12 by the glass, the new offering was created from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from Napa, Sonoma and Lake counties. The blend was chosen by a group of sommeliers including Andy Andresky (1776 Restaurant in Crystal Lake, Illinois), Josiah Baldivino (Michael Mina), Mark Bright (Saison in San Francisco), Russell Burkett (Nana Restaurant in Dallas), Mary Horn (Wine Trends in Ohio), Jennifer Knowles (The Inn at Little Washington in Virginia), Philip Natale (Winewood in Grapevine, Texas) and Joseph Scalzo (Atlantic Grill in New York).

•Private label player KDM Global Partners has expanded its Black Elk wine brand with the launch of Black Elk Moscato. Produced in Spain’s Tierra de Castilla, Black Elk Moscato will be available nationwide this week, priced at $9.99-$10.99 a 750-ml. bottle. The new offering joins the existing Black Elk range, which includes globally sourced Chardonnay, Tempranillo and Shiraz varietals. KDM specializes in private label wine for retail chains, hotels and resorts, restaurants and event planners.

•Louis Royer “Force 53” VSOP Fine Champagne Cognac ($39-$42 a 750-ml.) is accepting submissions for “Show Me the Proof!”—a high-proof Cognac cocktail competition for professional mixologists. Submissions will be accepted until August 31, after which six finalists will compete in New York City on September 19 for a chance to win a one-week trip to France to visit Louis Royer Cognac’s cellars in Jarnac. Founded in 1853, Louis Royer produces a range of VSOP, high-proof and XO Cognac expressions and is handled by Florida’s Lapham Import Co. in the U.S.

•Owens-Illinois is introducing a new ultra-lightweight bottle designed for Scotch whisky. The 700-ml. version of the bottle weighs 300 grams (10.5 ounces)—less than half the weight of traditional whisky bottles—with more sizes expected to follow. Perrysburg, Ohio-based Owens-Illinois, which posted revenues of $7.4 billion last year, says the new bottle “provides distillers with all the consumer desirability of attractive, lightweight, recyclable glass bottles without the cost of creating their own proprietary shape.”

Tagged : Boisset Family Estates, Cognac, Scotch, wine

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