Love That Wine News

Hollywood hunk would love to swap acting to become a winemaker

Branded the sexiest man alive, johnny Depp, who has played everyone from Jack Sparrow  in the hit film Pirates of the Caribbean to Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has a secret desire. To stay at home in the South of France and make wine.

Depp, who plays the Mad Hatter in long-time collaborator Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, which opens Friday  March 5) told French magazine VSD of his vineyard dream.

He lives in a house surrounded by 30 acres in Le Plan-de-la-Tour in southern France with his wife, former singer Vanessa Paradis and their two children, Lily Rose, 10 and Jack, 7. But despite being so successful, has a yen to get into winemaking.Read more

Dine with Indian Michelin-star chef Atul Kochhar or learn about wine with ex-comedian Olly Smith on board P&O’s Azura cruise liner

Olly Smith, the larger-than-life character, formally of the Richard and Judy wine club on Channel Four and regular contributor to Saturday Kitchen , is to combine his twin passions – travel and wine with guests on the P&O cruise liner.

He plans to showcase 32 wines from pretty much every wine producing nation in The Glass House restaurant on board P&O Cruise’s newest ship Azura, whose maiden voyage sails in April.

Every mouth-watering course will come with the option of a different glass of wine, expertly matched by Olly to perfectly complement the food.Read more

"My new column will run to around 950 words and will include a main, 700-word story as well as half a dozen recommendations," he said.

Atkin said there was "more need than ever for informed, entertaining and critical wine writing and I promise to provide that".

Atkin has written for the Guardian newspaper group since 1989­, first for The Guardian and then, since 1993, The Observer.

Jane MacQuitty's column will continue in Saturday's Times.
 

Chile's biggest winemaker forced to stop production due to  mammoth earthquake

The quake, the biggest the country has seen, damaged wineries and the transportation networks.

Concha y Toro's major wineries sustained serious damage in the most devastated zone of Chile, hundreds of kilometres south of the capital, Santiago, the company said in a statement.

"The area with the largest impact is the heartland of wine production," said Concha y Toro. "Our company, as well as the rest of the industry, have been heavily impacted by this catastrophe."Read more

Fine wine investment advisory company Premier Cru is predicting 2010 growth will be led by heightened demand from Asia.

The specialist firm said while fine wine was not immune to last year's downturn, with some top sellers' values dropping by as much as 40% the market has picked up as much as 20% since October 2008.

Premier Cru founder Paula Golding is predicting a further 20% uptick over the year to January 2011.Read more