Taittinger is a French wine family who are famous producers of Champagne. The estate is currently headed by Vitalie Taittinger, who is the daughter of Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, a member of the consultative committee of the Banque de France. Its diversified holdings included Champagne Taittinger, Société du Louvre and Concorde Hotels, whose flagship is the famed Hotel de Crillon on the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France as well as the Loire Valley wine-producing firm of Bouvet-Ladubay, and a partnership in Domaine Carneros in California, until it was sold to Starwood Capital in 2005.
Moët & Chandon, also known simply as Moët, is a French fine winery and co-owner of the luxury goods company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE. Moët et Chandon is one of the world's largest champagne producers and a prominent champagne house. Moët et Chandon was established in 1743 by Claude Moët, and today owns 1,190 hectares of vineyards, and annually produces approximately 28,000,000 bottles of champagne.
Mondovino is a 2004 documentary film on the impact of globalization on the world's different wine regions written and directed by American film maker Jonathan Nossiter. It was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and a César Award.
Wine labels are important sources of information for consumers since they tell the type and origin of the wine. The label is often the only resource a buyer has for evaluating the wine before purchasing it. Certain information is ordinarily included in the wine label, such as the country of origin, quality, type of wine, alcoholic degree, producer, bottler, or importer. In addition to these national labeling requirements producers may include their web site address and a QR Code with vintage specific information.
Chalone Vineyard is located in the Chalone AVA south of San Francisco, California, United States, on an unusual geological formation called the Gavilan benchland. The soil is rich in limestone and calcium carbonate and also contains a significant amount of decomposed granite. This soil has a mineral composition similar to the Champagne region of France. Chalone is situated in an arid chaparral environment, in which temperatures can vary as much as 50°F in one day. The climate is very dry, only 12 to 14 inches (360 mm) of rain fall per year. These factors combine to create a unique terroir, the signature profile of a wine growing region.
Aubert de Villaine is a social economist and co-owner and co-director of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. Some of the world's most expensive wines are produced on several of its approximately 50-acre (20 ha) vineyard holdings in Vosne-Romanée and Montrachet. He was originally co-director with Lalou Bize-Leroy, both having inherited their ownership. However disagreements over the direction of the estate, led to Bize-Leroy's expulsion from the management and her replacement by her nephew.
Lebanon is among the oldest sites of wine production in the world. The Israelite prophet Hosea is said to have urged his followers to return to God so that "they will blossom as the vine and fame be like the wine of Lebanon, [and] their fragrance will be like that of Lebanon". The Phoenicians of the coastal strip were instrumental in spreading wine and viticulture throughout the Mediterranean in ancient times. Despite the many conflicts of the region, the country has an annual production of about 8,500,000 bottles of wine.
Domaine Chandon is a winery located in Napa Valley in the town of Yountville, California, United States. Established in 1973 by Moët et Chandon, businessman, John Wright, was the first French-owned sparkling wine producer in Napa Valley.
Ceja Vineyards is a family-owned winery in Napa founded by Mexican-American immigrants. The Ceja family have been growers in the Napa and Sonoma valleys in California for three generations. The wine production company was founded in 1999 and focuses on premium wines. The principals are; Amelia Moran Ceja, President; Martha Ceja, Vice President; Pedro Ceja, Secretary; and Armando Ceja, Treasurer. As of 2008 production is around 10,000 cases per year.
Sonoma County wine is wine made in Sonoma County, California, in the United States.
Los Carneros AVA is an American Viticultural Area which includes parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties in California, U.S.A. It is located north of San Pablo Bay. The proximity to the cool fog and breezes from the bay makes the climate in Los Carneros cooler and more moderate than the wine regions farther north in Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley. The cooler climate has made Los Carneros attractive for the cultivation of cooler climate varietals like Pinot noir and Chardonnay. Many of the grapes grown in Los Carneros are used for sparkling wine production. Receiving its AVA status in 1983, the Carneros area was the first wine region in California to be defined by its climate characteristics rather than political boundaries.
California wine production has a rich viticulture history since 1680 when Spanish Jesuit missionaries planted Vitis vinifera vines native to the Mediterranean region in their established missions to produce wine for religious services. In the 1770s, Spanish missionaries continued the practice under the direction of the Father Junípero Serra who planted California's first vineyard at Mission San Juan Capistrano.
Stéphane Derenoncourt is a French vigneron working as a consultant for numerous estates in Bordeaux and other wine producers worldwide. With his wife, Christine Derenoncourt, he runs Vignerons Consultants and owns Domaine de l'A in the Côtes de Castillon and Derenoncourt California in Napa Valley. He is entirely self-taught.
Château Miraval is a château and vineyard located in the village of Correns, just north of Brignoles, a village in the Var département in the south of France. The château hit headlines in late May 2008 when it was revealed that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had leased it for three years with an option to buy, after surveying prospective properties by helicopter, with the intention of having the twins they expected born in France. Pitt and Jolie exercised the buy option and were married in the château's chapel in August 2014. In 2017, a new product was released by Château Miraval, an organic extra virgin olive oil. L'Huile d'Olive Miraval is packaged in black stoneware bottles and contains blended extra virgin olive oil produced from olives grown on the Miraval estate and locally-sourced Verdale, Pichouline, Tanche, Lucques, Aglandau, Cayon and Arboussane organic olives.
Primum Familiae Vini is an association of family-owned wineries with a membership limited to twelve families.
The Oxford University Wine Circle (OUWC), founded in 1962, was a wine society in the University of Oxford. The society organised frequent tastings and tasting dinners for its members and their guests. In the course of over six decades, the Wine Circle hosted many of the reference-point estates from the wine world. While the Wine Circle was a sociable group, the emphasis at meetings was on the wines themselves: as a former President, Tom Bromwich, noted: "It's certainly not pretentious – most people, including me, have always liked wine and just want to know more about it." Along with members of the more recently established Oxford University Wine Society and the Oxford Blind Tasting Society, members of the society often participated in blind tasting competitions. A team including members of the Wine Circle took first place in the SPIT Competition at Champagne Bollinger in April 2011. Notable former members include Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac, Arabella Woodrow MW, Jasper Morris MW and Alex Hunt MW. Until the mid-2000s, the OUWC ran the Oxford blind tasting training and oversaw team selection for the Varsity Match, and there are numerous wine professionals who discovered their love and talent for tasting wine while preparing to compete against Cambridge such as: Oz Clarke and Charles Metcalfe. The Varsity Blind Tasting Match is the oldest organised blind tasting competition in the world ; Champagne Pol Roger UK has sponsored the Match since 1992.
Nicole Abiouness is an American female entrepreneur and winemaker. She owns and operates Abiouness Wines, in Mendocino County, Napa Valley, California where she makes Pinot Noir and Sangiovese wine.
Claude Taittinger was a French businessman. He was longtime director of Taittinger Champagne and was the son of Pierre Taittinger.
