This week’s wine news: A paper wine bottle debuts at a British on-line grocer, while Champagne revs up another lawsuit and Napa prices don’t have anything on Texas
• Paper wine bottle: What may be the first paper wine bottle in Britain is set to debut when a brand called When in Rome will sell a red, white and rose at on-line retailer Ocado. The bottle, a collaboration between the producer and Britain’s Frugalpac sustainable packaging company, is said to be made from 94 percent recycled paper and have a carbon footprint 84 percent less than a single-use glass bottle. Says When in Rome founder Rob Malin: “We believe great wine doesn’t have to come in glass bottles. We’re here to prove that whether you’re drinking from a glass bottle or a paper bottle, the quality of the wine is not impacted.”
• One more lawsuit: The Champagne business, responsible for some of the great lawsuits in an industry that is renowned for them, has struck again. Cristal, which successfully sued Cristalino (and for which the WC got a cease and desist order), has lined up its lawyers for an action against a small Oregon winery that makes a sparkling wine called Crystal Visions. The producer, Landmass Wines, used the name Crystal Visions to honor Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac fame. The phrase “crystal visions” appears in the lyrics of the Fleetwood Mac song “Dreams.” But, of course, the Cristal lawyers were not satisfied, even though Landmass got a favorable ruling from the U.S. patent office. Ain’t it great to be a Big Wine company?
• Have $16 million? That will get you a one-half acre compound near Austin in central Texas. The offer includes a main house, two guest houses, a party barn. and an office, totaling 10,000 square feet of living space as well as seven bedrooms and 9 ½ baths. Plus, of course, a tempranillo vineyard, with enough vines planted to make a couple of hundred bottles a year. Hmm. I wonder if I could use the guest house for an office for myself, and let Churro, the blog’s associate editor, have the other one?