Nossiter: Parker and Rolland are not targets  0

　　Jonathan Nossiter said he had not set out to attack Robert Parker and Michel Rolland in his new book.

At the launch of Le Gout et le Pouvoir, in the Alice store in Bordeaux, the Mondovino director said, ‘Rolland and Parker are not targets in this book.’

Referring to Rolland’s fury at the way he was portrayed in Mondovino, he said, ‘In fact before making Mondovino I knew very little about Rolland and regret that he had such a violent reaction to the film. Rather I am interested in people who have power, and how they acquired that power.’

Despite those protestations however, one of his comments could be interpreted as a thinly-veiled criticism of critics like Parker. ‘To give an absolute judgement on anything is horrific in my eyes. To taste 300 wines in one day and make mathematical judgements on those wines is crazy, and a betrayal of the person who has made that wine.’

At the same time, he said, he was not afraid of speaking out, and ‘saying what I have seen. Wine is such a small world that I think some people who are involved might be afraid of speaking out – perhaps I would hold back if I was more involved. But I’m a film maker.’

Nossiter received a largely positive reaction from an assorted crowd of wine producers, negociants journalists and others ?including Jean Christophe Calvet from Aquitaine Wine, Claude Guinjard from Chateau de Roquebrun and Aymeric Fournier from Despagne Vineyards.

Most were audibly supportive of his call to find another way to talk about wine, with ‘less metaphors and less prescription.’

義大利葡萄酒精緻化發展  0

　　過去以量取勝的義大利葡萄酒釀製業者近年來改變策略，轉向精緻化發展。統計資料顯示，近年來義國釀酒用葡萄的栽植面積雖然遞減，外銷的值與量卻年年增加。

根據義大利全國釀酒協會最近發表的報告，義國釀酒用葡萄栽植面積在一九八零年時曾多達一百二十三萬公頃，至一九九零年減為九十七萬公頃，目前僅剩約七十九萬二千公頃。

最近五年，義大利葡萄酒年產量約四十八億四千萬公升，佔歐盟總產量的百分之三十或全球的百分之十七，年產值約一百億歐元，其中三十二億來自外銷。

義大利的葡萄酒外銷數量從公元二零零二年開始增加，值與量併進，並於同一年超越法國，成為美國市場的最大供應國。

葡萄酒並於二零零三年躍居義大利農業食品出口項目之首位，達總出口值的百分之二十。目前義大利出口到美國、加拿大與日本的農業食品的總值之中，葡萄酒佔百分之四十。

近三年多來，義大利葡萄酒外銷的值與量仍持續增加，二零零四年分別成長百分之五與百分之六，二零零五年分別增加百分之三點一與百分之十，二零零六年分別增加百分之五點八與百分之十一點五，與去年前半年分別增加百分之十一點四與百分之十四點五。

全國釀酒協會會長馬德利表示，葡萄栽植面積縮小從另一方面來說有利於消除浮濫，改善品質，讓釀酒業者走向更精緻的路線。他說，事實上目前葡萄酒釀製業每年一百億歐元的產值中，有二十億元來自釀酒技術。

（中央社）