US celebrity chef sued for counterfeit wine (via AFP) Celebrity Chicago chef Charlie Trotter was sued for allegedly selling two collectors a large bottle of wine that was supposedly highly valuable but in fact was a fake. Bekim (Benn) and Ilir Frrokaj paid more than $46,200 in June of last year for what Trotter had [...]

Is Mozart good for wine? One Italian winemaker believes so. He recently spoke with CNN about his unique musical experiment. “We have shown that music helps them to grow better,” winemaker Carlo Cignozzi told CNN’s Ben Wedeman. “The grapes mature two weeks earlier, the fruit is more regular, and the leaves are thicker and greener.” [...]

China trade dispute worries EU wine exporters (via AFP) European wine producers working to drum up new business in the promising Chinese market expressed frustration Thursday as an escalating trade dispute put their industry in the crosshairs. Chinese state media added fuel to the row with threatening rhetoric warning the European Union of further action… [...]

China opens EU wine probe as trade dispute spreads (via AFP) Beijing has begun an anti-dumping probe into European wine, the commerce ministry said Wednesday after the EU imposed tariffs on solar panel imports from China, in a dramatic broadening of the trade dispute. China is the EU’s second-largest trading partner, with $546 billion in [...]

The June issue of Wine Enthusiast Magazine names the top 40 tastemakers under 40 years of age in the U.S. wine industry. The list includes 11 young and talented winemakers, along with a number of sales professionals and other wine experts. Not surprisingly, most of the top “40 under 40″ are based in California. But [...]