Wine milkshakes go on sale in US

In a move that may turn many a stomach, LA burger chain The Counter has added wine milkshakes to its menu. As reported on db.com, the milkshakes, inspired by classic desserts, are being blended at select Counter restaurants across Los Angeles. According to their creator, the wine helps to cut through the sweetness of the shake, with the flavour more milkshake-like to start, but with a wine finish.

The burger chain is offering three flavors: Pinot Noir, featuring cherries, chocolate and vanilla ice cream, Sweet Peach, made using sweet wine, peach nectar and vanilla ice cream, and Mimosa, featuring sparkling white, orange juice and vanilla ice cream.

Perhaps due to the ongoing success of the Santa Barbara-based film Sideways, in which the protagonist Miles extols the virtues of the difficult but rewarding Pinot Noir grape, the Pinot Noir shake is proving the most popular of the trio. The shakes can be found on pour at The Counter restaurants in Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey, Century City, Toluca Lake, El Segundo, Torrance and Hermosa Beach.

Holly Valance made the face of Gallo Moscato

The world is going Moscato mad. Australian actress/singer Holly Valance has been made the face Gallo’s latest launch: Gallo Moscato. The 8.5% abv sweet and light bodied wine went on sale in the UK last week priced at £6.79. With the launch, Gallo is looking to build on the success of Moscato in the US, sales of which leapt by 73% last year thanks to name checks by the likes of Kanye West and Drake in their rap tracks, making it the country’s third biggest selling white variety. 

Asked by the brand what she eats to stay in shape, Valance, who is engageed to British-born billionaire property tycoon Nick Candy, said: "Gallo Moscato with a warm chicken salad or grilled turbot on a light truffle mash. It's the perfect drink for me; light, low calorie and refreshing." Channelling old Hollywood glamour, the campaign features Valance, 29, in a dressing room beside a “yellow” carpet wearing a yellow evening dress with a diamond strap.

Vin de Constance to take on Sauternes

South African estate Klein Constantia’s new managing director is on a mission to pit its flagship sweet wine – Vin de Constance – against the best wines from Sauternes. “We want to benchmark ourselves against the best sweet wines in the world and go up against the likes of Château d’Yquem in the quality stakes,” Hans Astrom told the drinks business during a visit to London this week. Astrom plans to achieve this by focusing on strict selection: “We’re averaging around 15 hectolitres per hectare for Vin de Constance, which is incredibly low, so our prices will have to reflect this leap in quality,” he said. 

“We’ve started picking the Muscat de Frontignan berry by berry, so no sub-standard grapes sneak into the wine. We want to separate the good eggs from the rotten eggs,” he added. Astrom is unafraid of getting rid of wines from the estate’s portfolio if he doesn’t deem them good enough. “We’re discontinuing our Riesling next year for exactly that reason. I’d rather have a few high quality wines that a load of mediocre ones."

To assist his quality quest, he’s enlisted the help of go-to viticulturalist Rosa Kruger, who has worked for the likes of Eben Sadie, Solms-Delta and Rupert and Rothschild. 2012 will be the estate’s latest harvest in 30 years. “All the Muscat for Vin de Constance is still hanging on the vines a month later than it should be, it’s a risk, but if it pays off we’ll have one of the most concentrated wines we’ve ever made.” The company is expecting an abundant harvest this year, resulting in around 30,000 bottles of Vin de Constance compared to last year’s 10,000.

“Despite its name, the yields for Vin de Constance are very inconstant and vary hugely from year to year.” Astrom was made managing director of the company in January by new owners Charles Harman and Zdenek Bakala. Once voted Sweden's best sommelier, before joining Klein Constantia he was general manager for Hess Family Estates. Now installed, he’s keen to shake thing up, believing the family-owned company had become complacent.

“It’s easy for family companies to relax and fall into routines. It’s better now it’s not South African-owned. The new owners wanted a cage-rattling renegade and I’m on a mission to wake up the sleeping beauty, blow the dust off and restore it to its former glory,” he said. One of his big aims is to build up the Vin de Constance back catalogue by buying back old bottles at auction. “The farm didn’t save any wines so I’m having to buy back our liquid history. We’ve managed to get hold of a few bottles from the 1800s,” he revealed.

Astrom reports surprising levels of interest in Vin de Constance in France, given its own supply of Sauternes. “I have people writing to me every day wanting to taste Napoleon’s favourite wine. The Napoleon connection is a great sales driver for us,” he admitted. The French emperor was said to have drunk Vin de Constance every day in the week leading up to his death. Klein Constantia lies in the Constantia valley – the oldest vineyard region in the Cape.