PARIS, July 3 (Reuters) – The name is Mikulski, François
Mikulski.

One of the rising stars of the otherwise closely knit
community of Burgundy winemakers, François has turned a handicap
into an advantage.

No complex, ancient or elaborate names on an intricate
ancient label on the bottles, just a seemingly handwritten name,
his name, on a simple single colour background pasted on a
bottle of, well, rather pleasant wine.

PARIS (Reuters) – A wine plague spread by lice destroyed vines in France in the 19th century but a small area in the Pyrenees, which contains plants up to 200 years old, was spared and is being classified as a national heritage monument.

Like other national treasures such as the Palace of Versailles and Notre Dame cathedral, the vines in the Ardour valley will be protected.

LIMOUX, France (Reuters) – The sparkling wine from the region around this town in southwestern France claims to be the bubbly with the oldest mention in official records.

Limoux barely escaped historical relegation as a local specialty by a flood of Spanish fizz from the other side of the Pyrénées mountains and is now fighting its corner with an offer of quality sparkling wines at affordable prices for its sweet traditional Blanquette de Limoux Methode Ancestrale and dryer Blanquette de Limoux Brut.

MIREPOIX, France (Reuters) – With the Pyrenees mountain range firmly set on the southern horizon, a few enthusiastic vintners are trying to resuscitate a local wine-growing tradition that has been lost for many decades.

“We were four at the start. Only one of us was already a wine-maker, I was in agriculture. We just could not understand why Ariege was the only area in France without vines while it had been an important producer in the past,” said Philippe Babin, one of the pioneers and a former vegetable seed grower.

PARIS (Reuters) – French film and stage actor Alain Delon sold a thousand bottles of his wine collection on Saturday with a big Chinese buyer pushing the auction results well above pre-sale estimates.

Delon, once called “the male Brigitte Bardot” for his good looks, is one of France’s best-selling film actors with Jean-Paul Belmondo and comic Louis de Funes. While he never made a big splash in Hollywood, he has fans in Europe and Asia.

BEAUNE, France (Reuters) – Celebrities, business people and the wealthy bid for casks of fine wine in the world’s biggest annual charity auction at the Hospices de Beaune this weekend in an annual ritual for Burgundy winemakers that stretches back more than one-and-a-half centuries.

The total value of the sale, at 5.8 million euros ($7.8 mln), broke the 2009 record of 5.5 million on face value and was more than the 5.1 million euros of 2010.

BEAUNE, France (Reuters) – A sale of Burgundy wine at the world’s biggest charity auction Sunday drew lower bids than in previous years as economic jitters hit home.

The sale of the so-called President’s Lot is a highlight of the annual “Hospices de Beaune” auction, at which rich wine enthusiasts bid for fine Burgundy wines in a yearly sale whose proceeds are donated entirely to charity.

PARIS (Reuters) – Wine lovers will get their first taste of the much-talked about 2011 harvest on Thursday as the “Beaujolais Nouveau” hits the bars and shelves of France and the wider world.

Proud of a 60-year tradition that has been propelled to global renown by a sleek retailing campaign, Beaujolais seeks to burnish its image as a wine to celebrate the new vintage and dampen criticism that its popularity lies more in the marketing than in the quality of the wine.

PARIS (Reuters) – If you can’t afford a top bottle of Grand Cru from Bordeaux, you might be delighted to learn that most leading chateaux also make less expensive “second wines”.

In the quest for quality, Bordeaux vintners such as Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, Chateau Latour and many other famous names have become more selective in order to obtain a signature taste and avoid vast differences between various vintages.

PARIS (Reuters) – Unpredictable 2011 weather has divided French vintners into cautious early harvesters keen to avoid early autumn storms and nail-biting gamblers willing to risk catastrophe for more mature grapes in a year that has been flagged as exceptional for wine.

A dry spring, a wet start to summer, which has eased into more clement seasonal conditions and warm temperatures has persuaded some vintners to start harvesting in late August, while others have bided their time, measuring grape maturity with modern science and old-fashioned chewing and tasting.