Uncorkings 9.6

 The New York Times reported on the development of a new, lighter Champagne bottle, slimmed down to 835g from 900g. The bottle has taken years to design and the Champagne Trade Council (CIVC) is encouraging its members to use it starting with this harvest, all in the name of reducing the wine’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Small to medium-sized wineries may are seeing rapid and sustained growth of the highest priced domestic table wines, those at $20 or more per bottle, according to research from SymphonyIRI Group.

More than 50 wineries, 600 wine drinkers and 100 restaurants on four continents participated in #Cabernet Day, estimated to be the largest online wine tasting held to date.

The beginning of the end of wines with cute names?  Import company Grateful Palate put its Australian wineries up for sale, including the popular Bitch Grenache label.

Divers salvaged the world’s oldest drinkable beer from a shipwreck in the Baltic Sea on Thursday, just days after work began to retrieve dozens of bottles of 200-year-old champagne, local officials said.

Kathryn Morgan was welcomed as a member of the Court of Master Sommeliers, joining just 105 other individuals – and only 15 other women – who have earned the title of Master Sommelier since the organization’s inception. Morgan is wine director and sommelier at Citronelle, in Washington DC.

In addition, Institute of Masters of Wine admitted nine new Masters of Wine to its ranks, bringing the total number to 289. See the full list here:  http://www.mastersofwine.org/en/news/index.cfm/id/2C3E9ED3-31AA-47E0-BEF7542FD7D43F09