Gotta love these. Made by French sculptor Etienne Meneau, each one can hold a full bottle of wine. Fetching up to €2,200, these brilliant works of art will not be available in your local supermarket any time soon.

Not the most practical item you could spend a few grand on, but they are a luxury commodity for those with a fat wallet. I mean, could you bring a better conversation starter to the table?

Like veins pumping blood through your body.

No, this is not a shaky shot.

My favourite - if anyone has a spare €1000 and doesn’t know what to get me for Christmas. Genuinely very classy.

Numbers are very limited. For more information and pictures, check out the strange carafes blog here.

The Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair 2009 took place at the beginning of November and delivered yet another message indicating the potential the of the wine industry in Asia. With more than 520 exhibitors (more than double compared with last year) from 34 countries, around 12,000 people attended the three day fair.

In the first nine months of the year, wine imports into Hong Kong increased by 40%, which is said to be largely due to the fact that the government abolished wine tax in April 2008 (Irish government take note).

Industry experts expect Hong Kong and China to become the eighth largest wine market in the world in the next decade, and press releases are stating that the Chinese wine industry will be worth 870 billion USD by that time. With an increasing middle class, wine isn’t the only commodity that should see an increase from who may well become the world’s leading economic power.

The partner country for this show was France, who had more than 50 exhibitors showing highly acclaimed wines, spirits and champagne, as well as seminars and wine tastings. They were joined by exhibitors from, to name a few, Portugal, Romania and Australia, the latter of which will be the partnering country for 2010’s Hong Kong Wine Fair.

I would imagine that it’s not only the wine itself that is captivating the Asian market, but the stories and lifestyle that are affiliated with each wine. As Asia is an exotic and fascinating far away place for us, perhaps Europe is the same for them, and buying into the stories (and clever marketing) is all part of the fun - as indeed, it is for us.

Information sourced from Wein-Plus.com article, dated 27.11.09

When used in the same sentence, those two words, “English” and “wine” were once followed by a menacing snigger and a contemptuous remark. Well, fellow Irish drinkers, not any more.

English wines haven’t exactly been flooding the Irish market, and neither have they been dominating markets elsewhere, including their own, but we’re talking about very small production here (2 million bottles in comparison to almost 7 billion from France), which naturally incurs a higher price. So no, you’re not going to see the English competing with the sub €6 supermarket brands any time soon.

Global warming is said to be partly to thank for English wines being taken more seriously. With a warmer, drier climate and a slight change in the length of each season, grapes are allowed to ripen more easily. Parts of southern England have been compared to Champagne in terms of climate, and in some areas, the soils don’t differ too much either. No wonder the sparkling wines in particular are gaining special notoriety.

According to the guardian.co.uk, English supermarket chain, Waitrose (the largest retailer of English wines), reported a 163% year-on-year rise in sales of locally stocked English sparkling wines and a 97% rise in sales of nationally produced wine. It has also seen a 50% rise in sales of still wines.

Some English vintners have also enjoyed great success abroad, so there’s no doubting experience and talent in the ranks. For example, a favourite winery of Oz Clarke and Gordon Ramsay is Chateau Bauduc in Bordeaux, run by Englishman Gavin Quinney. But the English have also managed to gain experience on their home patch, and by all accounts it’s really starting to show.

2009 is expected to be one of England’s best vintages, and when this grape growing climate finally hits the southern tip of Ireland, they may just be the people to call on for some sound advice.

Click here to view the recent and relevant guardian.co.uk article on English wine. The above picture is of the successful Surrey based winery, Denbies.

I could swear I’ve seen this before, quite possibly in Decanter magazine, but many thanks to our good friends Manic Mammy and Donal Cahalane for giving me the heads up when Springwise.com (great site by the way) featured an article on the spiral cellars.

These state-of-the-art wine cellars are being installed by a UK based company (spiralcellars.co.uk) in the homes of those with a taste for long lived wine and, very importantly, a big enough wallet. Prices start at £9,200 - maybe a drop in the ocean for some, but in all fairness, it a pretty cool product.

The mini cellar will take 650 bottles, with the white spiral cellar able to hold almost 1,900. The watertight storage spaces can be sunk into the ground and they have a powerless airflow system which maintains a constant temperature.

As soon as I win the lottery…