• So, there’s chocolate wine now. A Washington-based company is marketing this stuff called Chocolate Shop, which is a Bordeaux-style blend from California mixed with sugar and chocolate. And apparently it isn’t just college girls who are buying it. [Drinks Business]
• Everyone knows that the wine market in China is a hot topic, but not so many people know that Chinese nationals are increasingly buying up property in California’s wine country. [Wines and Vines]
• Watch a video and listen to a seminar about Chateau Margaux, the second-oldest of the premier cru, or “first growth,” wineries in Bordeaux. [Wine Spectator]
• Rudy Kurniawan, a 35-year-old high-end wine collector based in California, was arrested last week by the FBI and charged with fraud. Apparently he has sold millions of dollars in counterfeit vintages, like a 1929 Domaine Ponsot that couldn’t have existed (Domaine Ponsot didn’t start estate bottling until 1934, obviously). [Grub Street]
• Rieslings from the Finger Lakes region in New York have already gained a lot of respect, but have you heard of Lemberger? It’s a red grape grown in Germany and Austria (and now New York) that pairs well with food and may be the next hot thing. [WSJ]
• An appeals court in San Francisco this week had to settle a dispute between a winery and a restaurant in Napa, defining a wine tasting room as something different from a restaurant where beverages are sold. [SF Chron]
