Winebits 825: Tempranillo Day, Prosecco, $1 billion

This week’s wine news: Tempranillo Day, plus the Aussies get to keep their Prosecco, and Treasury Wine Estates spends $1 billion

• Tempranillo Day: Dan Fredman, a fine person and top-flight marketer, wants me to remind readers that Thursday is Tempranillo Day, celebrating the red grape that Spain made famous but is grown in unlikely places, Texas and Oregon included. His suggestion: Tempranillo from Spain’s Ribera del Duero, a bit fruitier than those from its colleague Rioja and which can cost as little as $15. How often do wine marketers take the WC’s pricing into account?

• Nuts to the EU: The Australians and the European Union have been wrangling for years over a free trade agreement, and one of the sticking points has been an Aussie sparkling wine called Prosecco. The EU wants to end that practice to protect what it considers the only Prosecco, the one from Italy. The U.S. has that sort of agreement with Europe, which is why we can’t call our wines Chablis and they can’t call their hams Virginia. But Australia keeps balking, and it did so again last week when the country’s trade minister backed out, calling the EU’s latest offer “still not good enough.” No word on when, or if, talks will resume.

• $1 billion: That’s the potential cost of Treasury Wine Estate’s newest acquisition, Paso Robles’ Daou Vineyards. The deal has been extensively reported since it was announced last week, and much of the reaction — not surprisingly — was shock and bewilderment. I mention it here so we can all say — together now — “Is it any wonder that we worry about the future of the wine business?”