Winebits 710: Villa Maria bankruptcy, ancient wine, wine marketing

This week’s wine news: Villa Maria’s mysterious bankruptcy appears over, plus an ancient wine discovery and more wine marketing faux pas

• Bankruptcy over? New Zealand’s Villa Maria, which has apparently been in some sort of bankruptcy since at least May, has been sold. The story in the link is very vague, as almost all news reports of the winery’s financial difficulties have been. On the one hand, the winery may have been profitable, but it also owed its lenders NZ$212 million (about US$149 million). Why the situation forced bankruptcy now has never been made clear. Villa Maria was purchased out of receivership by a New Zealand winery called Indevin, which seems to make private label wine for retailers and supermarkets. All of this has been more depressing news for those of us who care about quality cheap wine; Villa Maria’s $15 sauvignon blancs are always top notch.

• More ancient wine: Researchers have found the ruins of a ship near Sicily that may have been transporting wine in the Mediterranean more than 2,000 years ago. Decanter reports that amphorae, ancient storage jars used to transport wine, were discovered alongside the ruins of the ship. It’s the second shipwreck discovery in a matter of weeks off the coast of Sicily. The Romans, of course, were great wine producers and innovators, and may even have invented wine writing. This discovery, say researchers, adds more evidence to the theory that wine and olive oil were trade throughout the Roman Empire, and especially by ships in the Mediterranean that went as far as northern France.

• Bring back the Curmudgies! The Curmudgies ran on the blog from 2012 to 2017, honoring the worst in the wine business. This included a worst news release award, of which there were always far too many to choose from. But this release, reported by Lew Perdue at Wine Industry Insight, may be the all-time worst. It has just one line: “Please call with any inquiries.” Apparently, the subject line was supposed to get the editor to call, so there was no reason to send anything else. Is it any wonder I worry about the future of the wine business?