Your daily dose of news and happenings from around the drink-o-sphere:
– Construction workers in Russia (literally) fell upon a World War II-era Nazi wine cellar—and immediately began downing the goods.
– In Israel, winemakers in search of cooler, elevated growing sites look to the West Bank.
– Vintners in Thailand are disproving the traditional view that wine grapes can only be grown within certain latitudinal parameters, producing wine 1,700 kilometers beyond these boundaries.
– John Legend discusses his latest wine venture in partnership with Jean-Charles Boisset.
– Saveur shines a spotlight on French aperitifs, which are commonly overshadowed by their Italian counterparts.
– Canadian vintner, François Morissette, aims to put Ontario’s wine on the map.
– The enforcement of the French Rural Code, which states that grape harvesters must be provided with adequate accommodation, has Champagne producers in a bind.
– Rudyard Kipling, author of The Jungle Book, also inspired the Night in Old Mandalay cocktail.
– Finally, using a high-tech reactor rather than barrels, a South Carolina distillery claims it can age booze the equivalent of twenty years in less than a week.
[Photo: Flickr/Stewart Butterfield]