A New Zealand inquest has been told a woman's 10-litre (2.2 gallon) a day Coca-Cola habit may have contributed to her death, reports said Friday.

Faced by increasingly ferocious competition from New World wines, Europe's top producer nations kicked off talks on Thursday to decide whether or not to liberalise the planting of vineyards.

American giant Starbucks plans to heavily invest in expansion in China as the local population starts to embrace the coffee culture, the company's Asia Pacific president said Wednesday.

Dutch brewer Heineken posted on Wednesday a 13.7-percent rise in net profit for the first quarter of 2012 on a 12-month comparison, boosted by better beer sales in Africa and the Middle East.

Surging sales in emerging markets like India, China and Brazil gave earnings at Coca-Cola a solid boost in the first quarter, the company reported Tuesday.

The world's biggest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev on Monday announced a deal to acquire a 51 percent stake in a Dominican brewer for 1.2 billion dollars, creating the leading beverage company in the Caribbean.

Bordeaux winegrower Chateau Latour will pull out of the traditional "en primeur" or futures market, a vital part of the region's commercial strategy, in a move geared to Asian markets, industry sources said on Monday.

The United States on Monday announced a trade deal with Brazil to recognize certain distilled spirits, bourbon and Tennessee whiskeys in the US and cachaca in Brazil, as "distinctive products."

The EU's climate commissioner played down the impact of the controversial carbon tax being imposed by the bloc on airlines, saying Friday it would cost less than a cup of coffee per passenger.

French wine capital Bordeaux wrapped up an intense week of barrel tastings of its new vintage Friday, with wines expected to go quickly on sale next week, as chateaux negotiate lower prices.

Molson Coors Brewing Company announced Tuesday a deal to buy StarBev LP, which operates nine breweries in Central and Eastern Europe, for $3.54 billion (2.65 billion euro).

Global wine buyers converge on Bordeaux for the annual futures sale that opens Monday, with a hit-and-miss vintage seen as a chance to pull skyrocketing prices back down to Earth.

Beer drinking football fans should be able to savor their favorite beverage during matches at the 2014 World Cup after Brazilian lawmakers approved a bill suspending a ban on beer sales in stadiums.

Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya is mulling a plan to give up control of his flagship spirits firm to brewing giant Heineken in a bid to ease his debt-laden airline's woes, a report said Thursday.

Winding his way through the stands at one of the world's biggest wine fairs, South Korean wine importer Soon-Choong Kim says Italy is on the right track in its bid to boost exports to Asia.

Master distillers from Scotland are stepping three centuries back in time to make single malt whiskey in the same place where George Washington produced his own liquid gold.

Italy's wine industry is flourishing despite the recession, with booming exports to foreign markets and competitive domestic pricing, experts said Monday at the start of the Vinitaly trade fair.

Organic wine growing is gaining ground in France where a Bordeaux Sauternes "grand cru", the highest classification level, has just been awarded the official biological farming (AB) logo.

US stocks clocked modest gains Friday after a positive job report confirmed an improvement in the ailing labor market and Greece struck a private-debt deal to avert a near-term default.

Coca-Cola said Friday it will lower levels of a chemical in caramel coloring to comply with a California law, but insisted the beverage's recipe will not change and poses no health risks.