Homegrown winemaker Invivo Wines has built early success in its Japanese export market using strong in-store presence and its strategy of regular face-to-face meetings with consumers. For the Kiwi winemaking company, having a Japanese customer drive four hours to meet co-founder Rob Cameron is a good sign that small measures can lead to great events. Cameron, Invivo cofounder and winemaker, visited Tokyo and Yokohama recently where he poured heaps of Invivo wine and got up close and personal with Japanese wine lovers, reports NZ Exporter.

Having for each of the past 15 years selected and recommended New Zealand’s top 100 wines for one of our major daily newspapers, I think I can appreciate more than most the challenges for Michael Cooper when he set out to write 100 Must Try New Zealand Wines, his latest book. The biggest challenge when you are doing something like this is to first settle on a formula that will result in a selection of wines that will satisfy the needs of the widest possible audience, not just those who believe that expensive equals best and have the dosh to support that belief, writes Warren Barton in The Southland Times.

A feature on the Auckland visitors’ wine trail – Te Whau Vineyard, on Waiheke Island – is being offered for sale by the owners who established it on an old sheep farm in 1993. Perched on a headland of vines and bush, its distinctive winery and cafe building has views over the Hauraki Gulf and has been a favourite with overseas VIPs from actor Sean Connery to celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, reports The New Zealand Herald.

Gisborne Albarino wine will be available commercially next year, following the first successful vintage this year by local growers Doug and Delwyn Bell. Last year the vines produced a small crop of about half a tonne and a limited number of bottles were produced to test the market. It will be available commercially next year. Since the first planting of two hectares in December 2009 the Bells have planted another two hectares with three clones of the same variety, reports The Gisborne Herald.

Great Southern winemakers Mike Garland and Andrew Hoadley have been celebrating after winning three prestigious trophies at the Perth Royal Wine Show. Denmark’s Castelli Estate beat a strong field of wines from across Australia after their 2011 vintage Riesling won the Bankwest – WA Wine Press Club Trophy for Best Western Australian Wine, the trophy for Best Western Australian White Table Wine and trophy for Best 2011 Vintage Dry White Table Wine, reports The Albany Weekender.

Wine connoisseurs quaffing the red stuff for the sake of their heart health should know the myth has been busted. The Alcohol Policy Coalition, made up of Australia’s leading health groups, released a paper today challenging the common belief that red wine helps prevent heart disease. A review of the evidence shows any positive effects of alcohol have been “hugely overestimated”, reports The Herald Sun.