The emerging Ukrainian wine industry is looking to raise winemaking standards to European levels – by working with foreign consultants and setting up a professional wine body. Ivan Plachkov, the country’s former energy minister and founder of Kolonist Winery in the Odessa region, has set up the Ukrainian Bureau of Vine and Wine and the OIV about how to professionalise the industry, reports Harpers Wine & Spirit.

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Joe Ludwig, will seek to strengthen Australia’s $12.6 billion agricultural trade relationship with North Asia as a part of a three nations visit this week. Minister Ludwig, who will visit China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, will be joined by a delegation of representatives from Australia’s cattle, cotton, fodder, grain, wool, and seafood industries, reports Stock and Land.

The area’s tourism businesses have welcomed Barossa’s new iPhone app. Launched last month; the app allows access to Barossa’s large network of services at the touch of a button. The free download is available to both iPhone and iPad users. According to Elaine Ratcliffe, chairperson of Barossa Tourism, the new tool also means businesses can highlight current information. Businesses that are members of Barossa Tourism and Barossa Grape and Wine are already connected to the app at the highest level of participation for a free trial period, reports The Barossa Herald.

Leogate Estate has popped up regularly in wine show trophy and gold medal lists this year and it is now on the cusp of a new chapter in its development. It will have its own winery and cellar door on the former prized Rothbury Estate Brokenback vineyard, in Broke Road, Pokolbin. Leogate has its winemaking and cellar door in the leased Roche family-owned former Tempus Two winery, on the corner of Broke-McDonalds roads, Pokolbin, reports The Newcastle Herald.

You can pick a wine-lover’s house on Christmas Eve. It’s got a plate of super-delicious Tuscan cantucci almond bikkies set out beside a big glass of vin santo, maybe a Castello di Ama or Castellani. Or maybe a shortbread and a wee dram, or a Rutherglen muscat and a florentine. Does that sound too obsessive? If it doesn’t, here are a few little vinous somethings to put under the tree for the wine lover in your life, writes Jeni Port in The Sydney Morning Herald.

An audit of product gaps in Barossa Valley tourism has identified 25 opportunities that could bring a 30 per cent growth in tourism spending by 2030, and create 670 jobs in the region, reports The Advertiser. Targeting the luxury visitor market alone could increase tourism spending in the Barossa by more than $100 million a year, the report says.

There’s nothing quite like sitting down with a fine drop and a good book, except maybe sitting down with a good book about fine drops, writes Huon Hooke, in Sydney Morning Herald. It may have been a wet and dodgy year for wine but it’s been a good year for wine books. The most compelling new book is undoubtedly Authentic Wine … Toward Natural and Sustainable Winemaking by Jamie Goode and Sam Harrop.

A small winery in Carlsruhe is making waves in the wine industry with success in Victorian wine shows. Paramoor Winery owner Will Fraser, a former managing director of Kodak Australasia, has a diploma in wine technology and a PhD in chemistry, reports the Macedon Ranges Weekly. He has also made a name in his new field of making fine wine.

Wine and cheese platters are nothing new – just about every bar and restaurant and semi decent pub has a cheese platter on the menu – but a new phenomenon is now on the table. The wine and produce night out at your local bar is gaining popularity as small niche venues struggle to find a point of difference in an increasingly crowded market place, reports news.com.au

Gecko Valley Winery has had one of its best years despite the devastating natural disasters that struck the region in 2011. Owner Tony McCray told The Observer he was not surprised to hear the Tourism Queensland Gladstone Regional Snapshot had revealed tourism in the region was doing well, since the town was experiencing such a boom due to the success of industry.