Organisers of the Marlborough Wine and Food Festival next month say ticket sales look set to match last year’s event when nearly 8000 people attended. General manager Marcus Pickens expects a surge in sales over the coming weeks ahead of the festival on February 11, reports The Marlborough Express. New attractions, like the Chef’s Table with well-known celebrity chefs, would encourage past punters to revisit the annual showpiece at Brancott Estate Vineyard, he said.

French liquor company Pernod Ricard has taken a $99.1 million loss on the sale of assets by its New Zealand business while a dispute with the Inland Revenue Department sits in its accounts as a potential $87.4 million future loss. A $105.4 million loss in the year to June 30, 2011, reported by Millstream Equities, the holding company for its wholly owned local unit, does not include contingent liabilities of $87.4 million and $58.2 million for interest deductions on convertible notes or an alternative alleged avoidance of non-residential withholding tax it disputes with the IRD, reports the New Zealand Herald.

As Mudgee wine region begins its annual harvest over the coming weeks one Gulgong grapegrower may not even pick a berry. For the first time in 16 years Ian McMaster has “lucked out” and not found a buyer for his grapes. He believes on the verge of an otherwise promising 2012 vintage that about 175 tonnes of premium grapes will not make it to wineries here or abroad, reports the Mudgee Guardian.

Treasury Wine Estates says no workers were at risk when a door on a wine tank failed at its Karadoc winery near Mildura. About 250,000 litres of wine poured from the bin when the door blew out about 10:30pm (AEDT) on Monday night. The wine was captured in the winery’s on-site effluent system, reports ABC News.

When Wine Australia invites you to go ”Around Australia in 80 Sips” it is a hard offer to knock back. From the time you have wound your way from Margaret River reds to Yarra Valley whites amid the smell of hot meat pies you can easily forget that you are actually at an events space on New York’s 42nd Street. There is a reason why this event is being held here. Producers are keen to get Americans excited about the regional subtleties of Australian wines, writes Mathew Murphy in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Leaders in the food and wine industry have been among those to get the highest honours in South Australia’s north and west region in today’s Australia Day honours list. Barossa Valley food identity Maggie Beer has been appointed a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia – for services to the tourism and the hospitality industry and the promotion of Australian produce and cuisine. Also being honoured with an AM is John Bastian from the Clare Valley, for community service and service to business, reports ABC West Coast SA.

McLaren Vale producer d’Arenberg has released a limited edition sparkling wine called Dadd. The label carries the signature d’Arenberg red sash, which bears a striking resemblance to a Champagne house with a similarly familial name. As reported by The Drinks Business last May, chief winemaker Chester Osborn revealed the project has been one hundred years in the making.

Over 95 per cent of New Zealand’s vineyard area is part of the industry’s sustainable-winegrowing push. But Terry Dunleavy, a former executive officer of the Wine Institute, has reservations. “We’ve conned ourselves into a preoccupation with sustainability on the environmental front rather than sustainability on the economic front,” Dunleavy said. Wineries are at odds over whether to back the industry’s Sustainable Winegrowing programme, writes Michael Cooper in the NZ Listener.

Last week an article appeared in Harpers Wine and Spirits outlining how wines from the Rueda region in Spain were poised to take market share away from New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc in the UK. The original press release was distributed by a UK agent, Clink Wines, who have a number of brands from the Rueda region on their books. The release itself was scathing towards Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Both are contentious points. But these were not the points that rankled us. The one that got us more than a little grumpy was the claim that these wines have a lower carbon footprint than New Zealand wines, blogs Roger Kerrison at Aura Sustainability.

Dozens of Barossa and Eden Valley wines plus a few Barossa beers will be on show for thousands of visitors to appreciate next month. They feature in the second Cellar Door Wine Festival, which runs from February 24 to 26 at the Adelaide Convention Centre. The festival allows visitors to explore 12 iconic wines regions and enjoy tastings from more than 150 wineries. This year 33 wineries from this region and one Barossa brewing company will be on show, reports the Barossa & Light Herald.