Fun. This is the word that keeps spilling from the lips of every urban winemaker with whom I’ve spoken; the people who have spent the past few weeks crushing, fermenting and pressing grapes in inner-city locations across the country. In February, Margaret River winemaker Nic Peterkin took over a corner of the Mantle Restaurant in Fremantle and filled a collection of glass demijohns with verdelho and pinot noir juice he’d pressed with the help of the restaurant patrons.

A Chinese company is working closely with Australian wineries to create a new premium wine range suited to the Chinese palate. Keith Leung and Keith Lu run K-Wine, an import company based in Hong Kong. Leung and Lu are working in partnership with wineries in Western Australia’s Margaret River and the Barossa Valley in South Australia, to create wine under their own brand. K-Wine has created “CEO”, a wine created in Australia, with the businessmen working alongside wineries to develop a unique product.

The wine industry as we know it today owes an inestimable debt to European knowhow and culture, but in commercial terms today’s axis leans in a very different direction. As consumers in France, Spain and Italy cut back their wine consumption, often in favour of other drinks categories altogether, global sales are being propelled forward by countries whose embrace of wine is a relatively recent phenomenon. Last year marked a watershed moment as the US overtook France for the first time to become the world’s biggest wine consumer by volume with annual consumption reaching 29.1 million hectolitres.

Brussels (dpa) – European vintners can increase their harvest from next year under EU rules published Thursday, aimed at helping the bloc retain its share of the wine market and cater for a rise in international demand. Traditional wine growing regions in Spain, France and Italy have long faced competition from countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Argentina or the United States. But strict rules in the European Union have limited their production volumes.

That cool Pinot Gris you enjoy after a tough day at the office is really just a mutant spin-out of Pinot Noir – or so scientists have found. Researchers have pin-pointed the genetic process that determines whether Pinot grapes become red or white. Pinot Noir, predominantly grown in the cooler regions, makes up about 9 per cent of wine production in New Zealand, while Pinot Gris, our third most popular white variety, accounts for around 6 per cent.

Marlborough truck operators are hitting back at complaints of grape spillages saying it is not always the truck driver at fault. Fourteen trucks have spilled grapes on Marlborough roads in the last three weeks, after police called for a spillage-free harvest. Sergeant Michael Moloney, of the South Island Commercial Vehicle Investigation Unit, believed it could be a combination of inappropriate vehicles and out-of-town drivers who were unfamiliar with the roads.

‘Wine Line – the Hamilton Story’ is a dramatised documentary film that highlights the success of the Hamilton family’s wine ventures – and their impact on the Australian wine industry. The film takes viewers on a journey through the history, life and times of early South Australian settlers – the Hamilton Family – one of whom arrived on the first ship to reach the new colony in 1836. The family became founders of Hamilton’s Wines that eventually grew to become Leconfield – Home of Richard Hamilton Wines.

RIVERLAND WINE: The dramatic headline on Thursday’s Advertiser, Wine Bailout was very misleading. The truth of it, is that the entire industry is being challenged and to imply it’s a Riverland issue is far from the reality. Riverland Wine has a long and a successful record of working with Senator Nick Xenophon to bring about major reforms that have improved conditions for winegrowers over many years. Xenophon lobbied hard on the behalf of Riverland Wine and provided excellent access to some of his Federal parliamentary colleagues to bring about the Exit Packages.

AUSTRALIA might witness a very unusual price war before long — a tussle to be the nation’s most expensive wine. The Barossa Valley’s Henschke family have decided they want their iconic Hill of Grace Shiraz, generally regarded as the second best Australian wine, to sell at a higher price point than Treasury Wine Estate’s Penfolds Grange, and thus become seen as Australia’s best. There’s not much doubt that it’s a two-way contest between these two 60-year-old reds. Grange currently sells for $785 while the 2009 Hill of Grace is listed at $595.

The Winemakers’ Federation of Australia says a proposed 25 cent temporary levy to be added to all bottles of wine is a good discussion starter, but suggests better marketing overseas would bring more benefits. The levy is an idea put forward today by Senator Nick Xenophon who has sounded a dire warning about the health of Australia’s wine and grape growing industry. According to a report released by the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia, less than 15 per cent of Australia’s wine grape growers made a profit last year.