Tesco is said to be announcing a number of changes to its wine buying team including bringing back James Davis MW from Greene King and a series of redundancies, according to a report on harpers.co.uk sister publication Off Licence News. James Davis MW is currently a senior buyer for Greene King and has been with the company for more than seven years. His new role at Tesco is said to be reporting directly to head of Tesco’s BWS, Gavin Warburton.

It’s not uncommon in Europe to come across a wine style that is almost entirely and very happily lapped up by the local populace. Because of this, you rarely see these wines beyond their home turf.
Our young wine culture and export focus are against such a thing happening here in quite the same way. But there is one style that is a little similar – lower-priced Hawke’s Bay Bordeaux varietals and blends.

The New Zealand wine industry is firmly on the rebound after a torrid period following the Global Financial Crisis, where winegrowers’ returns plummeted despite an overall growth in export volumes. Wine exports reached record highs again last month, earning almost $1.4 billion for the calendar year – an 8.2 per cent increase from 2013. Crowe Horwarth’s resident wine expert, Alistair King, says that strong performances aren’t just limited to the international market.

Sommeliers keep pushing sweet Riesling but it is varietal suicide, Jason Wilson claims. This will be the first June in seven years that we won’t be besieged by the relentless Summer of Riesling campaign. No more fake “RIESLING” tattoos; no more mediocre bars offering three cheap, off-dry Kabinett wines on the happy-hour menu to entice wannabe hipsters. No more evangelical somms scolding us to drink Rieslings that no wine lover in Germany or Austria would fancy.

The Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) have named Jessica Ferguson, Sirromet Wines assistant winemaker, as dux of the 35th Advanced Wine Assessment Course. Having topped the class in statistical scores, verbal skills and group interaction, Ferguson has been offered a place as an associate judge for the 2015 Royal Queensland Wine Show (RQWS), to be held in June – a highly sought after position due to the very limited places available.

THE popular T’Gallant restaurant in Main Ridge is for sale as part of owner Treasury Wine Estates’ cost-cutting plan. Up for grabs is the restaurant and the T’Gallant’s winery interests. About eight hectares of grapes are grown at the 16-hectare Mornington-Flinders Rd property but wine is no longer made there. Grapes from all over southeastern Australia are marketed under the T’Gallant label. The vineyard–restaurant has had a chequered career over the past decade or so, having been fined for permit breaches when owned by Foster’s Brewing Group.

Yalumba presented the North Cottesloe Food and Wine Expo in Perth on Sunday, showcasing a selection of the Barossa winery’s current release leading wines, as well as labels from Western Australia, France, Spain, Italy and Victoria. The 2012 Yalumba The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon and 2009 Yalumba Steeple Vineyard Shiraz were among two of the most popular wines on the day, alongside the 2013 Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay.

With over 2500 wine producers in Australia, the wine industry has a significant role to play in our economy. Being particularly vulnerable to water shortages, it is crucial for the wine industry to realise the importance of implementing long-term water management strategies. Research into the long-term implications associated with water management on Australian wine supply chains has been recently completed by Accounting and Sustainability Expert at Macquarie University, Professor Roger Burritt.

In this opinion piece Mitchell Taylor argues the ban on the latest ad campaign from his winery is “political correctness and the nanny state gone too far”. ‘Life, Drink it in’. It seems a pretty good tagline for life, a nice message to get up and out and drink from life’s cup (responsibly of course). But I’m afraid this seemingly innocuous tagline, accompanying some beautiful imagery shot by one of the nation’s finest photographers, is simply too shocking, too provocative, too dangerous for your eyes.

There’s no longer any debate about it: South Australian wines are among the best in the world. From regions like the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale to the little natural winemakers’ utopia that is Basket Range), the variety and flavours of SA wine simply can’t be beat. That said – as great as it is – wine has always been somewhat of the mysterious older sibling of the alcohol world. Luckily, there are a heap of younger, energetic South Australian winemakers whose focus is on producing wines that are delicious, drinkable – and, above all else, accessible.