Aucklanders will soon no longer be able to buy their bottle of wine or box of beer from their local supermarket before 9am or after 9pm following the Provisional Auckland Council Local Alcohol Policy being passed at the Regional Strategy and Policy Committee today by 14 votes to one. “Going back to the old days when wine sections were roped off is definitely a ‘back to the future’ step. I don’t believe penalising early morning mum or dad grocery shoppers or the likes of shift workers in the evening will make any difference whatsoever.”

Great Southern wines have experienced record growth in export sales in the past 12 months with export wine volumes growing by 90 per cent and export wine values up 95 per cent, bringing in about $2.2 million to the local industry. Peter Bailey, Australian Grape and Wine Authority analyst, said this was great news for Great Southern wine. “The other point is that it’s coming at a relatively high average value of $8.42 per litre which reflects Great Southern’s premium offering,” Bailey said.

Since establishment of the business in 1979 boutique Australian producer Maxwell Wines has been building a following in Australia and around the world. The brand has seen steady growth in all markets since its launch except for the United Kingdom. Maxwell Wines saw firsthand the catastrophic decline of Aussie wine in the UK as their distributor went out of business in 2005 leaving the brand without representation at a time when Aussie wine was on the nose.

The NSW small business commissioner says she is appalled by the way some wineries are treating grape growers in south-west New South Wales. This week Robyn Hobbs joined state and federal business agencies in Griffith, including the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Australian Taxation Office and Rural Financial Counselling Service. They met with grape growers and small businesses in response to concerns from the Riverina Winegrapes Marketing Board.

DEALS have now been completed with Australia’s “big three markets” after years of negotiations, says Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) assistant secretary of the free trade agreement (FTA) division, Michael Growder. “The basic point is; tariffs are going and they’re going in a big way,” he said. “The countries themselves are the economic powerhouses of Asia growing five per cent per year, dozens of times the size of the Australian economy – 14pc of our investment is from these three countries, but it’s growing really quickly.”

During Aussie Wine Month this May, some of Australia’s leading family wineries will tour North America to showcase the heritage and modern diversity of Australian fine wine. Australia’s First Families of Wine Chairman Robert Hill-Smith will lead family member representatives from the 12 family-owned wineries on a North American tour coordinated by Wine Australia. The tour will start with trade and consumer launch events in San Francisco on 18 May and New York on 20 May, before heading to Canada.

NASHIK: With the unseasonal rain and hailstorms badly affecting the quality and production, grape exports from Nashik district have declined by 26.47% in the current grape season (January-April) due to unseasonal rain and hailstorms in February and March. The district exported 49,443 metric tonnes of grapes by April-end in the current grape season, against 67,244 metric tonnes exported in 2014. Speaking to TOI, Jagannath Khapare, president, Grape Exporters’ Association of India (GEAI), said: “Close to 80% of the total grape exports of the state comes from the district.”

Statistics New Zealand has released their latest report for March 2015 visitor arrivals and it revealed a fantastic result for Hawke’s Bay’s tourism industry. March 2015 in comparison to March 2014 showed a 14.6% increased in visitor nights, totalling 116,740 in actual figures. That increase was made up of a leap in both domestic and international visitor nights. International visitor nights rose 10.6% to 35,119 with domestic visitor nights recording a whopping 16.5% increase, totalling 81,621.

After a strategic pitch process, Yealands Family Wines has appointed Special Group to be its global design and advertising agency partner. Michael Wentworth, Yealands general manager of marketing said: “We are impressed by Special’s holistic design and advertising capability. As a global business we’re also excited about their team’s broad international experience, and the success of their office in Australia – one of our key export markets. Culturally too, they just seem a great fit for Yealands.”

ALPINE Valley Vignerons have welcomed the State Government’s $1 million investment, aimed at boosting Victorian wine exports and tourism. President of the Alpine Valleys Vignerons Micheal Freudenstein said any boost to wine related tourism in the region is welcomed as it not only benefits the wine region, but all associated tourism businesses. “Alpine Valleys, Bright, Myrtleford and Mt Beauty are all major drawcards to North East Victoria, offering a high level experience of wine and food,” he said.