The 4th annual Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology’s (ASVO) Awards for Excellence have been officially launched, with the ASVO calling for nominations. Since their inception, the ASVO Awards for Excellence have attracted a high calibre of entrants and are now recognised within the industry as a demonstration of expertise for wine industry professionals to aspire to and achieve. The ASVO awards aim to promote excellence through recognition and reward of high achievers in innovative practice.

Australian wine critic, James Halliday, has given McGuigan’s “The Philosophy” the highest marks the company has ever received. The 2010 vintage of the Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz blend was given 97-points in the 2016 edition of Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion. Eight McGuigan wines were awarded 90-points or more in the guide including for its Riesling, Chardonnay, Bin 9000 Semillon, Handmade Shiraz and Shortlist GSM, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, while chief winemaker, Neil McGuigan, said the results were “fantastic”.

Robert Oatley Vineyards has rebranded its Australian wine distribution business as Oatley Fine Wine Merchants (OFWM), effective 3 August. The company is on track to cementing its place as a leading distributor of wines from across Australia and around the world. Its portfolio includes Ara Wines (Marlborough); Cumulus Wines (Orange); Clover Hill (Tasmania); Champagnes Piper-Heidsieck and Charles Heidsieck (France); with the new additions of Joseph Drouhin (France) and wines from Chris Hancock’s newly created label, Hancock & Hancock.

DESPITE a 50 per cent production profitability loss in the last year, the Margaret River region is maintaining its stance as a strong entity in the wine industry. According to figures released in this year’s Wine Federation of Australia Vintage Report, the Margaret River region has increased its unprofitable production to 50 per cent while maintaining its profitable production at 30 per cent. “Margaret River wineries are doing better than a lot of the country.”

Australian wine has fallen out of fashion. In the late 1990s, Americans became obsessed with wines from the ‘Land Down Under’. For most of this millennium’s first decade, fruit bombs with quirky names and eye-catching labels flew off the shelves of United States retailers. But sales soon began free-falling. Between 2008 and 2013, the US market for Australian wine declined by more than 20 per cent. Finally, though, Australian vintners are beginning to recognise what went wrong.

As the Rocky fire rages, vintner Ryan Zepaltas is tracking its every move; he wants to make sure the Lake County vineyard he sources fruit from is not in its path. So far the 20-acre vineyard of Sauvignon Blanc grapes hasn’t gone up in flames. But the vines could still be affected by the smoky skies overhead. “We’ll pull cluster samples and send them to the lab to see if we detect smoke taint,” Zepaltas said. “It’s way worse on red wines because they ferment on the skins.”

Featherston man Scott Lanceley will be representing Wairarapa when he competes to be 2015’s Young Viticulturist of the Year this month. Lanceley, who works at Craggy Range as a vineyard operations worker, is “excited but apprehensive” about the competition and is studying in preparation. “It’s a big step up but the experience will be worth it.” The 26-year-old came up just short from winning the Wairarapa sector of the competition that was held at Te Kairanga Estate last week, placing second to Mark Langlands.

New Zealand Winegrowers have apologised for a remark made by chief executive Phillip Gregan at an organic wine conference in Blenheim. New Zealand Winegrowers chairman Steve Green said in a statement that Gregan’s comments made during the conference “were poorly chosen and could have been framed better”. Gregan’s comments were made in a panel discussion following a speech he made to open the conference which was attended by New Zealand and international organic and biodynamic winegrowers.

Celebrating 10 years of success, the International Sweet Wine Challenge (ISWC) is inviting winemakers who want to ‘experience the sweet taste of success’ to enter their sweet and semi- sweet wines before Friday 7th August 2015. One of the only wine shows in the world dedicated to sweet and semi-sweet wines from all over the globe; the ISWC aims to highlight the quality and diversity of the best dessert wines available while promoting a greater understanding and awareness of these wine styles.

When far north Queensland mango farmer Robert de Brueys’ fruit crops began losing money he turned to the bottle, using his love of wine to secure his future. On the outskirts of Mareeba, on the Atherton Tablelands west of Cairns, Robert de Brueys once ran a small but successful mango farm. But when trade agreements between Australia and China chipped away at his profit margin he found a new way to use the iconic fruit; he began to make wine out of it. “I’d had this little thought in the back of my mind for some time,” de Brueys said.