There was a time when a wine such as Penfold’s Grange had the capacity to change the entire perception of the quality of Australian wine. Don’t get me wrong, Grange remains a beacon of Australian wine quality but at $800 a bottle, it’s no longer capable of stirring the pocketbooks of the casual wine drinkers who are the heavy lifters of any successful wine category. Australia’s not alone in this pursuit.

Australia’s Victorian state government believes that China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) will provide a massive boost in the region’s wine sales. Victoria produces some of Australia’s most acclaimed wine, and is currently showcasing its product as part of the three-day International Sparkling Wine Festival in China. Agricultural Minister for Victoria Jaala Pulford is also in China on Friday on a related mission that aims to connect winemakers from Victoria with Chinese wine connoisseurs.

Australian wine impressed influential members of the wine trade and media in both Japan and South Korea at large-scale tastings held by Wine Australia together with Austrade in early September. The annual Australian Wine Grand Tasting in Tokyo, Japan saw enthusiastic participation throughout the day, a significant increase in the number of exhibitors and more than 500 guests, the most ever for a Wine Australia event in Japan. Feedback from guests demonstrated positive sentiment about how Australian wine had evolved to produce more balanced and delicate flavours while still exhibiting distinctively Australian qualities.

Reforms to the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) rebate and an extra $44 million for global marketing are detailed in a plan put to the Federal Government to help restore profitability to the nation’s grape and wine industry. A submission lodged by the industry’s two peak associations, the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) and Wine Grape Growers Australia (WGGA), urged the government to take action before the 2016 vintage so wine businesses can take full advantage of the more favourable Australian dollar and recent FTAs.

A WORKING group has begun the task of bringing together two national peak bodies in a bid to tackle the downturn crippling the wine industry. More than 40 wine industry leaders from across Australia met at a forum in Adelaide late last month, where they agreed on a national response from across the industry was essential to bring it back to good health. The leaders identified a need to tackle supply and demand-related issues and the capabilities of businesses, organisations and individuals across the industry.

THE AVENUE DE CHAMPAGNE in Épernay, France, is the most famous address in the world of sparkling wine. Beginning at the Place de la République, the road stretches east through Champagne country—a straight line of villas and mansions housing some of the biggest names in fizzy wine: Perrier-Jouët, Pol Roger and Möet & Chandon. For three centuries, Champagne, an area of 30,000 hectares, was the only name that counted when it came to sparkling wine.

Craggy Range has officially launched its top-end wines from the 2013 harvest, which the New Zealand producer hailed “the vintage of a generation”. “There’s always been a huge amount of belief about what we’re doing at Craggy Range and a huge amount of ambition,” remarked chief winemaker Matt Stafford as he introduced the winery’s Prestige Collection at an event in London this week. “We’ve always set out to get the best from the land and 2013 was the culmination of that for us.”

In New Zealand, virtually every wine in the country is bottled under screwcap, while in Spain, cork is mandated. Bottle closures can be real corks, synthetic corks, screwcaps, glass stoppers—but is one better than the others? A few weeks ago I was sitting on a suburban commuter train bound for New York when a group of men who looked to be in their late 30s entered the car.

Australia’s current alcohol warning labels are failing to effectively convey health messages to the public, according to a new study from Deakin University. Researchers with Deakin’s School of Psychology examined awareness of the voluntary warning labels and the ‘Get the facts’ logo that directs consumers to the industry-led informational website DrinkWise, and whether alcohol consumers visited this site.

September is one busy month for Mudgee, thanks to the Wine and Food Festival’s four weeks of tastings, events, celebrations, and evenings out. President of Mudgee Wine Grape Growers, Ted Cox, said there was a huge number of activities and events on during September that were expected to draw in quite a crowd. “We’re certainly doing a lot of different things this year,” Mr Cox said. Things have certainly changed since Mr Cox first began involved with wine in Mudgee.