Luxury champagne brand, Armand de Brignac, has poached Moet Hennessy director and Australian native, Bernadette Knight, as its new global chief marketing officer as it sets out a new brand course and international growth plans. Knight has spent more than a decade in the luxury wine and spirits industry, and was most recently the US director for Hennessy Cognac. She has also worked with champagne brands such as Veuve Clicquot, Krug, Ruinart and Taittinger.

Problems in China have spooked the wine industry in recent months. Chris Losh takes a look at what has gone wrong in the country, and where else wine producers could look to sell their wares. Have you heard of the ‘Peak Wine Theory’? It’s the idea that wine consumption has reached its maximum level, and that, volume-wise, it’s all downhill from here. It’s been discussed for much of the last ten years.

Submissions to the Federal Government’s Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) Rebate Discussion Paper close this Friday – let’s hope this inquiry will bring some equity and simplification, asked Des Caulfield, director at accounting firm MGI Adelaide. “The Australian wine industry is one of the nation’s most competitive industries globally, yet Australia is one of the highest taxed wine nations in the world.”

Silver Heights winery recently launched its first white wine, a 2014 vintage Chardonnay, while Helan Qingxue winery released a Chardonnay as well as a rosé Cabernet Franc under the brand ‘Jia Bei Lan’ to celebrate the winery’s 10th anniversary. Non-Bordeaux varieties such as Syrah and Marselan are also gaining ground in Ningxia. It is widely believed that Helan Qingxue winery’s Jia Bei Lan winning the International Trophy for Red Bordeaux Varietal over £10 in the 2011 Decanter World Wine Awards helped significantly to put Ningxia on the international wine map.

Until recently (over the last 30 or so years) no one felt it necessary to discuss the level of alcohol (abv) in a wine. It was always assumed the abv was correct and in balance depending on the normal winegrowing and winemaking conditions of the vintage and growing area. But that all changed with the advent of the 100-point scale and the evolving market importance of wine critics such as Robert Parker and others in the late 1970s and 1980s.

The U.S. leveraged an improving economy to maintain the title of world’s largest wine market last year. Larger discretionary income levels for consumers contributed to Americans purchasing more wine, marking a 1% growth rate to 328.6 million 9-liter cases, according to the Beverage Information and Insights Group’s 2015 Wine Handbook. The U.S. continued to lead the wine market in 2014 after surpassing France in 2013.

Students of Central Otago wines and wine lovers in general will be rubbing their hands with glee at the launch of the inaugural Down to Earth wine event starting at Labour weekend. Running from October 24 to November 4, this 12-day event spans a range of unique and ”hands-on” activities that will get you up close with the wineries and winemakers. More than 30 winegrowers are participating and the opportunity to taste not only current releases, but also museum release wines will be tantalising for many.

An agreement earlier this year by a Wellington delegation to China led by Mayor Celia Wade-Brown has borne fruit with the launch of the Seashine Supermarket group’s first ‘New Zealand corner’. New Zealand products will be promoted in the supermarket chain across Xiamen and Fujian Province, occupying a prime position of 100 square metres in six stores to begin with. There is an expectation of more to come. Seashine Group is a major player in the economy of Xiamen, a sister city of Wellington.

Howcroft Estate Vineyard in South Australia is set to attract keen attention from a range of prospective purchasers. Colliers International’s Tim Altschwager and Nick Dean have been appointed by Sandhurst Trustees Ltd to sell Howcroft Estate Vineyard in South Australia’s Bordertown wine region. Altschwager said the $9 million price tag represented excellent value at approximately $22,000 per ha of vines planted.

Researchers will tour vineyards in the Yarra Valley today to see a new phylloxera detection system in action. The Board of the Plant Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre is making the visit as part of a regular program of visits with CRC Participants. Phylloxera is an aphid-like insect that destroys grapevines by feeding on vine roots. Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board of South Australia chief executive Alan Nankivell said phylloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae) was the only regulated pest in the wine industry and a major concern for grapegrowers.