Clonakilla Wines’ 2015 Riesling was named wine of the show against strong competition from “the vintage of a lifetime” at the weekend’s Canberra and Region Wine Show. Winning winemaker Tim Kirk said the current district vintage was proving a “belter” for Murrumbateman and Canberra district winemakers with Mother Nature balancing the books after three “challenging” wet years from 2010 to 2012. “Mother Nature has given us a couple of belters in 2013 and 2015,” he said. “2014 was pretty good as well.

Last year’s Australian free trade agreement with South Korea has levelled the playing field for local vignerons wanting to break into one of Asia’s biggest markets and Murrumbateman’s Graeme Shaw is one of the first beneficiaries. Shaw Vineyard Estate hopes to sell millions of dollars worth of its premium cold climate wines a year direct to the South Korean public through Marley Coffee’s 30 strong network of coffee shops.

The Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) has joined with the Fabulous Ladies Wine Society to encourage people across the country to enter the Women in Wine Awards. The awards are the brainchild of Jane Thomson, founder of The Fabulous Ladies’ Wine Society, and this is the award program’s inaugural year. Thomson said there was a positive buzz around the awards which has superseded expectations.

The Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) has rejected calls by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) to increase wine taxes. Paul Evans, WFA chief executive, said FARE’s claims were unhelpful at a time when the Australian Government and Parliament have committed to working with the wine sector on a recovery plan.

The distinct regional conditions, or terroir, in which grapes are grown are thought to shape a wine’s character. But strict scientific evidence of this phenomenon has been lacking. Now, researchers in Auckland, New Zealand, have confirmed that at least one aspect of terroir—local differences in yeast strains—does indeed alter the outcome of Sauvignon Blanc fermentation. Their findings were published yesterday (September 24) in Scientific Reports.

A leading proponent of biodynamic and natural-winemaking in Pouilly-Fumé will take the national institute for appellations – or INAO – to court, over its decision to strip him of his right to an AOC. Alexandre Bain of Domaine Alexandre Bain in the Loire appellation of Pouilly-Fumé received a letter from the INAO last week ‘definitively’ revoking the right to label his wines AOC Pouilly-Fumé.

In 2007, when Bertony Faustin switched careers, from anesthesia technician to winemaker, he felt like an outsider. He was new to winemaking and the locations of his vineyard and winery isolated him from the Northern Willamette Valley scene. Faustin’s 18 acres of grapevines are on a 50-acre estate, owned by his parents-in-law, on Germantown Road. Yes, that’s right: The vines are a stone’s throw from Forest Park, in Multnomah County.

The 1997 El Nino, which was as intense as the current one, helped bring on a severe drought in the summer of 1997 and 1998. Geoff Wright from Wrights Vineyard and Winery in Gisborne said 1997-98 was a fantastic year for winemakers, particularly in Gisborne. “So if we are looking for an El Nino dry summer, what we are looking at producing is probably really good ripe grapes from our vineyard and producing some really good wine,” he said.

The distinct regional conditions, or terroir, in which grapes are grown are thought to shape a wine’s character. But strict scientific evidence of this phenomenon has been lacking. Now, researchers in Auckland, New Zealand, have confirmed that at least one aspect of terroir—local differences in yeast strains—does indeed alter the outcome of Sauvignon Blanc fermentation. Their findings were published yesterday (September 24) in Scientific Reports.

For a wine label that, at just two years old is still in its infancy, Silkman Wines, produced by a Maitland husband and wife team, has already put Australia on notice. Shaun Silkman sat in the downstairs office at First Creek winery, staring disbelievingly at the computer screen. He turned to his winemaking wife Liz and said just two words: “Holy shit!”