The introduction of a decommunisation law in Ukraine has forced a sparkling wine producer known for its “Soviet Champagne” to change its name. First bottled in 1928, during Russian communist leader Joseph Stalin’s reign of power, Sovetskoye Shampanskoye, or Soviet Champagne, is a brand of sparkling wine produced in the Soviet Union and successor states.
Winemakers, researchers, journalists and sommeliers will descend on Marlborough in February to celebrate the wine variety that put the region on the map. The inaugural International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration, which was first floated in 2014, was organised by New Zealand Winegrowers to demonstrate the complexity and importance of the variety.
Water storage is set to become the rallying call for Marlborough farmers and grape growers in the near future. Waihopai Valley grape grower Michael Ponder said water storage could not be avoided if dry summers continued. “We need to store more water, or face the consequences,” he said. He said dams did not just need to be holes in the ground for storing water.
Nearly a decade ago Mollydooker became a household word among American wine enthusiasts. The Australia brand hit shelves with a flourish, in large part due to the personality of its Australian creators, Sparky and Sarah Marquis. But the attention it got was also due to its controversial style: heady, extracted and, well, delicious.
Visual assessment of the grape and wine sector’s most costly disease, powdery mildew, will be easier with a new, free smart-phone app developed by University of Adelaide researchers and collaborators. The recently released iPhone/iPad and Android app, PMapp, will help grapegrowers and wineries make informed decisions about the quality and price of grapes.
THE coming wine harvest will be a bumper one, according to Winburndale winemaker Mike Burleigh. The vigneron’s first vintage was in 2002, and Winburndale Wines has since won 18 trophies and more than 100 medals. Mr Burleigh said good spring rain, followed by a mix of hot and wet weather in summer, had put the winery on course for another bumper vintage.
The annual wine grape harvest is expected to be delayed at Great Lakes Winery at Wootton following the heavy rain. Vigneron Steve Attkins said picking would be pushed back two to three weeks after nearly 200 millimetres of rain fell on the vineyard. “We had the highest level we’ve probably seen in 16 years so four of our paddocks went under; one of them went under completely [and] we’ve never seen that before,” Mr Attkins said.
Tasmania is now home to about 2,000 refugees from Bhutan, a tiny country between India and China with a population just twice that of Tasmania. In the 1990s, Bhutan forced most of its ethnic Lhotshampa population to leave and the exodus saw more than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees living in Nepalese camps seeking asylum. After 19 long years living in one of these refugee camps, Khadga Thapa was one of the first to migrate, in 2010.
Naked Wines — a UK wine retailer that launched in Norwich in 2011 and was acquired by Majestic Wine for £70 million last April — told Business Insider that it grew so fast that almost ran out of wine. Naked Wines operates a crowdfunded business involving around 300,000 subscribers who provide funding for more than 100 independent winemakers in over 14 countries.
Ordering a beverage from the seatback isn’t novel, but ordering a case of wine to be delivered to your home is the new normal for passengers flying with Air New Zealand’s latest entertainment systems. Alongside the more usual TV, movie and audio options on offer on the IFE is the chance to purchase bottles — or, indeed, cases — of wine for home delivery. It’s intuitive, fun and an excellent opportunity to while away a few minutes on board an aircraft.