A former New Zealand Young Winemaker of the Year has taken out the title of New Zealand Winemaker of the Year. A panel of four international wine judges picked Patrick Newton of Mudbrick Vineyard as the inaugural winner on 15 October. The competition replaces the New Zealand Young Winemaker of the Year as part of the New Zealand Aromatic Wine Competition, administered by the Canterbury A&P Show. The Waiheke Island winemaker was thrilled with the award.

IT’S the colour of Smurfs and trendy lattes, now wine has got the blues, too. Blue wine has hit Australia for the first time following the trend that swept the European summer and featured widely on Instagram feeds. Made for Liquorland by Idyll Wine Co near Geelong, The Blue Bird is a blend of white grapes (predominantly moscato) from Australian vines, but must be labelled a wine product because it has had anthocyanins — a natural compound that gives red wine its colour — and indigo food colouring added to give it its blue hue.

Wine tasting tours in South Australia are set to get even better with the state government putting up $1 million in grants for wineries looking to improve their cellar door experiences. The Cellar Door Grants Program was announced by the government on Wednesday as part of a $1.8 million funding package aimed at boosting wine sales and visitor numbers in SA. Grants of up to $25,000 are available to all SA wineries for cellar door upgrades and diversifications like new tasting rooms or bed and breakfast facilities.

Yealands Wine Group has added 918 photovoltaic (PV) panels to its winery roof, making it the largest solar panel system in New Zealand. Meanwhile, in Australia, work has begun to expand sustainable energy sources at Yalumba winery. Yalumba, Australia’s oldest family-owned winery, together with AGL energy limited is currently installing the largest solar photovoltaic system installation at an Australian winery.

Calabria Family Wines (CFW) has bought a large Riverina facility, which has seen the family-owned wine company has double its capacity overnight. The transaction, which is due to settle later this month, includes the winery, cellar door and warehousing and was purchase to assist the family with storage and production facilities. CFW’s Sales and Marketing Manager Andrew Calabria told TheShout: “It’s a big step for us, what it has done is double our capacity as a winery overnight. The wine business, for us, is something that is long-term so we are in a bit of a transition at the moment, where my dad built the business to where it is today. Then my brothers and my sister and I decided that we have no intentions to sell, we love what we do and anything in our wine business is about the long-term.

The massive growth in China’s middle class has been a godsend for the Australian wine industry, with exports jumping 51% in the last year to $474 million, making it the top export market by value for the first time. The rise of China is no more apparent than in the fact that just a decade ago, sales there were worth just $27 million. Wine Australia’s Export Report, released today, reveal double digital growth for local exporters in the 12 months to 30 September 2016, up 10% to a total value of $2.17 billion.

These days it is almost impossible to say anything moderately optimistic about climate change. But geographers, archaeologists, historians, agronomists and biologist can show some positive effects, because they allow for the immense creativity and resilience of human societies, and of living things in general, as demonstrated throughout the ages and across the great variety of different habitats on the planet. One of those positive effects could be the evolution of wine.

Just a few years ago, pretty much all Ben Jones knew about wine was that came in two colours – white and red. The American, a second-year wine science and viticulture degree student at EIT, is now being feted as the Hawke’s Bay A & P Bayleys Wine Awards’ Young Vintner of the Year. The prestigious title is a significant kick-start to any young winemaker’s career. Ben also benefits from a prize package that will see the Hawke’s Bay A & P Society, sponsor of the Young Vintner award, helping with his study fees, and he will be offered valuable work experience at Craggy Range.

EIT students harvested a bumper crop of medals at the regional wine awards, an event in which their entries were judged using the same criteria as for commercially produced wines. Fifteen of the 20 student entries in the Hawke’s Bay A & P Bayleys Wine Awards won medals – seven silver and eight bronze. That made it the best-ever result achieved by EIT in the awards’ student wine class. Convenor of judges Warren Gibson said it was a very strong student class, with strong wines across different styles. While another good Hawke’s Bay vintage was a plus for all those entered in the awards, the students faced the challenge of working with small lots of fruit, most donated by local wineries and vineyards.

Australia is producing the best wines in its history. Grape growers are honing in on the ideal spots for specific varieties to thrive, vine age is increasing, clonal selections are improving and cool-climate regions are enjoying their moment in the sun. In the winery, vintners are becoming ever more retrained in their use of oak and alcohol levels are decreasing, resulting in elegant wines that can stand shoulder to shoulder with the best of the Old World.