THE country’s best cool climate wine producers have entered their top tipples in preparation for next week’s National Cool Climate Show. Now in its 18th year, the show attracts the best cool climate wines from some of the country’s most well-known wine producing areas. And, this year is no different with 760 entries received from vignerons in Bathurst as well as winemakers in Orange, Mornington Peninsula, Adelaide Hills, Yarra Valley and southern parts of Western Australia.
In what looks set to be a potentially ‘wetter than normal’ year for many wine regions, growers are likely to continue to face challenges in managing the spectrum of diseases present in Australian vineyards in the 2016/17 season. While captan has long been a cost-effective fixture in many spray programs for the management of key diseases, its future remains unclear and use in grapes that may end up in wine destined for the EU should still be avoided.
It’s a big bottle at a big price.
The latest luxury offering from iconic Australian winemaker Penfolds – a six-litre bottle of Penfolds Grange 2012 in a hand-crafted crystal pouring cradle – will set you back $185,000. And, they are very rare. There are just five of the imperial – or six-litre – bottles of Grange 2012 and their accompanying service vessel. If you want one of these rarities, you’ll need a big place to put it and strength to lift it. The crystal pouring cradle is almost one metre high and weighs 50 kilograms.
The Fabulous Ladies’ Wine Society together with the AWIWA Advisory Board today announce the
finalists of the 2016 Australian Women in Wine Awards. There were six awards on offer this year, up from four in 2015, and the number and strength of the entries received exceeded all expectation. AWIWA Advisory Board member, wine writer, and long-time advocate for women in wine Jeni Port, said she found it heartening to see such an outstanding response from across Australia in this, the second year, of the awards.
Constellation Brands has sold its wine business in Canada, including award-winning Inniskillin estate, to a teachers’ pension fund for one billion Canadian dollars, and will buy a collection of new wave wine brands from Washington State. The move to sell up is part of Constellation’s plan to re-focus around premium and high end US wine brands aimed at millennials, alongside a burgeoning beer arm and small-scale spirits division.
The Yealands Wine Group has put up New Zealand’s largest solar panel installation at its vineyard in Marlborough as it reinforces its claim to be the most sustainable winery in the world. The new investment in renewable energy means that Yealands is now capable of generating 411.12 kiloWatts of solar power, which is equivalent to powering 86 New Zealand homes, and will offset 82 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Nevertheless, the installation – which comprises a total of 1,314 photovoltaic panels on its winery roof – does not mean that Yealands is self-sufficient: the solar panels will generate 30% of the power necessary for winemaking.
Tonight is the night for the region’s winemakers who are testing themselves against their peers at the 16th annual Hawke’s Bay A & P Bayleys Wine Awards. Nearly 400 entries encompassing a wide range of grape varieties and wine styles were presented for an 11-strong judging panel this year at the country’s oldest regional wine awards competition. The line-up of leading New Zealand and international wine writers and winemakers spent three days at the EIT’s wine and viticulture centre late last month judging the entries to select the recipients among nine major awards, 15 category awards, and the Doug Wiser Memorial Trophy.
Inspired by a YouTube video of some 800 ducks lining a vineyard in South Africa, a Great Southern winery has decided to try their hand using ducks instead of pesticides and baits for problem snails. Apricus Hill in Denmark is one of just a handful of wineries in Western Australia using the animals as natural pesticides, just recently completing their first trial of the Indian Runner and Muscovy ducks.
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) will host its 18th Annual Bacchanal Wine Gala and Auction “Celebrating the Wines of Australia” next month on Saturday, November 12. The flagship fall soiree raises funds to support the next generation of artists through student scholarships and education programs. This year, the prestigious Australian winery Hentley Farm will receive the Thomas Jefferson Award, a Bacchanal tradition honoring exceptional members of the wine industry.
Investigators discovered the company had smuggled wine from Australia totaling 1.77 million yuan ($263,000) in value since 2015, possibly evading taxes worth about 420,000 yuan by declaring lower prices, it was added. The suspect, company general manager Chen Liping, had fled to Australia a year ago and was persuaded only recently to return to China and surrender to law enforcement authorities, the paper said. Chen was under compulsory measure pending further investigations. The wine will go under the hammer on JD.com as a whole, and only those who have been granted wine or food business operation permits are eligible to bid on them.