Treasury Wine Estate’s iconic brand Wolf Blass yesterday announced a multi-year marketing partnership with Manchester City Football Club, making Wolf Blass the Official Wine Partner of the English Premier League team for Asia, Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Mexico. The partnership will see Wolf Blass further expand the brand’s sports sponsorship footprint in the region

The release of revised guidelines for the conduct of wine shows in Australia has prompted the Riverina Winemakers Association to review the structure of its regional wine show. The event will now be spilt into two wine shows, with one limited to wines from the Riverina Geographical Indication (GI) and the other open to entries throughout Australia. Les Worland, Riverina Wine Show president, said the new Riverina Wine Show has been designed to throw the spotlight on the provenance of wine produced in the Riverina.

Nearly 4,000 guests attended New Zealand wine festival Winetopia last weekend, with event organisers labelling it a “sell-out success”. Held in Auckland at Shed 10, the two-day festival has already garnered rave reviews from attendees, who tasted wines from more than 40 wineries.

Driving through Renwick, you wouldn’t know you were in the heart of Marlborough’s wine country. In fact, tourists passing through the small township are more likely to stop for a pie than some plonk. But a community group wants to change all that with a wine-themed makeover. The group is even considering a public selfie stick for snap-happy tourists to take holiday shots promoting the region’s wineries.

Australian Vintage Limited (AVL) has reported a total revenue increase of eight per cent to the end of April 2016 on the back of strong branded sales. The increase in revenue is a reflection on higher branded sales in the UK, Europe, Australasia, and North America, however it was partially offset by lower bulk wine sales.

THE public “turned out in droves” for open tastings at last week’s 16th International Cool Climate Wine Show at Mornington Racecourse. More than 400 wines over many classes – with 20 per cent coming from the Mornington Peninsula – had earlier been appraised by a team of judges. Cool climate wines are produced on the peninsula by 170 wineries and sold through 50 cellar doors.

TWO winemakers are producing a sell-out drop from a vineyard they received for free. Independent wine label, Strenua, is produced in Chum Creek by friends Dale Wheeler and Rhen Dodd. The property sold in 2011 and the new owners had no desire to manage the 22-year-old vines, so they offered them to students at Melbourne Polytechnic’s Epping campus.

WE ARE a competitive lot here in Australia. Whether at school, on the sporting field or in business, we love to compete to gain “bragging rights” about who is the best. But is our competitive streak holding us back from reaching our full potential? Is our inherently competitive nature preventing our agricultural and food manufacturing sectors from reaching their potential and the rewards that would come from a united, single brand renowned as a reliable and safe supplier to the growing middle class in Asia?

In August the AWRI will launch what promises to be the largest ever survey of practices in the Australian wine sector. It will cover all key aspects of grapegrowing and winemaking and the aggregated results will be a valuable resource for both producers and researchers. It is intended that the survey will be repeated every five years to track practice changes.

Turmoil over prices in the dairy industry that led to a government commitment to fund the development of a milk price index should be heeded by the Australian wine industry, according to Murray Valley Winegrowers. Barnaby Joyce, Agriculture Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, announced a re-elected Coalition government would work with the dairy industry to establish a commodity milk price index to provide “greater transparency and market signals” for domestic and global milk prices.