Galli Estate’s Camelback Heathcote vineyard swept the pool at the newest wine show on the Australian circuit. The inaugural Australian Italian Varieties Wine Awards saw Galli Estate take out the champion wine of the show – and collect best red as a bonus. Its big award was for the 2015 Camelback Montepulciano — and that wine also took out the best red. The launch of a new wine show has highlighted the increasing quality and popularity of wines produced from Italian grape varieties grown in Australia.

A former New Zealand Young Winemaker of the Year has won the title of NZ Winemaker of the Year.
Four international wine judges picked Patrick Newton of Mudbrick Vineyard as the inaugural winner on October 15. 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 describes the award as “quite an honour”.

For the first time the ultimate title of ‘2016 Pier One Sydney Harbour NSW Wine of the Year’ will go to a wine made by a Cowra based winery. Tom Ward, President of the NSW Wine Industry Association, says, “The NSW Wine Awards never cease to delight me; showcasing the finest wines from our well-known, legendary local winemakers and also unveiling and highlighting some true hidden gems from some of our smaller wine regions in terms of production – but not quality! The 2016 Awards also really proved that quality is being backed up by variety. I have not seen such a diverse range of wines from styles to regions be awarded and it gives me great pleasure. NSW Wine is really starting to lead across many areas and it is an exciting time to be a part of.”

Argentina, Chile and New Zealand have bucked the downward trend in wine sales in the UK for the major producing nations, according to figures quoted by Concha y Toro this week. The wine company, which is Chile’s largest, cited IRI figures that show wine from the country increased its sales in the 12 months to 8 October by 4.5% on the corresponding period a year earlier. The rise, to GBP441.3m (US$538.2m), pushed Chile ahead of South Africa into fifth position. Overall, UK sales from the top ten producing nations were down in the 12-month period by 2.6% year-on-year, coming in at GBP4.8bn.

The wine industry has experienced significant volatility over the last decade and, at times, widespread hardship and poor profitability. The emergence of certain recent macro-economic structural changes has finally created positive signs for Australian wine producers. The key structural drivers behind these shifts include the weakening Australian dollar, the emergence of new export markets (or improved access to existing markets) underpinned by Free Trade Agreements, strengthening consumer demand in some key market segments (particularly the premium wines segment) and a re balancing of supply and demand towards the equilibrium. Overall, the near-term industry outlook has improved which is reflected in the findings of Wine Australia’s 2016 Vintage Report.

Prices offered in a number of major wine regions this year were not enough to cover the cost of growing the crop and vines have since been removed. The Riverina Winegrapes Marketing Board in (RWGMB) southern New South Wales represents more than 300 growers in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area and surrounding districts. RWMG CEO Brian Simpson said many of its members were stretched financially from years of low prices. However, he is encouraged by early price signals. “The domestic focused wineries, once one moves, they’re all going to jump and they’re all going to push to increase,” he said.

It’s a long way from the Barossa Valley to Saint-Louis lès-Bitche. The little town four and a half hours’ drive north-east of Paris is barely a blip on the map of France. Blink, and you’ll miss it. You have to zoom in on Google Maps for it to even feature, in faint text, close to the German border. Saint-Louis lès-Bitche (or Münzthal) covers an area of just 4.5 square kilometres and has a population of about 500. So why on earth has Australia’s best-known luxury wine brand, Penfolds, turned up here? And, it’s not the only quality brand in town. French fashion house Hermès arrived on the scene in 1989.

Forget the cork, screw cap or even a glass – ‘cracking one open’ isn’t just for beer drinkers anymore. Misty Cove in Blenheim is the first winery in New Zealand to start canning wine, and says it’s not only convenient, but also good for storing the drink. “The can in itself as a vessel is brilliant,” winemaker Andrew Bailey told Newshub. “There’s no light strike, there’s no oxygen getting in there. It’s absolutely perfect for wine really.” He says the can has a protective lining, so the aluminium doesn’t tamper with the taste.

Just because you only spend $13 on your prosecco doesn’t mean you don’t care about wine. A few decades ago, the only wines you could buy under $10 were Passion Pop and discount Spumante. Today, Aldi spruiks an award-winning rose for $4.99, Woolworths-owned Dan Murphy’s sells a shiraz for $2.99 and now Coles’ newcomer Liquor Market is going with the slogan “low cost and so much more”. What’s changed to allow an influx of cheap barn-style bottle shops?