QUEENSLAND winery Sirromet has taken home a large haul of awards from recent international wine shows. The Mount Cotton winemaker has won over international critics at both the Austrian Wine Challenge in Vienna and China Wines and Spirit Awards, bringing home 14 gold, silver and bronze awards. The awards included a double gold for its 2014 Signature Collection Merlot and its 2016 Vineyard Selection Verdelho at the China Wines and Spirit Awards, as well as a gold medal at the Austrian Wine Challenge for its 2014 Sirromet Le Sauvage Pinot Noir.

A PROMINENT South Australian winemaker has been recognised as a leader in science for his contributions to oenology. The Royal Institution of Australia today awarded Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago a prestigious Bragg Membership for his contributions to the science of winemaking. The award is named after the South Australian scientists Sir William Henry Bragg and Sir William Lawrence Bragg, a father and son team who won the Nobel Prize in 1915 for establishing X-ray crystallography, a scientific technique still widely used today.

Good things happen when like-minded people gather, share ideas and passion, and often try to outdo each other. Such groups are sometimes called “schools”. With enough momentum they can become movements. The collection of painters that congregated in Paris in the 1920s, a group that included Picasso, Chagall, Matisse, Modigliani, and Mondrian, come to mind. At home, think of that cabal of 1970s Olympic medal-winning middle distance runners – Walker, Quax, and Dixon.

It’s just four months until the kick-off of one of New Zealand’s most significant wine events – Pinot Noir NZ 2017. The celebration, which attracts over 500 of the world’s greatest wine minds and palates, has nearly sold out. The event which takes over the Wellington waterfront from 31st January to the 2nd February next year has fast become one of the best Pinot Noir events on the planet. This celebration happens just once every four years, and brings together the wines, people and places that benchmark New Zealand Pinot Noir; there will be 117 wineries bringing over 600 wines to 500 visionaries, industry leaders, influencers and lovers of this variety.

Wine is a fragile product that’s susceptible to all sorts of problems, most of which can ruin the enjoyment that wine makers intend. Most of the bottles we buy look fine. Only in a few cases are there indications that the bottle has had problems.

THE 14th annual Blackwood Valley and WA Boutique Wine Show will showcase the premium wines being produced by smaller wineries and growers both locally and from across the state. The show continues to grow each year and develop its reputation as the only show in WA specifically catering for boutique wineries from across the state who crush less than 250 tonnes of fruit per year.

South Australia’s Riverland region will benefit from a $40 million investment by one of Australia’s largest wine companies. Accolade Wines will spend between $35 million and $40 million setting up a new glass bottling plant and warehouse facilities at its existing winery in Berri.

Successful clusters of competing, complementary and interdependent businesses can boost the wealth of regions – including South Australia – if they are developed and supported in the right way, writes Richard Blandy. The wine industry is our classic economic cluster, of course: myriad small, high-tech firms, networked together with strong intellectual and research foundations, and brilliantly marketed. Collectively, they produce a world-class product that sells competitively all over the planet.

The results of the New World Wine Awards released today highlight the quality of the 2016 vintage. New vintage wines won 137 of 779 medals in this year’s New World Wine Awards, including taking out 15 Gold Medals and three varietal Champion awards. The judging for the New World Wine Awards takes place mid-year, making this the first major wine show of the year to evaluate new vintage wines. There were twice as many new vintage wines entered this year, as well as a record number of entries overall, reflecting the value winemakers see in entering these awards.

Australian sparkling wine has never been better, particularly if it’s from Tasmania. Although many people think of Australia as a hot country, Tasmania – the island at the bottom of the continent – not only has a moderate maritime climate, but is the gateway to the Antarctic. Temperatures rarely rise above 24°C, and thanks to its mild summers and long autumns, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay thrive. Since the turn of the century, Tasmania has attracted Australia’s top sparkling winemaking talent, and their wines have won multiple accolades, trophies and critical acclaim.