Online retailer The New Zealand Cellar has exceeded its crowdfunding target within five days of launching the project, enabling it to open its first retail outlet in London this summer. The boutique wine e-commerce business, which was launched in June by New Zealand wine expert Melanie Brown, was looking to raise A$67,000 through crowd-funding platform Kickstarter to fund the new shop in Brixton.
Some of Australia’s best wine regions have been displayed at the 92nd China Food and Drinks Fair, held in Chengdu on 26–28 March 2015. Wine Australia, in partnership with 13 exhibitors, showcased more than 100 fine wines from 40 brands and close to 20 wine regions to an estimated 100,000 festival attendees. Willa Yang, Wine Australia’s regional manager said Chengdu’s China Food and Drinks Fair was one of the most important trade events on the calendar. “We’ve had incredibly positive feedback from our exhibiting partners and visitors to our pavilion,” she said.
To be red, or not to be red is a matter of mutation. This past Friday, New Zealand Herald reporter Jamie Morton published a story about a team of researchers at INRA Colmar (France) who discovered the reason why some pinot grapes turn out red and why some turn out white. “A new study … found the colour of grapes within the pinot family spawn from naturally occurring mutations which selectively shut down the genes responsible for the synthesis of red pigments, called anthocyanins,” Morton wrote.
DISTILLATION is not a completely forgotten extension of a winemaker’s skill set. Undergraduate winemaking students still take part in theoretical and practical lessons in distillation and there are several wine industry links to an emerging local ‘craft’ spirits industry. Graham Jones, University of Adelaide adjunct associate professor, has guided many students through the process of distillation and says although it’s less common for graduates to put this part of their education into practice, this doesn’t dampen the enthusiasm.
Australian researchers have offered a glimpse of a future that could see viticulturists do much of their work remotely, thanks to three new pieces of technology. The first system put forward by the team from the University of Adelaide is an iPhone app that allows producers to measure canopy growth. The device is currently undergoing further tests by a “leading wine company” prior to its planned release via iTunes.
Hate campaign, the new Temperance, a joke or a misguided attempt to turn wine into water? A campaign targeting halal certified products missed the mark completely when it tried it took on one of Australia’s best known wine brands, Jacob’s Creek. The anti-Muslim Facebook group, Boycott Halal in Australia, accused Jacob’s Creek of trying to have its wine certificated as halal. The accusation came on the eve of Sunday’s halal food expo at Fairfield – Australia’s first – when police were called to break up fights between anti-Islam and anti-racism protestors.
Pernod Ricard is ramping up activity on Jacob’s Creek and launching new campaigns for Malibu and Cuban rum brand Havana Club. It is launching a second burst of its ATL ‘Made by Australia’ campaign for Jacob’s creek, to tie-in with its fifth year sponsoring Wimbledon, and supported by a new Wimbledon-inspired limited edition bottles and neck collar promotions. The investment is the second tranche of a multimillion dollar investment in the brand during 2015.
The New Zealand dollar’s rise to near parity with the Australian dollar may impact wine sales across this ditch, Marlborough wine exporters say. With the Kiwi dollar closing in on A$1, after reaching a record post-float high of A99.78c on Monday, some Marlborough exporters are becoming concerned about their sales in one of New Zealand’s main wine export markets. Saint Clair Family Estate director Neal Ibbotson said if the New Zealand dollar broke even with the Australian dollar it could cause problems.
British wine retail chain makes major acquisition. UK retailer Majestic Wine has bought internet retailer Naked Wines with a clear ambition to exploit new markets in the US and Australia. The deal, which is worth £70m (A$133m), “opens up attractive international growth in the USA and Australia,” Majestic said today. Majestic was the darling of the financial sector for a decade, showing seemingly unstoppable year on year growth and – with the demise of Oddbins – dominance of the UK independent wine retail landscape.
WELLINGTON – New Zealand’s wine industry is looking beyond its biggest export market Australia as the “kiwi” dollar’s unprecedented strength against its Australian counterpart dents export earnings from the island nation’s closest trading partner. Australia sources more than half of its foreign wine from New Zealand. The popular Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc dominates around 70 percent of Australia’s Sauvignon Blanc market.