Liquor retailer Doug Evans calls it ”feeding the monster”. The peculiar spectacle of independent bottle shop owners backing their trucks up to big box outlets such as Dan Murphy’s and filling up with cheap booze to then sell at their own stores, reports Business Day.
Such is the pricing and buying power of outlets like Dan Murphy’s – owned by supermarket giant Woolworths – and Coles’ own network of 800 stores, that they can buy and sell beer, wine and spirits at a cheaper price than is available to the nation’s thousands of independent bottle shops.

The Chancellor’s decision to continue the automatic tax escalator on drinks has been denounced as a ‘lazy cash grab’ and satirised as ‘our own Olympic record’ by drinks professionals. In today’s Budget announcement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, said the alcohol tax escalator which automatically increases tax on alcohol by 2% above inflation, will stay. This will see duty on alcohol rise by 7.2%, meaning that tax on a bottle of wine represents around 56% of the cost of the bottle. From 26 March, consumers will now pay £0.11 more on a 75cl bottle of wine, £0.41 more on a 70cl bottle of spirits at 37.5% abv and £0.03 more on a pint of beer, reports Decanter.

Eileen Hardy Shiraz and Eileen Hardy Chardonnay date from 1970 and 1986 respectively. The wines released under the labels since then mirror Australia’s winemaking history. Eileen Hardy Shiraz 1970 reflected the red-wine boom of the time, the dominance of warm South Australian regions in this and the unquestioned status of Shiraz in McLaren Vale – home of the then family-owned Thomas Hardy and Sons. Eileen Hardy Shiraz later wandered from its origins, parallel to similar moves across the industry, only to return to its McLaren Vale roots years later, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

An Auckland wine broker is going back to the future and bringing back not only wine on tap, but also popular ’80s drink, the wine cooler. The trend, which has begun to spread in Australia, Canada and the US, will see good quality Kiwi wine served from high-grade stainless steel kegs in restaurant bars in Auckland. It will be cheaper – $7.50 a glass – is targeted at younger drinkers and may spark renewed interest in some lesser known varieties, reports The Southland Times.

Matthew Jukes, has released his fifth annual New Zealand Pinot Noir Classification, that places Ata Rangi, Bell Hill, Felton Road and Mt Difficulty, in top ‘five star’ position. Compiled in conjunction with Australian wine journalist Tyson Stelzer and based on a rolling average rating of the five most recent vintages, it has been devised to highlight producers who make consistently excellent wines year after year. The classification is aimed in contrast to “static” classifications such as the Bordeaux 1855 classification, reports Harpers Wine & Spirit.

Kiwi wineries are having to sell bulk wine to overseas retailers in return for getting their bottled brand on supermarket shelves, a Markhams wine spokesman says. Markhams’ national wine spokesman, Graeme Rhodes, said bulk wine sales were making it harder for wineries to make profits, but they were entrenched in many sales deals. “Bulk wine is being used as leverage, with wineries agreeing to supply in order to get their finished wines on supermarket shelves, particularly in export markets.” New Zealand Winegrowers chairman Stuart Smith said such deals reflected who winemakers were dealing with, reports Business Day.

Organic wine growers in the Hunter Valley say their industry is in peril if coal seam gas (CSG) exploration and drilling is allowed to go ahead. Rod Windrim is the vigneron at the Krinklewood biodynamic organic winery in Broke, which falls under the NSW government’s recently released Strategic Regional Land Use Policy. Mr Windrim said he moved to the area in 1989 for its “pristine and unspoilt” environment, reports AAP. But just talk of CSG in the region has seen customers walk away, he says.

Some Porongurup wine producers in WA’s Great Southern are concerned about grapevine damage, seemingly from spray drift of herbicides being used in summer weed control. Some growers have reported damage to the Department of Agriculture and Food and it appears that it’s consistent with the effects of phenoxy herbicides such as 2,4-D drifting on to vines, reports ABC Rural.

Winegrape growers have very little scepticism about climate change, a vigneron and scientist says. University of Melbourne Professor of Horticulture and Viticulture Snow Barlow told the National Press Club lunch today “you don’t see scepticism’’ on climate change in the wine sector, reports Weekly Times Now. “Not when you’re harvesting in February and you used to harvest in March,” Prof Barlow said.

Central Otago’s grape supply is “balanced on a knife edge” as growers expect a high demand for this year’s harvest. Central Otago viticulturist and wine industry consultant Timbo Deaker said a fungal infestation in the Cromwell basin and Gibbston area because of rain had caused “bunch rot” and wiped out some of the grape supply. About 40mm of rain fell on March 11 and the lack of wind and overcast days afterwards caused grapes to contract botrytis and become unusable, Mr Deaker said. The good news from the rain was that demand for Central Otago Pinot Noir was “exceptionally” high, reports The Southland Times.