Viticulturist Michael Wilson says that he never gets sick of eating his own winegrapes. The skins are thick and the grapes are full of pips, but Mr Wilson said you can’t beat the tropical fruit flavour of Sauvignon Blanc, the citrus tang of Riesling and the fresh fruit flavours of Pinot Noir. The flavours and their intensity also help Mr Wilson to zero-in on the perfect date to pick. He said it was those flavours that he wanted in a bottle, not the jammy excess sugar flavour from over-ripe Pinot Noir, nor the herbaceous green pip taint of under-ripe grapes, reports The Mercury.

It’s hard to imagine that Kinloch Wines in Victoria’s Boorolite Valley was developed as recently as 1996. Business brains Malcolm and Susan Kinloch successfully transformed their property from back block to boutique winery, complete with 4ha of vines, Mediterranean-style home and cellar door and cafe, after leaving their careers in commerce. When the couple arrived at the property, named Kainui, it had a basic home and hay shed and was running cattle, reports Weekly Times Now.

Grape prices have plummeted in some of the flood-affected wine producing regions of south-west NSW. Now that the water has receded, growers are back in their vineyards trying salvage what’s left of the vintage. Kristy Bartrop, from the Riverina Wine Grapes Marketing Board, says farmers are getting a fraction of what they would have been paid before the floods, reports ABC Rural.

At the start of this year, award-winning NSW winemaker Jason Brown was anticipating his best season yet, with outstanding crops of Chardonnay and Shiraz grapes. ”I was looking at the very best Shiraz I’ve ever produced,” he says. ”We just needed it to continue ripening to develop flavour.” And then came the rain and, with it, the washout of all his hopes for a record-breaking vintage. For while the Chardonnay was happily harvested before the sluicing rain drenched vast areas of southern NSW, including his Hilltops Moppity Vineyards at Young, the fragile Shiraz was still on the vine, waiting for some elusive sunshine to finish it off, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

Those who believe everything they read will tell you, if they haven’t already, that Sauvignon Blanc, the wine that put us on the world wine map, is under threat. And it’s not from other, or better, examples of Sauvignon Blancs than ours. According to a series of recent reports, the distinctive herbaceous savvies on which our reputation is based could come under attack from at least three different directions and three different wines, writes Warren Barton in The Southland Times.

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.

New Zealanders know the tiki as a hand-carved Maori treasure which, when gifted, bestows good fortune and love on others. What better brand name, then, for a wine crafted with the same spirit in mind? Appropriate too, that founders and owners Royce and Sue McKean, named their new wine venture Tiki to pay homage to the wisdom of Royce’s Maori ancestors. Royce’s great-great-grandfather, Tiki Tere Mihi, was a chieftain of Ngati Uenuku, who revered the land and its significance to his people, reports The New Zealand Herald.

While the Aussie producers have not been very good at predicting the grapes in fashion a couple of decades hence, a unique grape Savagnin, the look alike of the Spanish variety Albariño could be the next big thing in white winegrapes, writes our guest writer Dan Traucki, a wine consultant and writer from South Australia who shares his vision with Indian Wine Academy.

John Buck, OBE, Chairman of Te Mata Estate Winery, is the 2012 inductee to the New Zealand Wine Hall of Fame. His selection was announced at a glittering black tie dinner at Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds on Saturday night, reports Voxy News. His award was presented by the Chairman of The Hall of Fame Trust, Michael Brett, who said “John Buck has made notable contributions to the New Zealand wine industry. His Te Mata Estate has been the standard bearer for New Zealand. In Coleraine, he has produced, year after year, a wine that brings international acclaim both to Te Mata and the New Zealand industry.”

Wine Marlborough is offering a member of the UK wine trade a chance to spend up to six weeks studying the New Zealand wine industry. Called the John Avery Scholarship, the award is part of the New Zealand-UK Link Foundation, designed to further connections between the two countries. The recipient will be awarded flights to New Zealand and an all expenses paid 3 to 6 week-long stay in Marlborough to study the region, reports The Drinks Business.