The state government is expected to release a draft of its long-awaited strategic regional land use policy today. It is understood the document will not include ‘‘ring-fencing’’ of sensitive land, leaving no area off limits from coal seam gas activities despite the hopes of groups such as the Hunter Valley Protection Alliance that the region’s vineyards would be explicitly protected. The NSW Farmers Association was briefed on the draft yesterday, and it will be outlined to the Coalition party room in Sydney today, reports the Newcastle Herald.

On a hot dusty Friday two weeks ago in Keyneton’s Eden Valley, a few days shy of vintage, Stephen and Prue Henschke celebrated 50 years of Hill of Grace and marked the new release, the 2007. It was quite an occasion; this red is widely regarded as Australia’s most renowned single-vineyard wine. Some of those majestic vines are 150 years old – and possibly the oldest Shiraz in the world, writes Jane Faulkner in The Age.

Actor Sam Neill will open the Pinot Noir NZ 2013 event in Wellington next year. The star of movies such as Jurassic Park, Dean Spanley and TV series Reilly Ace of Spies, New Zealand-born Neill produces his own premium Pinot Noir at his family’s Two Paddocks vineyard in Central Otago. Pinot Noir NZ 2013 is the fifth such event showcasing the grape and the industry. It is held every three years, reports Business Day.

New figures from France’s Champagne Bureau show Australia imported 4.862 million bottles in 2011, an increase of almost a third, helped by the soaring Australian dollar. That made us the 8th largest import market in the world for a beverage usually imbibed at celebrations. And it’s not just Australians who are opening their wallets for the French drop, with sales of Champagne worldwide rising as much as 7 per cent in value. Volume topped 323 million bottles last year, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

Some years ago, an agricultural scientist told me that Hobart and its surrounds was one of only three regions on the globe that could successfully grow and ripen such a wide and variable range of fruits and crops as grapes, pomme and stone fruits, hops, rye, barley, berries and more. Add in an abundant supply of clean water and, in terms of this column, we’re in the very happy situation of having the local raw ingredients to produce a range of alcoholic beverages unmatched anywhere else in the country, perhaps in the world, reports The Mercury.

“Sustainability means being able to do the same thing forever. Whatever you take out, you put back in – plus a little bit for love.” So says Peter Yealands, owner of Yealands Estate. It is a philosophy likely formed during the thousands of hours he spent sculpting the 1000ha Marlborough vineyard and its 25 wetlands with his beloved diggers and bulldozers. With the launch of A Bloke For All Seasons – the Peter Yealands Story last month, Yealands’ remarkable business mind is revealed to all who have seen him as something of an enigma, reports The New Zealand Herald.

The weather at South Wairarapa’s windswept Ocean Beach was looking increasingly stormy, but Bill Foley didn’t mind. “I love tough weather,” the US billionaire said. About 120 guests at his exclusive lodge Wharekauhau didn’t mind too much, either. They were invited to lunch on Saturday as former shareholders and guests of Te Kairanga, the Martinborough winery he bought last year. Foley thanked them, then revealed how his New Zealand company was launching the Wharekauhau Wine and Food Society, reports The Dominion Post.

Hefty corkage charges are being labelled “screwage” by outraged restaurant customers, with some eateries charging up to $30 a bottle to serve wine customers have brought themselves. A Sunday Star-Times survey found widespread variations in the cost customers faced to bring their own wine. Some charged only a few dollars, while there were reports of some fine dining establishments charging up to $60. A reader poll found only 2 per cent of respondents thought a corkage charge over $20 was reasonable, while 76 per cent thought $5 and under reasonable, reports Auckland Now.

Entrepreneur Josef Chromy wanted a world-class facility when he proposed a new $5 million function centre at Relbia near Launceston. Mr Chromy said that the aim was to increase annual visitors to the cellar door and restaurant past the present 40,000, reports The Mercury. “We were looking for a little taste of Europe in Tasmania,” Czech-born Mr Chromy said. The Josef Chromy Restaurant and Function Centre, which seats 120 people, looks over 61ha of predominantly Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes. Premier Lara Giddings opened the facility last week.

Rain, hail or shine. That was the mantra this week at Adelaide Hills winery Hahndorf Hill as a week of cooler and wet weather threatened to delay the 2012 grape-picking season, writes News Limited national wine writer Tony Love. In the Hills, with its prized Sauvignon Blanc grapes ripe and ready along with other white varieties, the vintage was well under way despite the unseasonal temperatures and rain, according to Adelaide Hills Wine Region president Darren Golding.