A Queenstown American is producing a documentary series on New Zealand wine destinations that uniquely targets Gen-Y consumers. Wine nut Colin West, 24, is putting together a web series profiling six NZ wine regions, integrated with their adventure activities. West – who hopes to sell the series to TV networks – is co-presenting with Auckland-based presenter and regular Queenstown Winter Festival host Jo Holley, reports Mountain Scene.
Winegrape growers should not expect higher prices. This is despite a report that suggests wine exporters are raising the sale price of their wine. According to the quarterly Rabobank wine report, bottled wine export prices rose 4.8 per cent to $4.30 a litre and bulk wine prices were up 6.3 per cent to $1.01 per litre. But Wine Grape Growers Australia executive director Lawrie Stanford said growers were yet to see the benefit of higher prices, reports Weekly Times Now.
A controversial proposal to build a coalmine in Western Australia’s Margaret River wine and tourism region has been rejected by the state government. Perth Now reports Vasse Coal Management Pty Ltd – acting for LD Operations – proposed to build the underground mine 15km northeast of the Margaret River township to operate for 15 to 20 years but struck vigorous opposition from locals.
Italian varieties are thriving in harsh Aussie landscapes, writes Jane Faulkner, in The Age. From the main road, the Chalmers vineyard flanking Heathcote’s Mount Camel Range rises out of the ancient landscape, flush with row upon row of vines. Unlike most conventional Australian sites, these vines are planted east to west rather than north to south.
The group behind the plan to rejuvenate Seppeltsfield has vowed it will continue to work with the community to turn the vision into reality. Seppeltsfield Estate Trust had submitted a statement of intent for the rejuvenation project with LRC, but council said more needed to be done in the way of community consultation before it could sign off on sending the document to the minister for approval, reports Barossa Herald.
Dane Rumble is ready to rock Blenheim for the first time ever at the Marlborough Wine Festival this weekend. The Kiwi pop singer will perform in front of 8000 wine and food enthusiasts at the festival on Saturday, February 11, reports The Marlborough Express.
Erin Kenyon is two years into her four-year organic horticultural apprenticeship at Seresin Estate.
She was an 18-year-old living in Tauranga when she saw the advertisement for the New Zealand Horticulture Industry Training Organisation programme in one of her mother’s organic magazinesm reports The Marlborough Express.
Marlborough businessman Tom Tenuwera, of Highfield Estate, collapsed and died during a walk in Molesworth Station on Sunday. Mr Tenuwera, 67, was a co-owner and director of the winery and restaurant on Brookby Rd, near Blenheim. He was described as having a great passion for wine and New Zealand, reports The Marlborough Express.
The sale of Clarendon’s Hickinbotham Vineyard to a major US wine group is expected to create almost 20 local jobs. Jackson Family Wines bought the 186ha property last week, after it was put on the market in October 2010 for $10 million following the death of owner and prominent builder Alan Hickinbotham. It is the Jackson family’s second vineyard purchase in the McLaren Vale region, after they bought Kangarilla’s Yangarra Estate a decade ago, reports Southern Times Messenger.
The 2012 Central Otago Pinot celebration in Queenstown, New Zealand, from Thursday 26 to Saturday 28 January 2012, attracted nearly 200 passionate pinotphiles from the UK, US, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Winemakers, winery owners, Masters of Wine, wine educators, wine writers and marketers were shown retrospective snapshots of ‘older’ Pinot Noirs and younger tastings of Burgundy, Pinot Noir and even, to ensured we kicked off in true southern style, Riesling – from Central and from the world, writes NZ wine writer Joelle Thomson.