There are many interesting wines on this release, certainly more than in the previous batch on January 7th. Some of them are grouped in the “Australian Open” feature in Vintages magazine, writes David Lawrason in The National Post.
South Australian winemakers are expecting some cracking wines this vintage after a tough few years. South Australian Agriculture Minister Gail Gago told Nine News last night there was renewed optimism in the Riverland region as vintage gets under way.
Australia’s leading bloodstock auction house, Inglis, has announced a partnership with Yalumba, Australia’s oldest family-owned winery. Both champions in their respective fields, they will now combine to create a formidable partnership allowing Inglis clients to sample the great wine portfolio of Yalumba at the coming sales in NSW and Victoria.
Accolade wines is bolstering its presence in the Chinese market with the purchase of a majority stake in a Shanghai-based wine distribution business. Shanghai CWC Wine Trading Company already distributes Accolade’s products – which include California’s Echo Falls, Australia’s Banrock Station, Hardys and Leasingham, and Kumala, Fish Hoek and Flagstone in South Africa – and this move will allow Accolade to ‘extend our presence in the market’, CEO Troy Christensen told Decanter.
Four of South Africa’s leading winemakers talk about the art of producing iconic wines that stand out on the global shelf – in an intensely competitive era of global wine brands, iconic wines, signature varieties, biodiversity, regional wine identity and innovative winemaking.
Overseas interest in Marlborough’s wine industry accounted for four out of five applications to buy land approved by the Overseas Investment Office for the region last year. Japanese company The Folium Vineyard (TFV) was allowed to buy 8.42 hectares in Brancott Rd for $2.24 million in March 2011. The vineyard was formerly owned by Fromm & Partner., reports Marlborough Express.
Buying a bad bottle of Chardonnay laced with bitter tannins may soon be a thing of the past if Hennie van Vuuren has his way. The Montreal Gazette reports in what is believed to be the first project of its kind, van Vuuren and the Wine Research Centre at the University of British Columbia will map the genes of 15 known clones of the Chardonnay grape vine in an effort to identify which ones are best for planting.
Accident prone Orica plans to store 2000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, the explosives chemical at the centre of several leaks from its Newcastle factory, on the site of a Hunter Valley winery.
Orica is negotiating to buy the former Rosemount Estate winery near Denman in the upper Hunter Valley and has lodged development plans with Muswellbrook Council to build an ammonium nitrate storage facility, reports The Daily Telegraph.
Gov. Chris Christie earlier this week signed legislation that finally resolves the issue of direct-to-consumer wine shipping in New Jersey. The new law revises previous statutes that governed the sale and distribution of wine by New Jersey wineries and creates a new out-of-state winery license in New Jersey for wineries licensed in other states, reports Wines & Vines.
Forget celebrity chefs – in restaurants across the world it’s sommeliers who are fast becoming the new superstars. Not so in New Zealand’s establishments yet. Although a growing assemblage of clued-up young hospitality professionals, increasingly backed by international qualifications, means this could be set to change. More restaurants are employing a sommelier, or, more likely in NZ, at least having a specific member of staff available to answer wine questions, reports The New Zealand Herald.