Embattled chemical giant Orica is planning to build an ammonium storage facility in the Upper Hunter Valley at a former winery site. For more than 100 years Rosemount Estate was home to one of the country’s most recognisable wine labels but it could soon be owned by chemical producer Orica. The embattled company has lodged a development application to build an ammonium nitrate storage facility at the old Denman winery site, reports ABC Newcastle.

The death of David Clarke in April was a great loss to the Hunter Valley wine industry, where his Poole’s Rock Winery was a leader. The winery was sold to the Agnew family, owners of Hunter vineyard Audrey Wilkinson, while its original vineyard, in the Hunter’s Broke-Fordwich sub-region, was sold to AGL. So it’s all change and much upheaval. But talented Usher Tinkler remains Poole’s Rock winemaker, by using fruit from the label’s other vineyards, writes Huon Hooke in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Wine and food lovers can learn how to match the best in South Australian seafood and white wine at next month’s Cellar Door Wine Festival. Celebrity chef Simon Bryant will host two masterclasses pairing Spencer Gulf King Prawn tasting dishes to a selection of the state’s finest white wines at the festival, which takes place in Adelaide from 24-26 February.

Lowe Wines winemaker Liam Heslop has been named one of 15 wine industry professionals to join the 2012 Future Leaders Program hosted by Wine Australia. The initiative is designed to enable wine industry veterans to pass on their knowledge and wisdom, and to develop leadership, networking and collaboration in young wine professionals through a series of course components, reports the Mudgee Guardian.

An internationally acclaimed Marlborough wine company is one of two in the region that has been placed into receivership. Awatere River Terrace and Koura Bay Wines were placed into receivership on Tuesday last week. Koura Bay Wines, which was established in 1997 and covers 51 hectares in the Awatere Valley, received numerous awards in national and international competitions throughout the 2000s for its Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Riesling varietals, reports The Marlborough Express.

A Luxembourg wine merchant has been has defrauded of thousands of Euros of wine by a man posing as the agent for a premier league footballer. Some of the stolen wine – €26,100 of Ausone, Latour, Lafite, Petrus and Margaux – has subsequently been offered to the UK fine wine trade, reports Decanter.

China’s burgeoning interest in fine wine is set to get another boost thanks to the arrival of the first batch of Yao Ming 2009 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon into the country. The much-hyped wine is ready for sale at 3,800 yuan (£384) a bottle, but none of the 1,200 bottles will be sold on the open market. According to China Daily newspaper, Ming’s wine will only be distributed among high-end consumers, reports The Drinks Business.

The New Year chimed in with the ring of empty Sauvignon Blanc bottles hitting recycling bins across the country. Our flagship grape remains a favourite with local wine drinkers, but the domination by this single variety of both our vineyards and export markets – in a way witnessed in no other major winemaking nation – means there’s an awful lot riding on this one grape: something the industry is increasingly mindful of as it puts its recent oversupply issues behind it and enters a new year and a new era, writes Jo Burzynsca in the New Zealand Herald.

Syrah and cool climate styles triumphed at the ninth Annual Wines of Chile Awards 2012. In total, 11 of the 17 trophies were awarded to wines from Chile’s cooler climate regions of Limarí, Elqui, San Antonio, Casablanca and Bío Bío. Meanwhile the prize for Best In Show went to Viña Tamaya’s Winemaker’s Selection Syrah, also made in Limarí, reports The Drinks Business.

Two of Nelson’s leading winemakers are challenging the proposed funding of a planned $42 million water storage scheme for the Waimea Plains. The Waimea Water Augmentation Committee and the Tasman District Council are proposing a compulsory rate to pay for the scheme that backers say will drought-proof the plains outside Richmond. The project has been eight years in the planning, but revelations of the compulsory and standard rate of about $600 a hectare has some opponents fuming, reports Radio NZ News.