More than two million Australians live within the Murray-Darling Basin. That’s only about a tenth of Australia’s population, yet this area includes some of our biggest regional centres and accounts for a whopping 40 per cent of all food and fibre grown in Australia. The wheat grown in southern QLD, the cattle grazed in western NSW, the rice farmed in the Riverina and the wine produced in VIC and SA are all part of the Basin – which means all Australians, regardless of where they live, are impacted by what happens here, writes CEO of the National Farmers Federation, Matt Linnegar, on ABC’s The Drum website.

Take a drive through the Hunter Valley and the mid-north coast hinterland at the moment to see verdant green hillsides, lush paddocks and rivers in full flow. It’s a wonderful sight. Every so often, there’s a pocket that’s less pretty. A place where leaves are, literally, withering on the vine. What you are seeing are the consequences of a world oversupplied with wine. For the local grower it is a world not helped by a strong Australian dollar. It’s a time when every vine has to earn its keep or else, writes Sue Bennett in the weekend Sydney Morning Herald.

The owners of Rock Ferry Wines have literally opened up their home to create a cellar door and cafe. The Hammerichs Rd property was the private home of Rock Ferry Wines co-owners Tom and Fiona Hutchison for about eight years, reports The Marlborough Express. Mr Hutchison said while they lived there they often thought how it would be an ideal place to open up a cafe and cellar door.

UK drinkers don’t know how strong their drinks are and appear to underestimate the alcohol content of wine. According to research by the Wilson Drinks Report, just 9% of 2,000 British adults correctly identified a 250ml glass of red wine as having more units than a pint of Stella or triple vodka and Red Bull, reports The Drinks Business.

Winemakers in the Hunter Valley are cautiously optimistic about what could be one of the best vintages in years, especially for whites. Thanks to last month’s heavy rainfall, winemakers say conditions have been perfect for an outstanding vintage — but only if it doesn’t rain much before harvest, reports The Daily Telegraph. “As it turns out we’ve had particularly cool ripening weather,” Hunter Valley Wine Industry Association president Andrew Margan said. “It was the coldest December in Cessnock on record.”

Many say the world’s only truly noble grape variety is due for its day in the sun. The signs along the shoulder of the Main North Road from Leasingham to Watervale in South Australia said it all: “Grapes for Sale”. More specifically: “Riesling Grapes for Sale”. The village of Watervale is, as its own sign proudly states, “The Home of Fine Riesling”. It is known around the world for its fine, delicate, gently aromatic and long-lived Riesling wines, reports The Australian Financial Review. But it’s tough out there. And Riesling, despite all the fine words written about it, doesn’t grab the wine-drinking public’s imagination as much as it does that of the wine cognoscenti.

Growing the relationship between the Philippines and New Zealand, especially for exporters, will be the aim of former Blenheim man and ambassador designate to the Philippines Reuben Levermore, reports The Marlborough Express. Exporters, including those in the wine industry, had a lot of room to grow business, which the embassy could help with, Mr Levermore said. “As people become more wealthy and their tastes evolve there will be more opportunities for New Zealand,” he said.

The wine industry is losing $80 million a year in exchange rate fluctuations, prompting an industry spokesman to call for “sensible monetary policy”. A strategic review of the $1.1 billion wine industry by PriceWaterhouseCoopers said exchange rate changes since 2007 were robbing the sector of tens of millions of dollars annually, reports Fairfax NZ News.

Wine snobs and doubters, listen up – Chardonnay is getting its mojo back. Sure, it’s not about to overtake our industry darling, Sauvignon Blanc, any time soon, but it is increasingly finding favour as a sophisticated and elegant alternative, capable of holding its own in the finest company. You only have to look at the wine awards to see how Chardonnay is winning attention, reports Fairfax NZ News.

London’s first specialist Italian wine merchant has opened with the biggest selection of Italian wines in the country. Vini Italiani in the upmarket district of South Kensington is run by a group of Italian entrepreneurs and lists more than 500 wines from Italy. All 20 Italian regions are represented, with some 100 wines listed in each of Piedmont and Tuscany. Opening just before Christmas, co-founder Matteo Berlucchi told Decanter it was too early to have an idea of the popularity or otherwise of certain lines.