A flagship Australian wine online store supported by Wine Australia has launched today on Alibaba Group’s business to consumer platform, Tmall.com, providing a further avenue for Chinese consumers to purchase Australian wines. Andreas Clark, Wine Australia CEO said, “the opening of the store is a landmark moment that builds on a year of strong growth for Australian wine in the Chinese export market. It opens up another commercial opportunity for Australian wineries to tap into China’s growing appreciation for our fine wines”.

A Marlborough resident has called for a high temperature furnace to be built so chemically treated posts used in vineyards can be disposed of without damaging the environment. Wairau Valley resident Cliff Smith said toxic waste dumps were being created around the region by stockpiling thousands of old or broken posts, some treated with copper-chrome-arsenic, or CCA.

A major survey of practices in the Australian grape and wine industry is being launched today by the Australian Wine Research Institute. This is the first time a comprehensive survey of grape and wine production practices has been conducted in Australia. It is intended that the survey will be repeated in five years’ time to allow adoption trends to be captured. All survey data submitted will be treated with strict confidentiality.

Australia’s leading drinks retailer is returning to its roots with the opening of Dan Murphy’s Cellar right where it all began in the 1950s in the iconic Prahran Arcade at 282 Chapel Street. Originally built in 1890, it was here that Daniel Francis Murphy realised his dream of running his own wine and liquor store.

New Zealand’s Auckland Airport has awarded a NZ$50,000 grant to the New Zealand Wine Pure Discovery project to help boost wine tourism. The New Zealand Wine Pure Discovery Project is a collaboration between New Zealand Winegrowers and Auckland Airport and aims to improve the presence of wine and winery experiences in key tourism channels throughout the country. New Zealand Winegrowers said the grant signalled a “broadening of support for wine tourism, and an increased interest in product development within the sector”.

As winter comes to an end a poll on The Shout has revealed that craft beer is tipped to be the big seller this spring. While a lot of industry talk at the moment is about the rise and rise of dry, pale rosé, that Provencal-style of wine has been edged out in the poll by the craft beer juggernaut. The State of the Industry Report released earlier this year by the Australian Liquor Stores Association and IRI highlighted that the craft beer market is “flourishing against the backdrop of declining beer consumption”.

Queenstown wine pioneer Alan Brady is uprooting himself from the Wakatipu, 40 years after shifting there. Mr Brady, who famously planted the first grapes in Queenstown’s Gibbston Valley, is moving only an hour’s drive away to Clyde, however – still within the Central Otago region he helped put on the world wine map.

THE Granite Belt’s growing international reputation as an elite wine destination has been further enhanced following a visit by a Japanese wine industry delegation. The nearly week-long tour encompassed visits to Sirromet’s Seven Scenes, St Judes and Night Sky Vineyards, along with Sirromet’s flagship winery at Mount Cotton.

China could overtake the US as Australia’s biggest wine export market thanks to the growing Chinese middle class’ thirst for Aussie wines. Growing demand from Asian markets, particularly China, has driven strong growth in Australian wine exports. IBISWorld analyst Andrew Ledovskikh expects China, which now accounts for about a quarter of Australian wine exports, to become an increasingly important market.

The upcoming Special General Meeting is the most important issue that Australian Grape growers have faced in the 10 years of WGGA’s existence. The purpose of this work, which will be the subject of the vote at the special general meeting, is to re-focus the national grower body to make it more sustainable and effective as a national voice for winegrowers.