The Clear Image Hunter Valley Wine Show, one of Australia’s leading regional wine shows, was held on August 19 and showcased a variety of high calibre winemakers and their products. Among these high quality winemakers was Dimbulla Estate, a young vineyard committed to pursuing the early European settlers experience and tradition of wine making.
California isn’t just a place, it’s a perspective. It’s 75 and sunny, avocado on everything, and the Beach Boys playing with the windows rolled down on a drive up the PCH. But if there’s one thing that hasn’t quite gelled with this picture, it’s California wine. Stodgy and expected, the steakhouse bottles of the ’90s were a far cry from the state’s signature free spirit; there is nothing “chill” about a trophy wine like Opus One. But a different style is finally taking hold, and it’s redefining what California wine is all about. Forget buttery Chardonnays and ginormous Cabs.
One of Australia’s leading independent wine review websites, Winefront, has had its identity and its extensive library of wine reviews stolen and used to generate income for another party. The breach was discovered by co-owner, Gary Walsh, on August 24. His site operates as winefront.com.au. The offending site – thewinefront.com.au – was registered with a major Australian affiliate marketing company at the end of July.
Wine snobs lament, a New Zealand company has canned wine. Misty Cove Wines in Blenheim is the first wine company in the country to locally produce wine in aluminium cans. Founder Andrew Bailey said the concept was all about portability. We get asked a lot: ‘wine in a can: does it taste any different?’ “And the answer is ‘no, it doesn’t’.
AUSTRALIAN Vintage has recorded a full-year net profit of $7.2 million. This is up marginally from $7.1 million last year. Overall, the company today posted a net loss of $2 million, following a vineyard lease termination payment of $9.2 million. Australian Vintage chief executive Neil McGuigan said over the past five years sales of the company’s three key brands — McGuigan, Tempus Two and Nepenthe — had almost doubled.
Melbourne researchers are working to turn trash into treasure in the wine industry. Around 2 million tonnes of grapes are crushed each year and more than half end up as grape marc – the skins, pulp, seeds and stems remaining after the fruit has been pressed. Swinburne University professor Enzo Palombo is working to create technology that will help wineries take advantage of the chemicals found in the waste.
Succession planning will prove a hot topic when the Finlaysons’ 24th annual wine road show holds a seminar in the region next week. The event, to be held on August 30, features keynote speakers who are specialists in their field, including Finlaysons’ Wine Group leader Will Taylor. “We’ve taken this seminar series right around to talk to winemakers on their own patch,” Mr Taylor said. “A lot of feedback last year was that people wanted to talk more about succession planning.”
The growth of the wine industry, exports and trade were front and centre on the opening day of the largest wine conference in New Zealand. Around 600 industry leaders gathered at the ASB Theatre Marlborough on Wednesday for the annual Romeo Bragato Conference, where speakers heaped praise on the expanding industry. New Zealand Winegrowers chairman Steve Green presented figures showing 21 years of successive export growth, from $41 million in 1994 to $1.42 billion in the year ending June 2015.
Could Californian wine lovers be finding a touch of ashtray in their 2016 Cabernets? ‘Tis the season to worry about smoke-tainted wines. Because it gets most of its rain in winter, California has wildfires almost every summer. It’s always hot and dry, especially in the interior of the state, so the conditions are always right. And that means the conditions are always right for smoke taint.
UK drinks distributor Matthew Clark has seen an uplift in sales of premium wines from cool-climate regions – a sign that consumers are increasingly seeking out lighter, fresher styles. Wines from regions and countries known for their cooler climates, including Austria, New Zealand, and Germany’s Mosel, have all generated double or triple-digit volume sales growth for the distributor in the year to 30 June 2016 (MAT).