NEW England wine producers have warned changes to a tax originally designed to better support wine producers in rural and regional Australia could end up pushing many to the financial wall. The fallout for the wine industry is continuing after the 2016/17 federal budget revealed changes to the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) rebate, which supporters say is long overdue to stop widespread rorting of the rebate, but which critics argue will have the unintended consequence of business closures and job cuts.

Australian wine is in the “healthiest place for years”, but needs to continue to challenge perceptions about its quality through single vineyard and site specific wines, Jacob’s Creek’s new winemaker Ben Bryant has said. Speaking to the drinks business during a recent visit to London, Bryant, who took over from Bernard Hickin when he retired in June, said there was a lot of innovation coming out of Australia, and winemakers were beginning to “turn the dial” in building the perception of Australian wine quality.

We look at how the historic blind tasting known as the Judgment of Paris inspired the world’s winemakers to challenge France’s lock on the wine world. This July 4th, no matter if you’re enjoying a cabernet from Napa, a sauvignon blanc from New Zealand or a pinotage from South Africa, it’s in great part due to the Judgment of Paris.

Visiting Wisconsin wineries is an easy way to enjoy a vast variety of wines while having the opportunity to learn direct from the winemakers, growers and purveyors of the state’s booming industry. According to Anna Maenner, executive director for both the Wisconsin Winery Association and the Wisconsin Grape Growers, she has seen the explosion of growth firsthand since she started with the state’s wine groups six years ago.

Rosé-flavoured gummies may be fancier than most viral foods, but like their rainbow bagel and overflowing milkshake counterparts, people are losing their minds over them. Before the candy hit stores on Friday, it already had an over 3,300-person waitlist, according to Sugarfina co-owner Rosie O’Neill. Their website had crashed a few times from the volume of traffic.

Vine-growing and wine-making are among those old traditions in all of Kyrgyzstan and the south of Kazakhstan, while the east of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are now reviving the industry under new brands. Technological upgrading with European input could boost output even further with the outlook to conquer a place among global wine exporters. Tolerable and affordable.

THE direct trade impacts of Brexit on Australia’s agricultural sector are likely to be relatively contained, Rabobank says. In its June Agribusiness Monthly report, released today, the global agribusiness bank said with the UK along with the other 27 member states of the European Union only contributing a relatively small share of Australian food and agricultural exports — 1.4 per cent and 4.6 per cent respectively by value — the direct trade implications of the UK’s historic decision to leave the EU would be limited for the agricultural sector as a whole.

It’s the question everyone wants to know. So good luck with that. Yes, thanks. The first thing to stress is that other than the turmoil of the financial markets, nothing else is going to change for at least two years before the UK formally leaves the European Union. So we all have some time to plan. So keep calm and carry on? Initially, yes. The short term impact of Brexit has already played out in front of our eyes.

Leading Australia and New Zealand importers Negociants UK has been appointed to distribute three New Zealand brands within the Foley Family Wines portfolio – Marlborough based Grove Mill and Frog Haven and Martinborough Vineyard from Martinborough. These wineries will be sold to the UK off and on-trade and represented by Negociants UK with immediate effect.

From the restaurant balcony of Hope Estate winery in the Hunter Valley, owner Michael Hope points down a sloping lawn to a huge concrete pad that in summer contains one of the largest stages in the southern hemisphere. “Can you believe the Rolling Stones performed down there?” he asks, as much a rock’n’roll fan as he is a businessman. “I still have to remind myself.”