Wine Australia has revealed that the Chinese wine market has now taken over the US wine market in total turnover after a 66 per cent rise over the last year. Wine Australia general manager of marketing, Stuart Barclay, told TheShout that the 66 per cent growth in the Chinese market represented both volume and value sales. “The Chinese market is still very strong, and when you combine this with the Hong Kong market it is worth over $500 million.”

A French sailing boat packed with organic and biodynamic wine has arrived on British shores, as part of an initiative to make exports more environmentally friendly. This week the Grayhound, a 108-foot lugger sailing boat, arrived in Plymouth with a five-tonne cargo of French organic and biodynamic wines. The ship, which is part of TransOceanic Wind Transport (TOWT), transports organic and biodynamic wines from France to England. It will return across the English Channel with Cornish ales.

North American Starbucks customers can now order a glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc to go with their mocha Frappuccino. The global coffee chain started selling alcohol five years ago when it introduced an evening menu in Seattle, which features a selection of wine and craft beer alongside coffee and tea and savoury small plates. “Starbucks Evenings” as it is called has been rolled out to hundreds of cafes across North America and features Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand’s Villa Maria and Kim Crawford wineries.

South Australian, family-owned wine and spirits business, Angove Family Winemakers, is celebrating its 130th anniversary. Angove Family Winemakers was founded in 1886 by Dr. William Angove, who began making wine on the property as a tonic for his patients. Today, the business produces the famous St Agnes brandies and is well known for its single vineyard and organic wines.

Harvest is a week away from winding down, but there have already been more grape spills than last year, police say. Highway patrol team leader Barrie Greenall said the greater yield this season meant there were more grapes to transport, which had resulted in more spills. These usually happened at roundabouts or intersections because trucks did not slow down enough and were forced to brake suddenly, he said.

IT is one of Australia’s principal producers of sparkling wine, and now Clover Hill Wines at Tea Tree has been named Tasmanian vineyard of the year. The vineyard, which was established in 1986 on the site of an old dairy farm in North-East Tasmania by the Goelet family, aims to produce sparkling wine using traditional French methods.

The industry tends to get the wrong idea about Woolworths’ exclusive brands business, Pinnacle Drinks, because the division hasn’t widely communicated its reason for being, according to its General Manager Chris Baddock. He told drinks trade magazine that Pinnacle is effectively a supplier embedded in the Woolworths Liquor business and that there are two reasons for its existence.

The managing director of Treasury Wine Estates business in Asia says the surging sales in China, which have been behind a big profit spike, won’t be crimped by the latest e-commerce regulatory crackdown in China. Treasury’s top brands, Penfold and Wolf Blass, have experienced strong growth as the Asia division more than doubled its profits to $46.5 million in the first half of 2015-16, and the broader industry has also been part of a surge which has made Greater China the largest export destination for Australian wine, overtaking both the United Kingdom and the United States.

Winetitles Media, publisher of leading Australasian wine industry publications and digital services, has appointed Peter Muscet as general manager. Muscet steps into the role as Elizabeth Bouzoudis moves to the Winetitles Advisory Board, where she will continue her involvement with the company which already spans more than 10 years. Muscet joins Winetitles Media with a broad range of publishing, media and marketing experience, which has included senior roles with Rural Press (now Fairfax) in regional newspapers and digital media.

It’s midday and I’m sitting in MeroToro restaurant in Mexico City, hearing Chilean (by way of Burgundy) winemaker Louis-Antoine Luyt introduce the concept of natural wines to MeroToro’s enthusiastic wait staff, including the wines he’s making in Tecate with Jair Téllez, MeroToro’s chef, at the Bichi winery. Many of the waiters tell me they’d never drunk wine before they started working here. After all, as Luyt explains, “historically, there’s been no culture of drinking wine with food in Mexico.”