Intellectual property protection is essential for Australian producers looking to enter the Chinese market, according to the Export Council of Australia. Commercial and property lawyer Scott Bouvier works with the Export Council and producers around Australia on issues of trademark and brand protection. Bouvier, a partner at King and Wood Mallesons, said every producer who exports to China was at risk of having their brand copied.
West Australian beer and wine producers will be able to set up cellar-door shops in places other than their own licensed premises, following an overhaul of Western Australia’s liquor licensing laws. The liquor reforms coming into effect on Friday will allow off-site outlets to be established in collaboration with other beer or wine makers, in order to reduce operating costs.
Non-tariff trade barriers cost Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies and businesses over $1 billion a year due to the complexity and inconsistencies of regulation, the APEC Wine Regulatory Forum has conservatively estimated. Tony Battaglene, Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) strategy and international affairs general manager, said non-tariff barriers cost Australian wine exporters dearly and prevent others from looking at potential offshore markets as growth opportunities.
Who thinks of these days anyway? International Tempranillo Day was just last week (November 12), right on the heels of International Merlot Day. We’re drinking as fast as we can, folks! Of course, it is Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (a.k.a. ZAP) thas has been behind the annual observation of National Zinfandel Day. No organization has done more to expand appreciation of Zinfandel than ZAP.
One of Hawkes Bay’s largest construction projects is nearing completion. NZ Strong is building a new winery for Delegat’s on a greenfields site near Hastings, in a contract worth about $40 million. The construction includes tank cellar, barrel cellar, plant room, process room, press gallery, cellar door, offices, laboratory and amenities. NZ Strong managing director Chris Hunter said the work was to be completed ready for early next year.
Kiwi cellar door staff need to be more forward and less reliant on the “pour and hope” model when selling wine, a leading Central Otago businessman says. Bruce McGechan, who has a background in wine and tourism, says cellar doors are not as profitable as many people think and more needs to be done to make the visitor experience top quality. As a result, McGechan has teamed up with Lesley Berglund, a leading direct-to-consumer expert in the US wine industry, to offer wine sales training courses.
The Wine & Viticulture Journal is inviting Tasmanian wineries making Riesling to enter its forthcoming tasting and pit their Rieslings against the top wines from the publication’s recent Clare and Eden Valley Riesling tasting. Producers have until close of business next Wednesday (25 November) to contact Wine & Viticulture Journal editor Sonya Logan expressing their interest in submitting a wine to the tasting (s.logan@winetitles.com.au), which was prompted by Tasmanian winemaker Paul Smart, aka Vineyard Paul, who threw down the gauntlet in a tweet.
Profits are on the rise at the wine maker behind the McGuigan and Tempus Two labels thanks to stronger sales both within Australia and overseas. Australian Vintage is forecasting net profit this financial year to come in about 10 per cent above the $7.1 million, before one off items, it made in 2013/14. The wine maker’s chairman, Richard Davis, told shareholders that in the four months to October 2015, sales to both domestic and export markets were stronger.
More than 80 wine regulators and wine industry representatives from 17 Pacific Rim economies met in Adelaide, Australia, to work toward streamlining import-export requirements for wine. The two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Wine Regulatory Forum’s 2015 technical meeting focused on eliminating duplicative regulations to reduce the costs of cross-border wine trade, stimulate demand and increase wine exports to the region.
The four winners of the inaugural Australian Women in Wine Awards were announced last night via a web broadcast that was streamed to live events taking place all over Australia. Rose Kentish from Ulithorne Wines in McLaren Vale took out the winemaker of the year award at the event while Irina Santiago-Brown was named as viticulturist of the year. Rebecca Duffy from Holm Oak Vineyard in Tasmania was awarded with owner/ operator of the year and Dianne Laurance from WA’s Laurance Wines was honoured with the workplace champion of change award.