If overcoming adversity is a typically Waikato trait, then the Nooyen family personify it. The family behind the 100-year-old Vilagrad Winery could hardly be blamed for being tempted to throw in the towel after fire tore through the Rukuhia Rd business in June. The blaze destroyed the winery offices, kitchen, and parts of the 100-year-old wine cellar. It could have been a killing blow and yet – true to their bold predictions made just a day after the disaster – the family have just resumed operations with the first of their regular grand Sunday lunches, three months and 10 days later.

Hatch Mansfield will take on the UK agency for Australia’s Robert Oatley Vineyards from January 1. It will take over from North South Wines and add Robert Oatley to a portfolio that includes Chile’s Errazuriz, New Zealand’s Villa Maria and Champagne Taittinger. Hatch Mansfield managing director Patrick McGrath MW said the breadth of wines being offered will complement the company’s existing portfolio.

David Babich has a view from his office window to die for. Twenty minutes after battling through traffic from his home in Auckland’s bustling suburb of Pt Chevalier, he is relaxing at his desk at his family firm in a lush city oasis. The 47-year-old is general manager of Babich Wines, one of New Zealand’s oldest family-owned wineries. Yesterday he raised a glass to the company being in business for 100 years.

Wealthy baby boomers and young professionals focused on health are increasingly turning to half bottles of wine. And hundreds of wine companies are responding with mini-me versions of their mainstream bottles. Sydney-based online business halfbottles.com.au, which began as a side venture for the owner of the Bellevue Hill Bottle Shop in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs, is growing quickly as customers opt for the smaller 375ml bottle size over the usual 750ml bottle, which is the traditional size in Australia’s $4 billion wine industry.

Treasury Wine Estates has entered the second phase of its supply chain optimisation program that should bring in an annual saving of around $50m by fiscal-2020. In a filing to the Australian Stock Exchange earlier this week, the company said it has completed the first phase, which was announced at the end of March. At the time, the company said it expected the first phase, which would mainly effect its operations in Australia and the US, to result in a write-down of around $50m.

Australian winemakers produce many wonderful drops but it’s a drop in overseas trade tariffs that’s got them giddy. A string of new free trade deals, culminating in last week’s long-awaited 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, are bringing down barriers to markets across Asia and the Pacific. Coupled with a weak Aussie dollar, the deals are fuelling hopes of a new boom in wine exports. After a decade of stagnant international sales, things are finally looking up. “There’s a slow return to optimism,” says Tim Kirk, chief winemaker of Clonakilla Wines.

Two spring vine health field days hosted by NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) will see wine grape growers from Orange and Murrumbateman benefit from the latest research and practical management options. Held at Highland Heritage Estate in Orange on Wednesday 21 October and Four Winds Vineyard in Murrumbateman on Thursday 22 October, the field days will feature DPI viticulture development officers, Darren Fahey and Adrian Englefield joined by some of Australia’s most respected scientists and viticulturists

Always the innovator, GroGuard have an improved “back clip“ for use on windy sites. The back clip secures the GroGuard VineGuard to the drip wire, ensuring the vineguard stays put. Formerly made from wire, the new improved clip is made from UV stabilised polycarbonate. With helpful input from Rick Milland of Fowles Wines, the new clip is larger, sturdier and easier to use.

Italy has surpassed France to take to crown of world largest wine producer in 2015, according to European Union data. This year’s benign weather conditions have resulted in an abundant grape harvest across the Mediterranean peninsula, as opposed to that reaped on the other side of the Alps. Italy’s projected wine production is up 13% on the previous year and 5% on the average for the past five years, for a total output of 48.8 million hectolitres, figures submitted by member states to the EU Commission in mid-September show.

Lonely Planet has named Central Otago one of the world’s top wine regions to visit. Lonely Planet’s new book Wine Trails plots a course through 52 of the world’s greatest wine regions, with Central Otago named in the top 10 intriguing places to drink wine alongside The Jura in France, Rioja in Spain and Columbia Valley in the United States. Rutherglen in Australia also made the list for its butterscotch-flavoured, raisin-rich dessert wines from grapes harvested in a “mad rush” before they cooked into a jam.