Imagine this scenario: You’re sitting at the dark mahogany counter of a craft brewpub. Exposed bulbs are dangling from a thatched roof, aluminium pipes snaking across brick walls to red copper conditioning tanks. The building is a repurposed garage, and the doors open onto the outdoor seating area strung with fairy lights. On the handwritten 20-by-10-foot blackboard, you have more than three dozen choices, but it’s clear what you’re not going to get at a pub like this.

It was the wine Max Schubert declared as his greatest triumph. Now, more than four decades later, the legendary Penfolds 1971 Grange has topped a tasting of the world’s greatest wines of the 1970s, beating some of France’s most famous wine estates on the way. Wines worth in excess of $500,000 were sourced from around the world, at a special event commissioned by European luxury magazine publisher FINE and website tastingbook.com. Judges from nine different countries were on hand to assess and score the wines.

Online wine retailer Vinomofo has invested $250,000 in meals delivery business Nourissh, a market which co-founders and joint CEOs Justin Dry and Andre Eikmeier say is exploding overseas and becoming hugely popular in Australia. The two investors, who started Vinomofo in their garage in 2007, see the delivery meals market as a key area of growth for the future of their business.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra announced a new agreement with Kilikanoon Wines to be the official exclusive still and sparkling wine partner of the SSO. The partnership will see Kilikanoon wines from South Australia’s Clare Valley served at the SSO Vanguard Series, Salon Series, lectures, lunches and special fundraising events for the next two years. Kilikanoon Wines has a long standing relationship with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra; Kilikanoon Proprietor and Brand Ambassador Nathan Waks is a former Co-Principal Cellist for the SSO.

CHAMP Private Equity has had a big win in the United Kingdom, walking away with a six-fold return after the sale of Accolade Wines’ 50 per cent share in the UK’s biggest drinks distributor to pubs, Matthew Clark. CHAMP’s share of the profits of the sale of Matthew Clark is about $200 million, with the other half of the business having been owned by Punch Taverns in the UK. The Matthew Clark business has been sold to another company called Conviviality Retail after a sales process, which delivered a big windfall to Accolade and its 80 per cent owner, CHAMP.

NORTH PLAINS, Ore. (AP) — Bertony Faustin didn’t set out to be Oregon’s first black winemaker. He just wanted to make good wine. But the disbelief that often comes when customers realize a black man owns the winery has worn on him. “People are always surprised. Everybody assumes that … I am not the winemaker,” said the 43-year-old, who four years ago opened Abbey Creek Winery about 20 miles northwest of Portland. “The image of the winemaker is an old white guy. To see that it’s a black man, it takes people aback.”

ZURICH (Reuters) – Germany’s Bayer has advised wine grape growers not to use its Moon Privilege fungicide until its CropScience arm has investigated whether there is a connection between the product’s use and reported crop damage. Growers have reported deformed leaves and lower yields from their crops this year. Referring to “atypical symptoms” in vines where Moon Privilege — known as Luna Privilege in some markets — had been deployed in 2014.

Multi-award winning Tasman winemaker Daniel Schwarzenbach of Blackenbrook Vineyard has scored another impressive industry accolade by winning a gold medal and the trophy for Best Gewürztraminer at the prestigious annual Bragato Wine Awards held in Napier on 27 August. This is the fifth ‘best wine in class’ award at a national competition for the family owned and run vineyard and it cements Blackenbrook’s reputation for producing outstanding aromatic wines.

BERESFORD Estate will open later this month to offer a premium event and accommodation venue in McLaren Flat following a “multi-million” investment. The winery, owned by the Bickford’s Group, has also undergone major works over the past year to build a new tasting pavilion on its Ingoldby Rd site. Bickford’s Group marketing manager Chris Illman said the company was excited to soon offer a base for its wine tastings and an event option.

A visit to an emerging winemaking province in China could pave the way to a sister city relationship with the region, the Marlborough mayor says. A group of six wine industry leaders and a Marlborough District Council representative left Marlborough for Ningxia, China on Saturday. The group will attend a wine conference in the region and be hosted by the Ningxia Wine Bureau, which is meeting the cost of accommodation and transport in China.