A New Zealand Pinot Noir producer is soon to release its first vintage from the other side of the world: Burgundy’s Gevrey-Chambertin. While it’s not uncommon for winemakers from the Côte d’Or to start Pinot Noir projects in emerging areas in the New World, it’s highly unusual for the situation to reverse. However, New Zealand’s Domaine Thomson, formerly called Surveyor Thomson, is planning to unveil its inaugural French Pinot from the 2013 harvest later this year, having made wine in Central Otago since 2003.

Cloudy Bay Vineyards has been given the go ahead from the Overseas Investment Office to buy freehold land for Sauvignon Blanc planting. The Marlborough wine company planned to purchase 11.7 hectares at Bedford Road, near Renwick, from vendors Dean and Sarah Cross, and Dene Ellwood, trustees of the Cross Trust. Cloudy Bay Vineyards will use the land to secure supply of grapes to increase production and sales of premium-quality Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough.

It might be the home of the prestigious Coonawarra wine region, but Australia’s Limestone Coast is largely overlooked, according to one producer in the region. Limestone Coast Wines (LCW) is hoping to catch the attention of UK consumers with the launch of an “edgy, forward thinking and artfully modern” range of wines produced in the Limestone Coast Zone in south eastern Australia.

It’s “decision time” for Australian wineries, according to a wine industry lawyer visiting the North East. Australian wine industry law firm, Finlaysons, wine partner Will Taylor said many wine businesses around the country were on the market, either formally or informally. “Our perception at the moment is that a lot of people in the wine industry are reaching a critical time,” he said. “In some cases this reflects many years of financial stress coming home to roost.”

National wine production data reveals more than half of West Australian wineries are unprofitable.
The Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) vintage report, released last month, shows the number of loss-making wineries around Australia has risen marginally from 84 to 85 per cent. The profitability data is based on grapegrowing costs per tonne and WA was a particularly poor performer, according to the vintage report.

The Mildura-based growers’ owned Vintage Traders Australia (VTA) has appointed an administrator to manage the process of winding up operations. VTA was established nine years ago as an unlisted public company to sell wine grapes on behalf of growers who were shareholders. For a time, VTA also had small batches of wine made from shareholders’ fruit and traded in bulk wine.

South Australian reality experts are forecasting increasing foreign investor interest in the state’s farm land. Industry insiders blame austerity measures in China for dampening interest in farms to date. Colliers International’s Tim Altschwager, said he expected most interest would be in vineyards in the state’s iconic growing areas, like the Barossa Valley. “I’ve certainly seen an upswing in interest in the last few months, particularly from Asia,” he said.

Capped at 100 SKU’s between wines, spirits and beer, it is a perfect area for small producers to get their brands out to the trade. Interstate producers looking to get in front of Melbourne and Sydney buyers can also find ‘The Pavilion’ section a good way to find a distributor or expand current retail distribution.

A long period of hot weather threatens to hit the wine harvest in France’s famous Burgundy and Beaujolais regions, experts told AFP on Tuesday. Production could be down, although quality will remain high, they said. Output could fall by as much as a third in Beaujolais, said Florence Hertaut, wine expert at the agricultural chamber of commerce in the Rhone region. “The dryness has meant that the grapes, the fruit, are especially small,” she told AFP.

Pinot Noir is the most widely planted red grape in New Zealand, making up 70% of our red grape vines and just over 15% of our total vineyard area. Nearly 85% of that Pinot Noir is planted in the South Island, though it is worth remembering that a significant portion of that is given over to the production of sparkling wines. Marlborough leads the way with the greatest area devoted to Pinot Noir, followed by Central Otago, Wairarapa, Waipara, Hawke’s Bay and Nelson.