The normally close-knit and collegial Australian wine industry is edging towards a civil war over the heated issue of tax, with the patriarch of the nation’s biggest wine exporter, Casella Wines, slamming some producers’ efforts to lobby for the introduction of a volumetric tax as “immoral”. John Casella, whose Griffith-based winery makes the Yellow Tail wine that last year struck nearly $400 million in sales and is the most imported wine in the US, has warned attempts to swap a system based on value to a tax charged per litre would only exacerbate oversupply plaguing the sector, trigger an exodus of growers and see many lose their life savings.

Wine import volumes, excluding other fermented categories like cider, declined by five per cent on a year-over-year basis to 255.6 million liters in the first quarter of 2015. A 25 per cent rise in imported sparkling wines, including champagne, was offset by a nine per cent decline in table wine volumes. Volumes for fortified wines, which include additional alcohol added during the fermentation process, were up 23 per cent.

The latest figures from the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, for the second quarter of 2015, show that “consumers are finally getting the break they deserve after years of inflation-busting tax rises”. The latest report from the WSTA highlights the role that a combination of factors have played in slowing price inflation, a positive result for consumers. Duty cuts and lower inflation are cited as the main reason for the positive findings in the report, which indicated that the benefits of the slowing price increases were being passed down to the customer by producers and retailers.

IN the desert sands of central China, the first sprouts of a potential giant is emerging. The Chinese wine industry is slowly gaining a foothold in a domestic market that has, until now, been dominated by foreign wine. But with more affluent Chinese consumers turning to wine, the future looks rosé for both Chinese and Australian wine producers. Much of China’s local wine is emerging from Ningxia Province, which sits in the geographical centre of China.

Len Evans must be turning in his grave. Qantas has dismissed the wine selection panel he instituted and replaced it with a chef. Neil Perry, who seems intent on being the all-round wine guy as well as a restaurateur and chef, is the new wine consultant for Qantas, replacing the panel of three of Australia’s most highly regarded winemakers, Steve Pannell, Vanya Cullen and Tom Carson, who have done the job for more than 10 years. No doubt Perry will be relying on his teams of sommeliers in his various restaurants to do the hard yakka of tasting massive numbers of wines.

Wine sales have continued to fall in restaurants, pubs and hotels over the last three months with only sparkling and fortified wines bucking the trend. According to the Wine & Spirit Trade Association’s (WSTA) Quarter 2 Market Report, wine sales (volume) declined two per cent while sparkling and fortified were up 35 adn 15 per cent respectively. Red wine led the category’s overall decline with sales down five per cent while Rose also saw a drop. White wine was the only category to see little or no change in volume sales.

Two major wineries are getting ready to ramp up production to meet growing demand with new infrastructure being built in time for next season. Wither Hills Winery is readying for a 50 per cent increase in production with the construction of a new 3000-square metre white wine cellar. The building will help add an extra 3000 tonnes of white wine production to the Lion Nathan-owned company’s current annual production of 8000 tonnes. The increase follows the company’s intention in 2010 when it obtained resource consent to target 15,000 tonnes per year.

New research from the UniSA Business School’s Ehrenberg-Bass Institute could help transform the export market for Australian wine, enabling producers and distributors to describe their product more effectively using terms more easily understood by Chinese wine consumers. The Chinese Lexicon Project – a two year long research initiative funded by the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA) and led by Dr Armando Corsi, Dr Justin Cohen and Prof Larry Lockshin, has revealed what terms Chinese consumers use more often when describing a wine, and what Asian fruit and vegetable flavours are equivalent to the typical Western ones used for wines in China.

If there was ever a year to return to the judging panel of the Hawke’s Bay A&P Bayleys Wine Awards, 2015 is it for one of New Zealand’s and Hawke’s Bay’s most respected wine industry leaders, Steve Smith, Master of Wine. “After a decade, it’s great to be back. I’m thrilled to be joining a judging team again for an exceptional year on the back of three outstanding Hawke’s Bay vintages,” said Smith. Hawke’s Bay was in for some of the best wines the region has ever produced – which was the culmination of three big factors, he said.

Wine has been with us since nearly the dawn of civilization. Despite a long history and a prominent place in vying for our disposable income for hundreds of years, 2015 very likely marks the most competitive wine market in history. If you often feel overwhelmed by the variety – and volume – of choice when you saunter among the shelves of your favourite wine retailer, don’t take it personally. One of the interesting and ironic side effects of a robust wine market is having more quality choices from which to pick our next bottle.