Dan Murphy’s is turning its focus on Australia’s ‘local wine heroes’ in a campaign from Red Jelly to coincide with Aussie Wine Month. The Woolworths-owned retailer has teamed up with Wine Australia for the month-long push which includes a TV ad focusing on its monthly buyer’s guide. Central to the campaign will be wine tastings across its stores nationwide which the brand said will provide customers with greater knowledge of the country’s wine regions, varieties and local brands.

GRAPEGROWERS and winemakers say they are being forced to hire foreign workers because people from Adelaide’s high-unemployment areas seem unwilling to move even temporarily to the country.
More than 105,000 temporary work visas were granted by the Department of Immigration to foreign nationals in 2013-14. The South Australian Wine Industry Association has told a Senate committee inquiry into temporary work visas that many of its members experience difficulty recruiting skilled and unskilled workers.

The head of Western Australia’s peak wine body says industry was not consulted before it had millions of dollars of subsidies slashed in the state budget. The State Government has committed to abolish a cellar door subsidy for wine producers from July 1 this year, which will save $11 million. The subsidy applies only to wine sold at the cellar door and is generally used by larger producers who exceed their $500,000 wine equilisation tax rebate claim.

The Australian Financial Review can reveal that the country’s biggest wine company, Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) and its rival, French drinks giant Pernod Ricard Winemakers – whose brands include Wyndham Estate, Jacob’s Creek and Orlando Wines – have unusually joined forces to campaign for radical changes to wine tax. TWE and Pernod have employed Newgate Communications to lobby for changes to the tax system, including replacing it with a category-based volumetric tax and outright removal of the WET rebate, which was introduced in 2004.

This year, the focus of Wine Business Solutions’ workshop is improving sales and sales profitability. They’ll be a strong focus on direct to customer including what it is that the 20% of companies who are responsible for 88% of direct to customer wine sales are doing right. We’ll highlight all of the best emerging opportunities. Leading edge tools tips and technology to make your sales efforts more effective will be discussed. We’ll also look at managing distributors for best results.

A power shift in China’s imported wine market has seen a switch from traditional, high-end wine connoisseurs to younger and more casual drinkers, says a new study. According to Wine Intelligence’s China Portraits 2015 report, a brand new wine consumer segment has emerged since its last study in 2012: Developing Drinkers, typically younger and less involved consumers who tend to buy wine at mainstream or entry-level prices. These people are more likely to be graduates, working in high-earning professions and in their late 20s or early 30s.

The business of raising capital and borrowing money through the ‘crowd in the cloud’ is off to a flying start, but the real test will be how the new industry handles its first failures. The most noise and activity on the equity side is coming from Snowball Effect, which has hosted five successful capital raisings on its equity crowdfunding platform since it launched in August last year. The enthusiasm and the party mood extends to two of Snowball Effect’s most high-profile capital raising companies, both of which sell the ingredients for a celebration- beer and wine.

Chemistry and physics experts will be visiting Masterton to talk about innovative scientific developments as part of the Victoria University of Wellington 2015 Public Lecture Series. Dr Nicola Gaston will be joined by Dr Rob Keyzers, also a senior lecturer in the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, who will discuss how chemistry could help New Zealand’s wine industry. Dr Keyzers will describe how the clever use of chemistry can help control the sensory properties of wine, help to unlock new and lucrative markets and, ultimately, enhance sales.

One successful winemaker in the family is usually plenty, but this Australian clan doesn’t do things by half. Since the day he was born, Ben Glaetzer has been surrounded by vineyards, and immersed in a family tradition of making wine. There was no question he would follow suit. After all, it was in his genes. Fast-forward 38 years and the Barossa Valley winemaker is the successful name behind the lauded Amon-Ra Shiraz, and the designer behind its striking hieroglyphic label. He co-owns and runs the family business, Glaetzer Wine, which his father Colin created in 1995.

Australia finished second behind France in the recent 2015 International Wine Challenge (IWC) medal count, taking home more than 800 medals and earning glowing praise from the event’s co-chair, Charles Metcalfe. “Australian wine continues to go from strength to strength, as its native winemakers demonstrate their star quality,” Metcalfe told Australia’s Food Magazine. “Australian Shiraz has impressed yet again, and Aussie Chardonnay really has come a long way.”