Grapegrowers in southern Queensland have wrapped up a season blighted by bad weather which has damaged up to 90 per cent of some crops. Hail and storms ravaged many vineyards in the usually prosperous Granite Belt and Mount Tamborine regions in the state’s south, which is expected to lead to a shortage of Queensland wines in two years’ time. Angelo Puglisi, from Ballandean Estate Wines, said his crop on the Granite Belt was one of the worst affected.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will return its commercial vineyards in Orange and Wagga Wagga to farmland as it discontinues commercial wine production. CSU announced in March its plans to discontinue large-scale production and expand its focus on the premium boutique wine market through the Experimental Winery at the National Wine and Grape Industry Research Centre (NWGIC). Paul Dowler, CSU executive director of finance said CSU’s proud tradition of winemaking will continue with new boutique wines to be made at the Experimental Winery.

The boss of the Winemaker’s Federation of Australia (WFA) has dismissed a media report that Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) reform will not be part of this year’s Federal Budget as “speculative”. Yesterday, an article from The Australian suggested Joe Hockey, the Federal Treasurer, was “understood to have told the industry at a meeting on Tuesday that the plan was not supported, despite it delivering significant budget savings”.

It wasn’t so long ago that anyone who asked for a glass of English wine in a restaurant would have been met with blank looks. But English wine is soaring in popularity, according to Waitrose, which has reported a 177 per cent increase in sales just this week. Rebecca Hull, the English and Welsh wine buyer for Waitrose, said: “The success of English wine is a culmination of dedication and effort from some talented winemakers across the country who have gradually built the reputation of our wines from the ground up.

Moet Hennessy Estates & Wines, producers of wines including Cloudy Bay and Cheval des Andes, is due to bottle its highly anticipated Chinese red wine within the next few weeks, with an international launch due for autumn 2015. The wine, which is grown in the Himalayan Mountains in the northern reaches of China’s Yunnan province close to the border with Tibet, is made with Cabernet Sauvignon grown at altitudes between 2,200 metres and 2,600 metres above sea level.

China is on the verge of an outward tourism boom as middle-class incomes surge. Already New Zealand has begun to chalk up more business as more high-quality Chinese tourists spend more time (and money) during their visits here, especially on food and wine. CLSA reckons that outward tourism boom will gather pace as the country’s per capita GDP approaches a tipping point of US$8000, which will lead to a massive increase in discretionary spending power across the Chinese middle-class.

NEW Zealand’s fruit and vegetable production has exceeded $7 billion for the first time, with exports now valued at $3.9b. Horticulture is more productive per hectare than the dairy industry, the country’s largest export income earner. HortNZ says its $3.9b export returns out of the $7.16b production total are derived from 123,000 hectares of land, versus dairy exports of $16.9b from 1.7 million ha. CEO Peter Silcock said they were not out to “bag” dairy, but the reality was that exports generated per hectare were high compared to other land uses.

Up until the age of 24, Emma Jones was convinced she was just a beer drinker. While she grew up in Newcastle just down the road from the Hunter Valley, wine wasn’t something she found her palate could quite adapt to. Now four years later, Jones has launched Little Wine and Beer Tours Australia – a company that offers groups the opportunity to easily get out and experience boutique wineries and breweries on the east coast and in South Australia. It was boutique wineries just like those that her tours visit that finally won over her palette.

Australian wine exports have increased in both volume and value in the past 12 months, bringing welcome news for local producers in Western Australia. Kim Tyrer, President of Mount Barker Wine Producers Association, said that export growth represents opportunities for WA producers operating at the higher end of the market. “In WA we can’t compete on the cheaper, lower end, we have to be at the premium end of the market. China’s very into red wine, so that suits us. The US are also very much into a similar sort of thing.”

Manipulation is a much-maligned word, suggesting that the winemaker is somehow cheating. Clark Smith believes we should just get over it. Accusing a winemaker of manipulation is like calling your wife a whore because she’s sleeping with you. To dishonour our craft is both insulting and naïve. Winemaking is, after all, just a form of food preparation – the ultimate slow food. Chefs are supposed to manipulate things. It’s what we do.