In the last six years, the Wine & Viticulture Journal has held tastings of Australian-made Arneis, Vermentino, Fiano and Pinot Grigio and today each of these Italian whites are being produced by at least 50 local wineries. We’ve decided it’s time to throw our spotlight on some of these varieties’ lesser-known Italian cousins. On their own these whites aren’t yet produced in sufficient number in Australia to warrant stand-alone tastings.
A giant stick blender that chops wine grape skins into a pulp could be the next big thing in red wine making. Dr Angela Sparrow, from the University of Tasmania, has been carrying her blender around in a suitcase, trialling it in Pinot Noir winemaking in Mildura, Adelaide, Canberra and soon Tasmania. She says her trial is showing by leaving the red grape skins in contact with the wine, it can improve flavour, colour and even reduce labour in the process.
Wine grape growers on the western edge of the New South Wales Snowy Mountains have a reason to celebrate this vintage. Demand for cool climate fruit has attracted at least eight new buyers to the district this year. Winemakers will turn the fruit into table and sparkling wine. Cathy Gairn, from Courabyra Wines near Tumbarumba, said renewed interest in the region was extremely positive for its 17 growers. “The produce is getting quite scarce,” she said.
A surplus block of grape vines in South Australia has been turned over to the community and used to raise thousands of dollars for a local homeless charity. The South Australian wine grower offered up the vines because it was not viable for him to pick them. More than 100 people turned out to pick the grapes on Sunday, while others volunteered to make and bottle the wine. Some of the wine has already been sold, raising more than $30,000 for Adelaide’s Hutt Street Centre for the homeless.
New South Wales Premier Mike Baird has repeated his commitment to visit the Hunter Valley amid horse and wine industry demands to address land use conflicts in the region. The Hunter Thoroughbred Breeders Association and the Hunter Valley Wine and Tourism Association have called for bi-partisan political support to resolve land use conflicts, which they claim threatens the future of their industries. It includes a 10km buffer around the equine and viticulture critical industry clusters, with new open cut and underground coal mines and coal seam gas mining banned.
Winemakers and horse breeders in the NSW Hunter Valley have demanded both the coalition government and Labor opposition commit to new measures to protect their industries from coal mining. Just days out from Saturday’s state election, the Hunter Thoroughbred Breeders Association and the Hunter Valley Wine and Tourism Association have joined forces to call for a ban on all coal and coal seam gas mining within 10km of critical industry areas.
Leading New World wine producer Accolade, which counts brands like Hardys and Echo Falls as part of its portfolio, has chosen not to take part in the London Wine Fair this year. Announcing the “difficult decision” not to attend, Amy White, Accolade’s marketing director, told Drinks Business the company is instead “significantly increasing [its] commitment to consumer tastings and experiential marketing across the core branded portfolio.”
Tesco’s recently reinstated global wine boss, Dan Jago, has questioned the commercial value of Germany’s Prowein trade show and urged producers to focus on more innovation. He told Off Licence News: “It is brilliant to have every producer from around the world at Prowein laying out their wares. But if I added up all the costs of coming, you must question how visitors get value for money. You have to work really hard to get some kind of commercial advantage to being here.”
OPINION: Last week I drew attention to the New Zealand Government’s goal of doubling agri-food exports between 2012 and 2025. I pointed out that our success over the last fifteen years has been fuelled by product price increases, and that we cannot rely on the next decade being so fortunate. So how are we going to make the quantum leap we need? In recent days I have been in Marlborough, supporting my colleague Marvin Pangborn as he led a group of Lincoln University students studying land use. Inevitably, our field tour included a focus on the Marlborough wine industry.
A packaging firm embroiled in an industrial dispute with 240 workers says it’s disappointed staff will strike so early in negotiations. Workers at Orora Kiwi Packaging in Auckland, Hastings and Christchurch have voted to take a two-week overtime ban after collective bargaining with their employer broke down. The action could threaten the supply of boxes for the kiwifruit, wine and meat industries. The EPMU said members had been bargaining for a fair wage increase above the “paltry” 1.8 per cent on offer from the Australian-owned employer.