The Institute of Masters of Wine has named five new Masters of Wine, including Australian Miles Corish MW. Corish joins just 20 other Australians to have been named MW, and this group of five brings the total number of MWs to 323, based in 24 countries. Sarah Jane Evans MW, Chairman of the Masters of Wine, said she was delighted to welcome the new members into the community. “Today is a memorable day for them – each one of us can remember that special moment when we received the news that we had become MWs.”

Investigators will today try to determine the cause of a shed fire at a Taylorville vineyard, which caused at least $2 million damage. Country Fire Service crews were called to the property, west of Renmark, just after 1:00pm (ACDT) yesterday. The large shed contained farm equipment, vehicles and chemicals. Firefighters were able to stop the fire from spreading to nearby vineyards but the shed was destroyed.

Large Boston-based fund manager Wellington Management, instrumental in convincing the board of Treasury Wine Estates to reject private equity takeover proposals last year, has offloaded $40 million in shares in the past 10 days to drop below the substantial shareholder threshold of 5 per cent. Wellington’s sale of a large chunk of its Treasury shares comes as another intriguing name pops back up as a large shareholder of the owner of Penfolds, Wolf Blass and Rosemount wines, with Ellerston Capital, the fund manager 25 per cent-owned by James Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings, now sitting at 5.07 per cent.

The AFL yesterday announced Wolf Blass had been named as the official wine of the AFL. Following existing relationships with the Brisbane and Essendon Football Clubs, the move will see Wolf Blass further expand the brand’s AFL footprint. Darren Birch, AFL general manager commercial operations, said Wolf Blass was another high calibre addition to the AFL’s stable of partners. “The AFL has enjoyed a successful relationship with Treasury Wine Estates over the past three seasons.”

Roberto Conterno’s successful purchase of a neighbour’s Barolo vineyard was down to local law, not anti-American sentiment. The Italian wine world was gripped last week by rumours of a mysterious American financial group attempting to buy historic vineyards in Barolo. A series of sensationalist articles by some of the country’s leading newspapers followed, including a piece published by Il Sole 24 Ore, one of Italy’s most respected media outlets.

Brancott Estate Letter Series ‘B’ Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc 2013 was awarded the Trophy for Champion Sweet Wine at the Easter Show Wine Awards dinner on Saturday 14th March, held at the ASB Showgrounds in Auckland. This is the second vintage for the Brancott Estate Letter Series ‘B’ Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc, with its inaugural 2011 vintage winning five trophies at international competitions as well as a slew of Gold medals.

My Wine Journey features leading buyers and other travel retail executives discussing their love of wine and its presentation and prospects in travel retail. This week we present an in-house view of the category from The Moodie Report Founder & Chairman (and Kiwi wine-lover) Martin Moodie. “Story of my life – a woman was to blame… I was working in a bar and what we called a ‘bottle store’ (off licence) at a hotel opposite Christchurch Cathedral (sadly both now gone, the latter destroyed by the February 2011 earthquake) and was smitten by the receptionist.”

If you love wine, but hate hangovers then prepare to get the next round in… because hangover-free wine could soon be on the menu. Scientists believe they may have discovered the key to reducing that awful morning-after feeling, by removing toxic byproducts found in fermented goods, such as beer and wine, using a “genome knife”. And the breakthrough may not just ease hangovers, but could boost the health benefits of wine and even make it smoother to the taste.
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Grapes grown at Charles Sturt University (CSU) Orange campus vineyard will no longer be used in the university’s wines, as CSU shuts down its commercial winery operations. A university spokesman announced yesterday it would instead focus on its experimental winery at the national wine and grape industry centre in Wagga Wagga, in response to market pressures and uncertainty around higher education reforms. Professor of food engineering at CSU Wagga Wagga John Mawson said cellar doors would remain open for the foreseeable future.

Casella Family Brans, owner of Yellow Tail and the recently acquired Peter Lehmann Wines, is capitalising on its strong distribution partnerships helping to drive double digit growth in most of its key markets. Matt Tallentire, senior export manager of CFB told Hapers.co.uk at ProWein that there is a lot of opportunity for Yellowtail, but also other Casella brands as well. “It is really about how we capitalise on that in the future and use out distribution network to continue growth.”