Unless prices come down, Bordeaux 2011’s en primeur risks being a big flop, merchants have warned. Experts agree that the higher than expected prices of Bordeaux 2011 are undermining the market’s confidence – only Lafite has sold well given it is more affordable than older vintages, reports Harpers Wine & Spirit. Donna Steyn, of Liv-ex, told Harpers: “Very few of the releases have been successful so far. Prices have not been reduced as much as they should have been and this has undermined the market’s confidence.”

Nigeria’s wine market is burgeoning, but crippling import duties and complex bureaucracy could dampen the boom before it gets started, wine professionals say. Wine sales in the country stand at US$300m annually and should hit $370m by 2015, according to figures released by market research group Aranca at a Wines of South Africa (WoSA) seminar late last week. But, there is concern that high import charges could stifle the country’s potential, reports Decanter.

Alcohol advertising has a negligible impact on consumption according to new research of British residents. To better understand the potential impact of a ban on alcohol advertising in the UK, communication agency G2 Joshua surveyed 2,000 people and discovered that 90% of them would drink the same amount should a ban be introduced. The same study showed that alcohol advertising has a major influence on the alcohol brands people choose, reports The Drinks Business.

This is one of the most frustrating times of the year for people like me. I have tasted some great grape juice that is now being processed into a finished product and I can’t wait to taste the final results of the 2012 vintage. One thing I am looking forward to most is the latest version of several wine varieties that are relatively new to New Zealand. Wines like Arneis, Gruner Veltliner and Muscat have been produced here for a few years, but as viticulturists and winemakers come to grips with how the vines perform in New Zealand conditions, we are starting to see some fantastic wines hitting the shelves, writes Neil Hodgson in the Nelson Mail.

A seamless grape harvest, helped along by good weather and lighter yields, has been a welcome feature for Marlborough vineyard contractors. The run of golden weather ended with rain this morning, with unsettled weather forecast until a return to blue skies on Wednesday next week. Vintage Harvesters owner Jason Tripe said although harvest had been relatively condensed this year, it was also a lot easier than other years, reports the Marlborough Express.

At a wine tasting event in Italy recently, a South Australian wine was poured and which, if you were able to buy it, would cost about $240 a glass. The Parawa Estate Ingalalla Grand Reserve 2007 is unlikely to be available to mere mortals, however, at least in Australia. The wine, produced on South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula, has a release price of $1100 per bottle. It will be a record release price for an Australian wine, beating out the Penfolds’ special release Bin 620 Coonawarra Cabernet Shiraz 2008 which was priced at $1000, and pitched well above the $625 this year’s Penfolds’ Grange is expected to command when it is released next week, reports AdelaideNow.

At a wine tasting event in Italy recently, a South Australian wine was poured and which, if you were able to buy it, would cost about $240 a glass. The Parawa Estate Ingalalla Grand Reserve 2007 is unlikely to be available to mere mortals, however, at least in Australia. The wine, produced on South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula, has a release price of $1100 per bottle. It will be a record release price for an Australian wine, beating out the Penfolds’ special release Bin 620 Coonawarra Cabernet Shiraz 2008 which was priced at $1000, and pitched well above the $625 this year’s Penfolds’ Grange is expected to command when it is released next week, reports AdelaideNow.

Major health groups are stepping up their campaign for a Federal tax on all alcohol based on volume rather than price. They say this would raise $1.5 billion a year to spend on public health programs. The Australian Medical Association, Cancer Council Australia, the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education and the McCusker Centre for Action on Alcohol and Youth have written to Prime Minister Julia Gillard calling for a volumetric alcohol tax in the Federal Budget. They say a simplified tax would not only provide a financial windfall for health campaigns but would also reduce the harm from alcohol misuse, which cost the community $36 billion a year, reports The West Australian.

There is a date circled in Penfolds’ chief winemaker Peter Gago’s incredibly busy diary that is set in stone. This year it’s Thursday, May 3, the day the latest vintage of Australia’s most famous wine is released to the public with a recommended retail price of $625 a bottle. It says a lot about the stature and international reputation of Penfolds’ Grange that its annual release is anticipated with the kind of ardent fervour as the latest instalment in a blockbuster movie franchise, reports the Sunday Mail.

China has the weight of expectation on its shoulders at the Decanter World Wine Awards this year, the panel chairman for the region says. Ch’ng Poh Tiong, chair of the panel judging this year’s entries, recalled last year’s International Trophy for Red Bordeaux Varietals for He Lan Qing Xue’s Jia Bei Lan 2009, from Ningxia province in China. ‘My hope this year is that China will show to the world that this wasn’t a one-off,’ the publisher of The Singapore Wine Review told Decanter.com.