The James Packer-backed Ellerston Capital investment group has seized a 6.1 per cent stake in Treasury Wine Estates, the former wine arm of Foster’s which owns a portfolio of some of the best wines in the world including the iconic Penfolds, Mildara, Wolf Blass and Lindeman’s. Ellerston Capital issued a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange late last night saying it had lifted its stake in Treasury Wine Estates to 6.1 per cent from 5.03 per cent, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

UK wine professionals were guinea pigs at a seminar yesterday as they tasted the results of Taransaud prototypes and product developments. Among the wines shown by the barrel maker were a Sauvignon from a wooden egg-shaped fermentor and a Chardonnay aged in a barrel designed to enhance the grape’s aromas and longevity. The event, dubbed “Oak and wine… the road to complexity”, comprised a series of presentations followed by tastings, some of which were blind, to illustrate the effects of oak shape, size and treatments on a wine’s flavour and structure, reports The Drinks Business.

In October last year, one of our wine columns was headlined, What we need is a wine-tasting centre. Our argument was that the smaller wine-producing regions of Central Otago and Martinborough did a far better job of promoting their wines than Marlborough does. We need a specialist wine centre dedicated to showcasing as many local wines as possible. While this has yet to happen, the arrival of Wino’s is a breath of fresh air, focusing as it does on fine and Old-World wines, reports The Marlborough Express.

When it comes to wine, the majority of New Zealand’s most important exports have been the bottles themselves. However, as a Master of Wine, proprietor of a respected French wine estate and successful consultancy business and now author of a recently published book, it’s perhaps no surprise that ex-Aucklander Sam Harrop was named one of the most influential people in British wine by a leading trade magazine, writes Jo Burzynsca in The New Zealand Herald.

Marlborough wineries are experiencing a short and sharp vintage with lighter yields, which owners expect will stabilise the industry and bring wine prices back up. Allan Scott Wines winemaker Bruce Abbott said they were hoping to get this year’s vintage wrapped up in 14 days. Harvesting had been “short and compact”, beginning on April 10. A lower yield than previous years had meant there was no pressure to get the fruit in, reports The Marlborough Express.

The family-owned winery behind one of Australia’s most recognised wine labels is set to enter the beer market. Casella Wines, the winery that launched the insanely successful Yellow Tail range onto the international market, has kicked off the Perfect Lager Project, which aims to identify Australian consumer’s ultimate brew. The Perfect Lager Project calls on Australian drinkers to enter information on their ideal beer-drinking experience via a specially created iPhone application. Casella will then use the information collected from the iPhone application to create the first beer in its portfolio, which is due to hit shelves in June, reports The Shout.

Wine Australia is changing its generic marketing activity on offer to a user pays format – the body argues it will give it a “neutral position” and allow it to be “more agile”. Starting from the new Australian financial year on July 1, companies can select specific activities as opposed to signing up for a full annual programme in each export market. But some expressed concern that boutique producers would miss out if they couldn’t afford to pay, reports Harpers Wine & Spirit.

David Bruer is something of a wine industry pioneer, for his commitment to making his wines carbon neutral. He is pushing for an Australian first, to turn his Langhorne Creek organic winery, south of Adelaide, into a carbon neutral operation. Mr Bruer already runs Australia’s largest dedicated organic winery. Going carbon neutral would make his Temple Bruer label the only winery in Australia to be both organic and carbon neutral, reports ABC News.

The battle for the future of online retailing in Australia has intensified with a local player expanding its offerings, while pressure from overseas competition builds. Online retailer Catch of the Day has purchased a majority stake in wine daily deal site Vinomofo.com, building on its strategy to increase its presence in niche areas such as group buying and supermarket sales. Vinomofo in turn will gain access to Catch of the Day’s recently expanded online sales and logistics capacity, helping it distribute wine and related products to its 30,000 subscribers nationally, reports The Age.

It was a glorious autumn day, crisp and slightly misty as the plane landed at Marlborough Airport early in the morning, hot and sunny in the middle of the day and brilliant with golden sunlight in the evening as we left – just the early April weather the winemakers ordered for the start of harvest. As our small group of wine writers and the wine trade visited Saint Clair Family Estate’s vineyards and tasted the wines from them, chief winemaker Matt Thomson and senior winemaker Hamish Clark kept checking the vines and tasting the fast-ripening grapes, writes Charmian Smith in Otago Daily Times.