The gimmicky blue table has brought out the inner child. It’s like being in a science museum all over again, tongue lolling in concentration as buttons are pressed and switches fiddled with. This particular piece of touchscreen whizz-bangery, however, is for educating adults, not children. The sliders control factors such as acidity and fruitiness, the ultimate aim being to find a wine you love. Identify a contender and another finger jab conjures detailed tasting notes. It’s a very Hong Kong approach to wine tasting, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

The French owners of Jacob’s Creek winery have given $4000 to an animal rescue group that helped relocate its kangaroos. Orlando Wines during the week compensated Fauna Rescue $1000 in outstanding costs for relocating the 23 kangaroos to Banrock Station, near Barmera, in January and donated $3000 to the volunteer-based animal welfare group. The Sunday Mail last weekend reported claims by Fauna Rescue that it found the kangaroos, once used as a tourist drawcard at award-winning Rowland Flat winery, in “malnourished” state with some in “shocking pain from injuries”, reports The Sunday Mail.

Britain’s decision to lift the minimum price of alcohol in a bid to counter widespread drunkenness should prompt the Australian government to rethink its refusal to increase taxes on cheap grog, Greens health spokesman Dr Richard Di Natale says. The British government late last week announced it would almost double the floor price of cheap, strong drinks such as cider and wine to “turn the tide” against binge drinking, which accounts for half of all alcohol consumed there, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

Upper Hunter vineyards have been left out of the NSW Government’s recently released draft regional land use policy for the Upper Hunter.
“There’s been some sort of misrepresentation or some sort of a mistake by the NSW government,” Upper Hunter Winemakers Association president Laurie Nicholls told the Muswellbrook Chronicle. “They have the Lower Hunter vineyards in there – Broke, Bulga, Belford and the Pokolbin area. There’s no mention of the vineyards and wineries in the Muswellbrook and Upper Hunter shires.”

Get set to get your hands on some truly fantastic wines from the Langhorne Creek 2012 vintage. After struggling through years of drought and their fair share of inclement weather events the winegrape growers and winemakers of Langhorne Creek are celebrating an exceptional vintage as the last of the harvesters across the district enter the home stretch and the winery fermenters reach capacity.

“I’ve been making sparkling wine for many years, and if I had to make bubbles in just one place, I would make them in New Zealand,” says Dr Tony Jordan. This is praise indeed of the country’s potential given Jordan’s pedigree as one of the world’s leading fashioners of fizz and onetime CEO of Domaine Chandon.
I caught up with Jordan when he was in New Zealand last month to launch his latest sparkling wines, a non-vintage and a rosé made as a joint venture with Central Otago’s Akarua winery.

True story: When New Zealand’s modern Sauvignon Blancs burst on the scene in the 1980s, American tasters raved about their literally mouth-watering acids and pungent, vibrant gooseberry aromas.
We came to recognize them that way even though most of us had never been in the same room with a gooseberry. I mentioned that to a friend at dinner one night, and a week later, a can of gooseberries arrived in the mail, reports New Zealand Herald.

Hamilton-based Hill Laboratories is to buy the Cawthorn Institute’s Marlborough laboratory to strengthen its core environmental and wine testing businesses, reports Waikato Times.
Cawthorn, New Zealand’s largest independent, community-owned research centre and Hill, the country’s leading private analytical testing company, have a heads of agreement for a deal expected to be sealed by the end of June following due diligence.

A research project to help grapegrowers manage their carbon footprints and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is expected to yield results this year. Wine and Vines reports that data from the study will be used to develop an online application to help vineyard managers maximize soil carbon storage and minimize GHG emissions. Researchers with the University of California, Davis, presented information about the project at the Recent Advances in Viticulture and Enology (RAVE) meeting on March 15.

Off-premise wine sales data increased 3.4 percent from the same period of the previous year in the 4 weeks ending March 3, 2012, according to The Nielsen Company-tracked data. In the 13 weeks ending during the same period, wine sales increased 2.4 percent.
Domestic wine sales increased 5 percent while imported wine sales fell 0.7 percent in the 4 weeks ending March 3. In case volume during that same period, domestic wines increased 2.1 percent while imported case volume fell 2 percent.