First came plastic wine bottles, and now a Melbourne entrepreneur hopes drinkers will embrace individual portions of Sauvignon Blanc or rose in disposable cups. The ready-to-drink market has been hugely successful for beer and spirit-based products but has struggled to convince wine drinkers to abandon traditional serving methods. But Georgia Beattie is hoping to change that with her company, Lupe, which since launching last November is already generating steady business at festivals and events, and was named by BRW magazine as one of its 10 start-ups to watch in 2012, reports Brisbane Times.

Many wine producers across the Canberra region have begun harvesting grapes early to avoid problems with the 2012 vintage. Two growing seasons of cooler temperatures and heavy rain have posed problems for the current vintage. Growers fear the wet conditions could threaten the harvest with spilt fruit and increase vulnerability to diseases, reports ABC News.

A study shows that only 5 per cent of Australians are able to identify safe drinking levels, reports the Weekend Sydney Morning Herald. Winemakers understand why some people like the idea of health warnings on alcohol containers. It’s simple, consistent, gets the message onto the product itself and is easy for policy makers to implement and monitor. The problem is that warning labels don’t change drinking habits. Instead they impose unnecessary restrictions and costs on producers and take a simplistic approach to dealing with a complex problem, writes Stephen Strachan of Winemakers’ Federation of Australia.

Yealands Estate wines are offering customers the chance to submit their best green ideas and be in to win cash and other great prizes. Using a unique code from specially marked bottles of wine from the Yealands Estate portfolio, shoppers can submit their ideas online, with one lucky winner receiving $10,000. A second prize will be offered for the most creative green idea submitted. The winner, judged by Peter Yealands, will receive an exclusive trip for two to the winery including a tasting and sustainability tour with the Yealands Estate team, reports Voxy News.

American billionaire Bill Foley has thrown his clout behind New Zealand, pushing to increase his winemaking business here 16-fold. Mr Foley, the chairman of two Fortune 500 companies, told The New Zealand Herald he saw an opportunity to build up exports from wineries around the country. He would push New Zealand wines on his global distribution channels and expand production from 60,000 cases a year to a million, he said.

If you happen to be one of those travellers who chooses an airline on the basis of the quality of its wine list then you might be surprised to hear that Aussie budget carrier Jetstar is a pretty good bet. At the annual Cellars in the Sky competition, run by Business Traveller magazine, Jetstar came equal first – with Delta Air Lines – in best business class white with its New Zealand Waipara Hills Sauvignon Blanc. It also took second place for best on-board business class cellar, reports The New Zealand Herald.

“If you use ‘good’ to describe anything other than the fact you like a wine, I will whack you.” Evan Goldstein launches into a broad American smile. Only kidding. Goldstein is an educator of sommeliers with the international group, the Court of Master Sommeliers (CMS). It is his job to ensure sommeliers seeking the CMS qualifications are judged using the same criteria. Therefore, the kind of words we might generally use to convey a colourful or emotive impression of a wine, often involving the word ”good” are expressly forbidden, writes Jeni Port in The Age.

New vintage wines are ready for taste testing on your doorstep. Vinteloper owner and winemaker David Bowley has turned a disused courtyard in Union St, behind the Crown & Anchor Hotel, into a “pop-up” winery. Visitors can watch as grapes from regions including the Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale and Clare Valley are delivered to the courtyard and processed on site, reports City Messenger. “There will be foot-trodding two to three times a day, fermenting and I will be using basket presses to press the grapes,” Mr Bowley says.

They once cringed at being called the “Chardonnay set”, but after 22 years the Crows have found a way to make the tag work. South Australian winemaker Wolf Blass yesterday delivered the first “official” wine of the Adelaide Football Club – his Yellow Label Pinot Noir Chardonnay Sparkling Brut. And he hopes the Crows are showering in it by September, reports Adelaide Now.

Hawkes Bay continues to produce some of the country’s loveliest wine. Blessed with a generous warm climate ideal for ripening grapes and versatile, sympathetic terra firma, it’s capable of beautiful reds and a slew of rich mineral-infused whites. Experience and age count for a lot and the region boasts some of our oldest wineries, writes John Hawkesby in The New Zealand Herald.