Tiki Wines is a reasonably new name on the New Zealand wine scene. We were keen to try some wines from Tiki’s Wairau Valley, Marlborough, vineyards because we could easily imagine the location throwing some big challenges at the growers, not least of which is a short growing season with heightened threat of frost late spring and early autumn. For Marlborough grapegrowers and locals who seldom venture beyond Wairau Valley township, the emergence of grapegrowing in this subalpine area will come as a surprise, reports The Marlborough Express.

Wine cellar management software company Vintner Systems has been granted a Royal Warrant of Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen.The appointment for Vintner Systems is the result of the Royal household having used the Vintner Enterprise software package since 2006 to manage their wine cellars at Buckingham Palace, Balmoral Castle, Sandringham House and Windsor Castle as well as its en primeur and stock held in bond, reports The Drinks Business.

The first of Western Australia’s winegrapes are being harvested in the Swan Valley today, with growers expecting a good crop. Despite some disease issues, producers say vines in Perth and the south-west grew well during the wet spring, reports ABC News. The president of the Swan Valley and Regional Winemakers Association, John Griffiths, says early varieties of sparkling wines will be harvested over the next few weeks.

The wine industry boomed on cheap chardonnay exports but the high dollar has forced it to concentrate on premium reds. And it appears to be working, albeit modestly. For the first time in five years Australian winemakers have increased the average price of wine exports, The Australian Financial Review reports. Premium wines, particularly Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz, are becoming more popular overseas.

Organisers of the South Coast Wine Show are confident the 2012 show will build on the success of previous years. Entries were collated by members of the wine show’s organising committee on Monday night at Cupitt’s Winery. This year’s show has attracted 118 entries from 24 entrants. While organisers say it is the same number of entrants as last year, four of them are new entrants, reports the Milton Ulladulla Times.

Treasury Wine Estates Ltd. said Wednesday it has appointed two former executives from liquor giant Diageo PLC DEO -1.70% to senior regional posts, as the world’s largest listed pure play wine company attempts to refresh itself with a wide-ranging management restructure. Sandra LaDrew, most recently president of Diageo’s Catalyst unit focused on niche spirits brands, will head up the group’s Americas operations from March. She replaces Stephen Brauer, who in October moved to lead Treasury Wine’s flagship U.S. wine brand Beringer, reports Market Watch.

A sommelier experience at Cloudy Bay Vineyards is a reminder of Marlborough’s premium place on the international wine map, reports The Marlborough Express. Came a hot Friday, and I was seated with six strangers in an upstairs room at Cloudy Bay, watching the wind ruffle the vines below. In front of me was a six-glass spread of sparkling glasses and the silver service setting for a three-course lunch. At the head of the table sat Cloudy Bay sommelier Stephanie McIntyre.

In the past year, China has overtaken the UK to join the list of the world’s top five wine-consuming nations, according to new figures released by Vinexpo. Results from the annual study by The International Wine & Spirit Research (IWSR) show that between 2009 and 2010 consumption of still, light and sparkling wines grew by 33.4% in China (and Hong Kong included), leading to a total of 156.19m 9-litre bottles being consumed in 2011, knocking the UK into sixth position in the world-wine consumption market, reports Decanter.

Portugal’s Douro Valley is one of the world’s youngest wine regions, for table wines, at least. Although it was the first to receive international demarcation — in 1756, for fortified port wines — only in the early to mid-1990s did wineries there begin making dry, unfortified table wines, reports The Washington Post. In that way, the Douro’s table-wine industry is newer than, say, Virginia’s current wine renaissance.

A small vintage and growing demand from Asia is putting pressure on this year’s Burgundy allocations. One merchant revealed that it had been forced to reduce its offer to packs of not just six bottles, but as few as three, reports The Drinks Business. “There’s a waiting list already,” said Goedhuis wine buyer Robin Kick of interest in the merchant’s own en primeur campaign. “The quantities have halved from last year.”