Fears about damage to the Hunter River and the health of Camberwell village residents have prompted the NSW Planning Assessment Commission to refuse a coalmining application near Glennies Creek, outside Singleton. The Newcastle Herald reports it is the second time the commission has refused a Hunter coalmining application, the first being the Bickham proposal, near Scone, which was rejected in May 2010.

It may have been some time in coming, but the celebratory beverage known the around the world as champagne is finally being embraced by Americans as more than just, well, something we drink only when we’re celebrating. News Press reports what seems to have sparked this bubble boom is that we’re choosing to drink sparkling wines more often as alternatives to still red and white wines. Could it be that U.S. wine drinkers have noticed that sparklers offer excellent value at every price?

For the past few decades, icewine makers here have been doing well. According to the Canadian Vintners Association, between 2004 and 2010 the export market for icewine nearly doubled to 12m Canadian dollars; in terms of volume it grew 43%. Icewine has to be harvested at temperatures of -8C or below. But Canadian vintners like Quebec icewine maker Charles-Henri de Coussergues are worried that similar wines are produced all year round in places where winters are much milder – simply by artificially freezing the grapes.In Canada, they call these wines cheap knock-offs.

For the past few decades, icewine makers here have been doing well. According to the Canadian Vintners Association, between 2004 and 2010 the export market for icewine nearly doubled to 12m Canadian dollars; in terms of volume it grew 43%. Icewine has to be harvested at temperatures of -8C or below. But Canadian vintners like Quebec icewine maker Charles-Henri de Coussergues are worried that similar wines are produced all year round in places where winters are much milder – simply by artificially freezing the grapes.In Canada, they call these wines cheap knock-offs.

Think of wine critic Robert Parker as the E.F. Hutton of fermented grapes. When he talks, oenophiles listen. So, when Parker, publisher of the Wine Advocate, said recently that the world is entering the ‘age of the buyer’ – a prolonged period of stable or declining wine prices – it was enough to get sommeliers buzzing over their Chateau D’Yquem.

Treasury Wine Estates, formerly known as Foster’s Group, laid off 30 of its Napa County employees at the end of last week, the company announced. “We are putting in place a new global organization structure to better position us to build strong global brands and drive top line growth and efficiencies,” Stephen Brauer, managing director at Treasury Wine Estates, said in a news release.

After years of regulatory wrangling, mega-producer E & J. Gallo Winery has emerged victorious in its quest to enlarge the Russian River Valley (RRV) AVA in a decision announced by the Alcohol and Tobacco Trade Bureau on 16 Noember which became effective on 16 Decenber. As requested in the petition from Gallo Family Vineyards, the ruling expands the RRV AVA by 14,044 acres and the overlapping Northern Sonoma AVA by 44,244 acres. The AVA now covers parts of what most locals might consider Central/Southern Sonoma or the Petaluma Gap.

More than 100 people from around the world attended the 11th annual Pierce’s Disease Research Symposium in Sacramento last week, giving top researchers the opportunity to meet and discuss the latest progress in the search for a solution to Pierce’s disease.

The symposium highlighted research projects in disease and insect management, biology and ecology, as well as crop biology, and economics. A poster session held during the symposium allowed researchers to present their results and speak to attendees on a one-to-one basis and encourage further discussion in a more casual setting.

More than 100 people from around the world attended the 11th annual Pierce’s Disease Research Symposium in Sacramento last week, giving top researchers the opportunity to meet and discuss the latest progress in the search for a solution to Pierce’s disease.

The symposium highlighted research projects in disease and insect management, biology and ecology, as well as crop biology, and economics. A poster session held during the symposium allowed researchers to present their results and speak to attendees on a one-to-one basis and encourage further discussion in a more casual setting.

After a second year of unseasonably cool temperatures, the grape tonnage has been tallied and the results are ready. According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, 3.3 million tonnes of winegrapes were harvested in the 2011 growing season, a 9 percent drop from the previous year.