A small-production Australian Shiraz has earned global renown by being named the world’s best label in 2011 by the World Label Awards Association. The label of Alpha Crucis Shiraz 2008, produced by Chalk Hill Winery in McLaren Vale, was named best in Australia before taking on and beating the best from Europe, the US, India, Japan and New Zealand in the global final. The awards are recognised as the peak competition for printing and label associations around the world, reports Decanter.

A small-production Australian Shiraz has earned global renown by being named the world’s best label in 2011 by the World Label Awards Association. The label of Alpha Crucis Shiraz 2008, produced by Chalk Hill Winery in McLaren Vale, was named best in Australia before taking on and beating the best from Europe, the US, India, Japan and New Zealand in the global final. The awards are recognised as the peak competition for printing and label associations around the world, reports Decanter.

De Bortoli Wines has taken out the top gong at this year’s National Wine Show of Australia. The Yarra Valley winery won the Len Evans Memorial Trophy for the best table wine of the show, for its 2010 PHI Pinot Noir, at a gala dinner in Canberra late last month. It is the first time a Pinot has received the award in the history of the event, reports the Lilydale and Yarra Valley Leader.

De Bortoli Wines has taken out the top gong at this year’s National Wine Show of Australia. The Yarra Valley winery won the Len Evans Memorial Trophy for the best table wine of the show, for its 2010 PHI Pinot Noir, at a gala dinner in Canberra late last month. It is the first time a Pinot has received the award in the history of the event, reports the Lilydale and Yarra Valley Leader.

Conrad Kirk, described as a “talent” on Hawke’s Bay’s wine scene, is the inaugural recipient of Skeltons Excellence Award for viticulture. Mr Kirk, a first year viticulture student at EIT, was presented with his award at Skeltons’ annual function for its horticultural growers in Hastings on Monday. Mr Kirk works at Morton Estate Vineyards’ Tantallon vineyard in the Ngatarara Triangle grapegrowing region. He is a first-year cadet but has successfully completed a number of year two papers, reports Hawke’s Bay Today.

New research has found a convenient and practical use for the leftover material from winemaking that will help two sometimes fiercely competing worlds; the environment and agriculture.When fed the stems, seeds and skins that were left over from making red wine, material known as grape marc, the methane emissions from dairy cows dropped by 20 per cent. The study, conducted at the Victorian Department of Primary Industries dairy research centre, also found that the cows’ milk production increased by 5 per cent, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

2011 was a difficult season for winegrape growers in the Riverland. Many had hopes that 2011 would mean a financial turnaround. But after about eight of years of drought, compounded by low water allocation and low commodity prices, Riverland winegrape growers were confronted by a rising dollar and a global oversupply of winegrapes. This year there are signs that prices for grapes may be on the up but there are no guarantees that this harvest will deliver what wine grapegrowers need, reports ABC News.

The Margaret River Wine Industry Association has offered thanks on the industry’s behalf to all the emergency services personnel, volunteer fire fighters and associated community groups along with government agencies who worked hard in extreme circumstances during last week’s fire emergency, reports The Augusta-Margaret River Mail. Association vice president, Stuart Watson of Woodland Wines said, “It was the collective effort of these people working as a team who saved our region.

Irrigators in the southern Murray-Darling Basin may be able to pick up some water entitlement bargains in the next 13 months, according to water trading company Waterfind. Waterfind expects prices for permanent water will plummet by 15 to 25 per cent because of the temporary removal of Commonwealth Government water buying tenders. It has made the prediction in an analysis released this week of the draft Basin Plan, reports The Land.

Our summer drinking guide is big on the wine styles that suit a hot climate. Cold is good and hot means not your hearty roasts and heavy French sauces but barbecues and grilled foods. In this spirit, the recommended wines are lighter weighted white wines: dry rather than sweet and unwooded rather than oaky; refreshing and gulpable, not heavy. That means drier-style roses and a few light-bodied reds, such as gamay and lighter, less tannic Pinot Noir. And, of course, sparkling wines, writes Huon Hooke in The Sydney Morning Herald.