The WSTA has embarked on preliminary talks with the national industry body for Australia’s winemakers to explore post-Brexit trade as the country’s trade minister admits that cheap Australian wine would be “a fringe benefit” of a new trade deal.
Until Australia’s inventive winemakers decided to call their Syrah-based wines ‘Shiraz’, the original historically correct and generally blended wines – grown in the Rhône Valley in south eastern France – were quietly sinking into comparative obscurity.
Regarded as one of the world’s finest wines, Penfolds Bin 95 Grange also serves as the iconic wine of Australia. Collectors pay impressive sums (upwards of $850 for a recent vintage) for this exquisite Australian Shiraz. However, unlike most of the world’s ultra-premium wine labels that only change hands in the rarefied air of the one percent, Penfolds also makes pop and pour entry-level wines to be enjoyed every day.
In Australia, Barokes created the first successful wine in a can in 1996 and patented the technology, known as Vinsafe, in 2002. Barokes now licenses their technology to producers in Australia and overseas. Barokes’ marketing director Irene Stokes says of the technology, “The Vinsafe technology ensures wine is canned to maintain the product’s integrity (colour, taste, aroma), stability and longevity.”
A winery from the Riverina in southern New South Wales continues to fill the cellars of oenophiles across the world. Chalkers Crossing vineyard, located on the outskirts of the country town of Young, currently exports to the UK, China and Canada, and will soon begin selling to Thailand.
Vignerons in the Marlborough region are on a building spree, adding infrastructure to help them leverage off record tourist arrivals. The aim is to turn winery visitors into life-long advocates of Kiwi vino. Almost 612,000 foreigners visited New Zealand vineyards in the year through June, 11 per cent more than a year earlier, and government figures show that wine buffs typically stay in the country longer and spend more.
New Zealand is forced to rely on foreign workers to fill jobs because locals are too lazy and have problems with drugs, its own prime minister said. “You don’t get a second chance when harvesting fruit – it needs to be picked in its prime. So if workers don’t show up, that hugely affects the business,” said Leon Stallard from Hawke’s Bay.
Today it is the most widely planted wine grape on earth, prominent in everything from the world’s premier wines to the serviceable, reliable bottles that crowd grocery store shelves and sell for less than $15. You can surely find decent bottles of Cabernet for less than $10 too. Cabernet grows well pretty much everywhere you find sunlight and warmth, from Chile to China.
The Advisory Board of the Australian Women in Wine Awards (AWIWA) is calling on men in the Australian wine community to join women in taking action to address the issue of gender diversity. “Gender equality is not just a women’s issue, it’s an issue for the entire wine community,” said Jane Thomson, AWIWA founder and chair.
The Federal Government’s long-awaited farm register reveals investors from the United Kingdom have easily the biggest stake in foreign-owned farmland in Australia. The register, compiled by the Australian Tax Office, shows 13.6 per cent of Australia’s farmland is foreign-owned. UK-based investors own 27.5 million hectares or almost 53 per cent of that portion.