Business is picking up for a Marlborough nursery that supplies grape vines to the wine industry after a devastating downturn almost a decade ago. Ormond Nurseries, outside Blenheim, was one of around 35 businesses around New Zealand supplying the industry before the 2008 harvest. General manager Ben Wickham said the huge harvest, which saw speculators swamp the market with bulk wine, dropped prices and killed demand for new plantings.

Griffith-based winemaker Casella Family Brands, owner of ­success story Yellow Tail with its distinctive image of a yellow kangaroo on the bottle, has swooped on a McLaren Vale vineyard in the heart of South Australia’s wine country in a $12.4 million deal.

Historic Australian fortified wine producer Morris of Rutherglen has been bought by Casella Family Brands, saving the brand from potential obscurity. Pernod Ricard, which bought the winery in 1970, confirmed last month its plan to sell off the brand, effectively ending 157 years of winemaking by the Morris family across five generations.

MORE THAN 1100 Australian and international wine and viticulture representatives have arrived in Adelaide for five days of major industry events. There’s a big focus on the latest in information and technology across the grape and wine value chain at the 16th Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference (AWITC), which incorporates the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) Outlook Conference.

The Clare Valley Winemakers Inc. and Clare Region Winegrape Growers Association are working towards an alignment of the two bodies, planning to unite as one and create a stronger voice for the region in the next 12 months. The decision to plan to unite came after much discussion from both groups to reach a more cohesive approach, with all members working towards the same overall vision for the region.

The Australian Women in Wine Awards (AWIWA) returns in 2016 to give recognition to and acknowledge the work of women in the Australian wine industry. With statistics indicating that female participation in some areas in Australian wine (notably winemaking and viticulture) remains as low as eight to 10 per cent, the aim of the awards – which were founded in 2015 – is to pursue greater gender diversity and become a driver for change.

European wine law often amounts to an impenetrable tangle of red tape. Well done to Austria then, for pushing ahead with a simplification of sorts. With the ratification of new regulations in June, Austria continues apace. In Austria’s most easterly region the old appellations of Neusiedlersee, Neusiedlersee-Hügelland, Mittelburgenland and Südburgenland are now all subsumed into the single appellation Burgenland unless they are from one of Burgenland’s DACs (Disctrictus Austriae Controllatus).

Napa County residents packed a local court on July 15 for a rather arcane hearing on rules for qualifying voter initiatives for election ballots. Extra chairs were brought into the courtroom to accommodate the spectators, with dozens more people standing outside in the hallway, several wearing buttons that read “Save the Watershed.”

THE origin of ginger remains a mystery. Depending on whom you talk to, it originated in the lush tropical jungles of south China or India. One of the earliest written accounts of ginger is in a four thousand year-old Chinese book in which the underground root’s medicinal qualities are examined in detail.

The Australian icon’s chief winemaker talks about recorking and the quest for the perfect closure. Penfolds marks the 25th anniversary of its celebrated re-corking clinics with a world tour this autumn. The Treasury-owned South Australian winery has run the service since 1991. Owners of Penfolds wines more than 15 years old may bring them for assessment: tasting, topping up, re-corking, certifying and logging on a central database.