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.

Craft + Estate, a member of The Winebow Group, has announced that it is the exclusive U.S. importer of Burch Family Wines and their range of award-winning wines. Burch Family Wines is a family-owned and operated company producing Howard Park, MadFish and Marchand & Burch wines from Western Australia’s premier grape growing regions of Margaret River and Great Southern.

A South Australian red wine that sells for less than $15 has trumped more than 600 wines from around the country to be judged Australia’s best value red. The Hesketh Midday Somewhere Shiraz 2015, which sells for about $13, will be available in Perth liquor stores from this morning. If the response to The West Australian’ s annual red wine lift-out in previous years is any guide, wine drinkers will need to get in early to get some.

BEECHWORTH’S boutique Star Lane Winery have carved themselves a place in history with their release of the world’s red gum barrel matured Shiraz. Liz Barnes, Star Lane winemaker, matured wine in barrels made from salvaged native Australian red gum hardwood for Star Lane’s new Elements Shiraz. “We always knew we wanted to try the red gum barrel but we also knew we needed to build a name for ourselves first that people could trust and respect,” Barnes said.

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).