Australian wine is in the “healthiest place for years”, but needs to continue to challenge perceptions about its quality through single vineyard and site specific wines, Jacob’s Creek’s new winemaker Ben Bryant has said. Speaking to the drinks business during a recent visit to London, Bryant, who took over from Bernard Hickin when he retired in June, said there was a lot of innovation coming out of Australia, and winemakers were beginning to “turn the dial” in building the perception of Australian wine quality.

NEW England wine producers have warned changes to a tax originally designed to better support wine producers in rural and regional Australia could end up pushing many to the financial wall. The fallout for the wine industry is continuing after the 2016/17 federal budget revealed changes to the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) rebate, which supporters say is long overdue to stop widespread rorting of the rebate, but which critics argue will have the unintended consequence of business closures and job cuts.

We look at how the historic blind tasting known as the Judgment of Paris inspired the world’s winemakers to challenge France’s lock on the wine world. This July 4th, no matter if you’re enjoying a cabernet from Napa, a sauvignon blanc from New Zealand or a pinotage from South Africa, it’s in great part due to the Judgment of Paris.

Vine-growing and wine-making are among those old traditions in all of Kyrgyzstan and the south of Kazakhstan, while the east of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are now reviving the industry under new brands. Technological upgrading with European input could boost output even further with the outlook to conquer a place among global wine exporters. Tolerable and affordable.

Rosé-flavoured gummies may be fancier than most viral foods, but like their rainbow bagel and overflowing milkshake counterparts, people are losing their minds over them. Before the candy hit stores on Friday, it already had an over 3,300-person waitlist, according to Sugarfina co-owner Rosie O’Neill. Their website had crashed a few times from the volume of traffic.

Visiting Wisconsin wineries is an easy way to enjoy a vast variety of wines while having the opportunity to learn direct from the winemakers, growers and purveyors of the state’s booming industry. According to Anna Maenner, executive director for both the Wisconsin Winery Association and the Wisconsin Grape Growers, she has seen the explosion of growth firsthand since she started with the state’s wine groups six years ago.

It’s the Northland go-to wine for a girls’ night out, but now the ubiquitous Longview White Diamond has more or less disappeared from local liquor sellers. Longview’s White Diamond, the vineyard’s crowd-pleasing signature variety, is instead bound for China. Australasian Food Corporation (AFC), an NZX-listed company bought a 51 per cent share in the Whangarei business on March 1. The remaining 49 per cent is owned by two Chinese investors.

It’s the question everyone wants to know. So good luck with that. Yes, thanks. The first thing to stress is that other than the turmoil of the financial markets, nothing else is going to change for at least two years before the UK formally leaves the European Union. So we all have some time to plan. So keep calm and carry on? Initially, yes. The short term impact of Brexit has already played out in front of our eyes.

Wineries across Australia have until the close of business today enter this year’s James Halliday Chardonnay Challenge. Named in honour of Australia’s leading wine writer and Yarra Valley resident, James Halliday, the Chardonnay Challenge awards the top wine for each region and the best chardonnay of the year. As confirmed by James Halliday, Australian chardonnay has never been better and this competition is helping empower winemakers to continually improve their approach to chardonnay and not to rest on their laurels.

THE direct trade impacts of Brexit on Australia’s agricultural sector are likely to be relatively contained, Rabobank says. In its June Agribusiness Monthly report, released today, the global agribusiness bank said with the UK along with the other 27 member states of the European Union only contributing a relatively small share of Australian food and agricultural exports — 1.4 per cent and 4.6 per cent respectively by value — the direct trade implications of the UK’s historic decision to leave the EU would be limited for the agricultural sector as a whole.