Wine Briefs

Summary of Winestate Wine of the Year Awards below. A full 56 page detailed feature on the award winning wines is available in our Special Edition Mid December 2009...

After last year's successful Trade Tasting Vins de Bourgogne, attended by a total of 300 wine industry professionals in Melbourne and Sydney, 20 wineries and negotiants from Burgundy will be back in Australia, from...

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NEW ZEALAND winemakers are grabbing a rising share of their domestic market, the latest figures reveal.

A CELEBRATION to be held on Wellington's waterfront early next year, Pinot Noir New Zealand 2010 has attracted over 100 wineries.

THE GROWING importance of wine to the economy is traced in a new report, Economic impact of the New Zealand wine industry.

APPROACHING his 25th vintage in Marlborough, Kevin Judd, Cloudy Bay's founding winemaker, announced last December he was passing the baton

FAMILY-OWNED McLaren Vale winery d'Arenberg has appointed TV presenter and wine writer Nick James-Martin as a winemaker and brand ambassador.

LEEUWIN Estate owner Denis Horgan rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest names in international food and wine

WINESTATE'S 2008 winemaker of the year, Mark Lane, has been lured from Western Australia

BURGUNDIAN winemaker Pierre Naigeon, who has been making flying visits to Australia to make wines under the Clos Pierre label for Dan Murphy's, plans to spend up to six months of each year in Australia from 2010.

LOOK for the International Wine Fair to become an annual event after big crowds flocked to the inaugural Vintage Cellars event in Sydney in March.

THE SAVOUR Tasmania wine and food festival will return in 2010 with a bigger format after this year's event proved a huge success.

FORMER Stonehaven winemaker Sue Bell has struck out on her own and is set to release wines under the Bellwether label.

BELLS at Killcare, leading Sydney chef Stefano Manfredi's new venture on the Central Coast of New South Wales, has unveiled a series of gourmet dinners

THE LOUISE, the upmarket Small Luxury Hotels member in the Barossa Valley, has launched exclusive private wine and winery experiences for guests.

THE ORANGE region of Central Western New South Wales probably has more wine and food festivals than any district of a comparable size

WINE lovers can buy their favourite drink in bottles, casks, plastic bottles and cans - and now in pouches.

IT LOOKS like a seven-foot Easter egg and it might just be the next big thing in winemaking.

VINTAGE 2009 in Victoria ended pretty much the way it started - anxiously.

IT'S ALL happening at Foster's as the big Australian starts acting on the recommendations contained in its February review.

YARRA Yering, the Yarra Valley vineyard owned by the late Dr Bailey Carrodus, is up for sale.

A VINTAGE in Burgundy last year has inspired a Hunter Valley winemaker to duplicate the experience back home.

SOME riesling makers are now planting vineyards in Norway and Sweden to combat the effects of climate change

THE COUNTRY Fire Authority will benefit from an exclusive en primeur wine package being offered through the Langton's auction house.

AT A TIME when many Australian winemakers are considering leaving the industry comes a new book dedicated to life on the land.

The much anticipated event on the regional winter calendar ? The NAB Barossa Gourmet Weekend - kicks off again on 22 and 23 August in the heart of Australia?s premier wine region. With the NAB getting behind the event, winery participants are gearing up for another successful weekend.

Visit us and try our range of wines including the award winning Sangiovese Cabernet or Chardonnay Viognier, available at Cellar Door for a short time only. Why not take home a Double Indulgence, the All Saints Rutherglen Muscat and Tokay gift pack?the perfect memento of your 2009 Winery Walkabout experience!

Shottesbrooke was an early pioneer of this variety planting Merlot in the early 1980?s for production as a 100% varietal wine. A combination of the generous climate and the deep sandy loam which require minimal to no irrigation produces fruit of a very high quality and excellent balance.

The completion of the 2009 harvest in Marlborough marks the genesis of Kevin Judd?s new wine label, Greywacke ? and brings to a close his 25 vintage role as chief winemaker at Cloudy Bay Vineyards, a career inextricably linked to the international reputation of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

Geelong wine growers are celebrating!?Despite record low yields, vintage 2009 is being heralded as delivering a true silver lining - producing some of the best fruit quality this region has ever seen.

The commencement of the 2009 season of Sydney Dance Company under the artistic direction of Rafael Bonachela coincides with another first ? the announcement of Firestick wines as the Company?s exclusive national wine partner.

This is the fourth release of this wine which was brought into the fold to provide a gateway to quality Cabernet Merlot from Margaret River.

WITH his 25th vintage with the winery approaching, Cloudy Bay's founding winemaker, Kevin Judd, has resigned to build up his own label.

THE ALL SAINTS winery in North-East Victoria recently released its first rare Museum Muscat.

HEEMSKERK winemaker Anna Pooley and James Spreadbury, restaurant manager of the Kitchen Door shared honours...

THE INTERNATIONAL financial downturn will sort out the producers of ?trophy wines' as drinkers become more discriminating

AN AUSTRALIAN medico-cum-winemaker is claiming a world first with his resveratrol-enhanced wines

IN THE lead-up to the 2009 vintage, three new phylloxera outbreaks have been detected in the Yarra Valley.

THE WINE industry's New Year started ominously...

SALES of sparkling rose, across all price points, continue to soar...

THE MODERN cellar door is changing.

WHEN it comes to most wine purchases it isn?t taste that holds sway with consumers.

BOLLINGER releases French-designed collector?s item to coincide with the latest James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.

YOU KNOW when pinot grigio is really hot? When it goes sparkling.

AUSTRALIAN wine labels are under attack on all fronts.

AN AUSTRALIAN invention that replicates a wine barrel and saves winemakers money is set to revolutionise winemaking.

At almost the very end of the Hawke?s Bay vintage, winemakers are looking more relaxed than they did a couple of months ago.?Following an annual vintage survey conducted by Hawke?s Bay Winegrowers Inc. of its members, the 2009 vintage is looking brilliant for Hawke?s Bay?s red wines.

Winemakers applaud Government?s restraint on tax The Winemakers? Federation of Australia says the Federal Government has shown common sense by resisting the temptation to increase taxes on wine in the Budget.

Well regarded surgeon and vigneron Robert Lusby, on ?Holy orders?, has created a truly special wine to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of one of Australia?s leading private hospitals.

Terrace Restaurant has once again joined forces with one of Australia?s finest wine producers to bring wine and food connoisseurs a truly special dinner.

The dates for the Barossa Gourmet Weekend have been confirmed for the weekend of Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd August 2009.

With its own mature, estate-owned and managed vineyards in Margaret River, Pemberton, Mount Barker & Geographe, Capel Vale is in an enviable position to make an informed decision on the best regional styles for each grape variety.

The sense of place attached to Longview Vineyard is strong ? and wine lovers who have made the 40-minute drive south east of Adelaide to Macclesfield are left with indelible memories. Towering gum trees among perfectly manicured vines. Gently undulating hills.

Orange?s Angullong Vineyard has recently joined with Ronald McDonald House (RMH) as the wine sponsor for the upcoming Ronald McDonald House ?Snowflake Ball?.

Australian sommeliers will have another opportunity in September 2009 to test their skills in the exciting program run by the world?s premier examining body for beverage professionals, the Court of Master Sommeliers, when the group return for the second year.

Beelgara, a producer of high quality Australian wines has announced its partnership with Shanghai Tohzen Trading Co., Ltd. (Tohzen).

The growing economic impact of the New Zealand wine industry has been highlighted in a report prepared by the New Zealand Institute for Economic Research (NZIER) for New Zealand Winegrowers, the national organisation for New Zealand?s 1,200 grape growers and 600 winemakers.

InWine Distribution proudly welcomes Adelaide Hills winery Tomich Wines to the national portfolio.

An online calculator specifically designed to help Australian wineries measure their carbon footprint was launched in Adelaide today.

Bard's Drop? is proud to announce the first release of wines under our newly created Shakespearean-themed Merry Wives? label. The home of Bard's Drop? is our vineyard on Broke Road in the Hunter Valley, adjacent to the Lakes Folly vineyard. While our inaugural vintage of old-vine Hunter Valley Shiraz from the 2009 vintage awaits release we have created a Shiraz and Chardonnay under the Merry Wives? label.

TINA ARENA joins CHRIS ISAAK AT BAROSSA UNDER THE STARS 2009

ONE of the major producers of Amarone - Italy's most opulent red wines - says she doesn't have a problem with Australian producers using the name.

THE DAYLESFORD wine area has traditionally been associated with the bigger, more important Macedon Ranges region.

THE AUSTRALIAN wine industry takes the growing export market to China so seriously it has appointed, for the first time, a full-time market development officer to promote its wines.

EVERY riesling maker in the land, it seems, is experimenting with a sweeter-style riesling these days.

WINEMAKERS in Victoria's North East are preparing for a long, hot future, with predictions of average annual temperatures rising by 9C by 2030.

HE WAS a member of the most powerful - and controversial - duo to ever sell wine in Australia but, after 23 years, Tony Leon is calling it quits.

THE WINE cask - a friend of the Australian drinker for the past 40 years - is officially in decline. Once it represented nearly 70 per cent of all wine sales in this country but today the figure is just 45.4 per cent and falling.

THE INCOMING chairman of the Melbourne Wine Show, Steve Webber, has proposed a new 'Mediterranean' class of wines for the show.

THE THIRD International Shiraz Alliance comes to the Barossa Valley from June 20 to 22 for a three-day talk and taste fest focusing on the shiraz - or 'syrah' - wines of the world.