Bad weather has forced the cancellation of the Waipara Valley Wine and Food Festival. A notice on the festival’s website says “a significantly bad forecast” for the next six days has forced the cancellation of the outdoor event. The advisory says the “comfort and practicality” of those attending and the stallholders had been taken into account when the decision was made, reports The Press.
New Zealand expects a small 2012 vintage, which is likely to put the brakes on its decade-long growth spurt. The industry is predicting crops could be as much as 30% lower compared to 2011’s 328,000 tonne harvest. A lighter crop could lead to a grape shortage, which marks a massive turnaround for an industry that has been burdened by oversupply since 2008, reports Decanter.
Fears that smoke from bushfires would smite Tasmania’s bumper winegrape harvest have eased. While Meadowbank Vineyard was ruined as a blaze whipped through the Upper Derwent Valley on Sunday, the winds which fuelled the blaze also carried most of the smoke away and prevented it lingering to cause widespread damage. It is understood the state’s wine industry is now rallying to help Meadowbank bounce back from disaster, reports The Mercury.
A campaign urging NSW consumers to demand local wines should be welcome news for the state’s winemakers, who feel the industry could be doing more to push their wares. Launched at the weekend’s Sydney Cellar Door event, the ‘Ask For It’ campaign aims to encourage NSW residents to become as fiercely parochial about their state’s wine as the other wine-producing states, reports The Shout. “If they can’t see a NSW wine on a bottle shop shelf or on a wine list then they should ask for it,” NSW Wine said.
Rhone Valley winemaker Alain Graillot is big in Crozes-Hermitage. He was once described as its ”brightest new star”. However, in person he is quiet, at times barely audible. And what does the gentleman with the twinkly eyes, ready smile and wild white spectacles have to say? Well, to his Australian business partner, Rob Walters, the man is a constant source of wine knowledge and experience. To Australian Shiraz drinkers, Graillot wants to start a discussion on style, specifically about the way we view our national red, writes Jeni Port in The Age.
Who produces the best-value Yarra Valley Chardonnay? As tough times encourage more producers to come out with a budget-priced bottling of this keenly sought wine, it’s becoming a competitive market. Hoddles Creek Estate would have to be at the top of my list. It makes three levels of Chardonnay and its standard-bearing Hoddles Creek Estate label, at $19-$20, takes the honours, writes Huon Hooke in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Kiwis had access to less booze last year than in 2010, despite hosting the Rugby World Cup. But we are still putting away a lot more beer, wine and spirits than we did five years ago. Information released by Statistics New Zealand shows the total amount of alcohol available for consumption dropped by 1.6 million litres, or 0.3 per cent, last year, largely due to a 4.6 per cent fall in the amount of wine. Although the 472 million litres produced was down on 2010, it was still 8 million litres more than what was produced five years ago, reports Stuff.co.nz.
Hawke’s Bay’s reputation as a red wine creating stronghold has strengthened after a Bounty of the Bay masterclass held last Monday left a Melbourne media and trade group impressed and asking for more information about what they sampled. “Many have since requested tasting notes and more follow up information, so that’s exciting for us,” Hawke’s Bay Winegrowers’ executive officer Lyn Bevin, said. The group were so glowing in their praise for what they sampled that members wanting to be part of a second masterclass, being staged in Brisbane today had been left clamouring for spots, reports Hawke’s Bay Today.
Hill Laboratories expects its Christchurch wine lab to become a one-stop shop for Kiwi wine companies. The wine-testing division of the laboratory has leased adjoining space in its existing Hornby building and employed three extra lab technicians, a technologist and former Lincoln University oenology lecturer Kirsten Creasy as the resident wine expert. Plans are to employ another four people in the next three years, reports The New Zealand Herald.
Hill Laboratories expects its Christchurch wine lab to become a one-stop shop for Kiwi wine companies. The wine-testing division of the laboratory has leased adjoining space in its existing Hornby building and employed three extra lab technicians, a technologist and former Lincoln University oenology lecturer Kirsten Creasy as the resident wine expert. Plans are to employ another four people in the next three years, reports The New Zealand Herald.