For centuries, Bordeaux was at the centre of the world’s trade in wine. Its access to sea routes helped make claret the favourite wine of the British Empire, which in turn spread Bordeaux’s fame far and wide. That dominance has evaporated over the past four decades as a technological revolution in viticulture shattered Bordeaux’s monopoly on quality, creating challengers in California, Argentina, Australia and South Africa. Globalization helped those upstart wine regions compete directly with Bordeaux in markets around the world.

The fifth annual Spiegelau International Wine Competition takes place from the 14 – 16 July, in Marlborough, New Zealand. During the event, 21 judges will be faced with approximately 1300 wines from New Zealand, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, South Africa, USA and South America. Commenting on the line up, Competition Director, Belinda Jackson says, “We strive to get a good representation from countries other than New Zealand and Australia and this year is our most diverse yet.”

A Wairarapa winemaker believes there’s an example for the national economy in his risky decision to uproot 25,000 healthy vines and plant a variety that’s less productive, but more profitable. Martinborough’s Murdoch James Estate is ripping out 10 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc, which represents half its annual production, and replacing them with the notoriously tricky, but much higher value Pinot Noir. Adding to the risk of the $300,000 operation is that it could take five years for the new vines to return a full crop.

SWAN Valley wines flowed at Canberra’s Parliament House last week as about 500 people came to find out about businesses from the area at a showcase event. Presented by the City of Swan, there were 28 businesses showing food, wine, artwork, and cultural artefacts from the region. Business owners and entrepreneurs met ministers and explained to them their needs and ideas for enhancing the area.

Accolade Wines has announced a £4 million (A$8.19m) above the line campaign for its leading wine brand Hardys, to coincide with its sponsorship of the English and Australian cricket teams ahead of the Ashes test matches with Australia. The new Hardys campaign will encompass a full ‘360 degree activation program’ which will run alongside the 2015 Ashes series, featuring an exclusive broadcast sponsorship on Sky Sports throughout this summer’s cricket season. It represents possibly the largest above-the-line investment by a wine brand in the UK.

Chinese billionaire Richard Liu, is hunting Australian companies to fuel the global expansion of his e-commerce website, JD.com, and take on Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma. Liu has partnered with ASX-listed companies including a2 Milk and Treasury Wine Estates to create an “Australian mall”, which will sell authentic Australian product to China’s fast growing middle class. JD.com, a Nasdaq-listed company with a market capitalisation of $US46 billion ($60 billion), is China’s second biggest online retailer behind Ma’s Alibaba.

Entries are now open for NSW Small Winemakers Show 2015 with judging set to run from August 24 – 26 at the Forbes Youth & Community Centre. The event is exclusive to small NSW and ACT business that crush a maximum of 500 tonnes, therefore any winery that is wholly or part owned by a large wine producer will not be able to take part. Last year, the show attracted 615 entries from 101 small producers across the state, with 38 per cent of entries awarded a medal.

The immediate future of Australia’s $4.2 billion wine sector will be the subject of robust discussion when the country’s leading wine grapegrowers, winemakers, suppliers and marketers meet for a landmark three-day event in Adelaide in July. WineTech 2015, the nation’s flagship wine sector trade show, will address national and global influences on demand, capability and competitiveness in a sector that is vitally important to the economy and jobs in agriculture, tourism and hospitality.

The song of a skylark mingles with the clink of glasses from the small bodega by the winery. Inside, the sommelier is serving visitors as they gaze out on to rows of vines stretching down a slope of rolling hillside. This may look like Languedoc, Rioja or the Mosel, but it’s rural Sweden, where climate change is midwife to the slow birth of Europe’s northernmost wine region. The plot of fertile soil a short drive from Malmö, Sweden’s third city, has been in Håkan Hansson’s family for five generations.

GISBORNE District councillors have been told the “‘massive” national and international marketing machine of Air New Zealand could overcome the stigma and poor perception many people have of the region. Jasper Holdsworth, a trustee of Activate Tairawhiti, and Gavin Murphy, the vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce, successfully asked councillors yesterday to reverse a previous decision not to grant Activate Tairawhiti $50,000 a year for three years to support an Air New Zealand campaign marketing larger Q300 aircraft on the Wellington to Gisborne route.