US RETAIL giant Costco is trying to broaden the supermarket war to another front, taking its battle to sell alcohol in SA to the Supreme Court. The bulk-buy retailer has appealed to the state’s highest court for a licence to sell liquor at its Kilburn outlet. But the Australian Hotels Association is warning any such move — if approved — will set a dangerous precedent and be another stake in the heart of small alcohol retailers and SA wine producers, who are struggling to make a profit.

The next generation of Australia’s First Families of Wine will host consumer tasting event, Unleashed, in Western Australia on 28 August. The future leaders of Australia’s premium family-owned wine companies will bring together more than 100 trade and consumers at a yet to be announced Perth event space, before making their way through the Margaret River. Tomorrow morning they will explore and enjoy the Margaret River Region and spend time at the Burch Family Wines Estate.

Wolf Blass has been named International Winery of the Year at the San Francisco International Wine Competition. Wolf Blass is the first Australian winery to win this award in over 15 years and only the second Australian winery in history. The Winery of the Year award recognizes the single winery earning the most points, measured by the number and level of awards won. Now in its 35th year, the San Francisco International Wine Competition is the largest International wine competition in America.

The normally close-knit and collegial Australian wine industry is edging towards a civil war over the heated issue of tax, with the patriarch of the nation’s biggest wine exporter, Casella Wines, slamming some producers’ efforts to lobby for the introduction of a volumetric tax as “immoral”. John Casella, whose Griffith-based winery makes the Yellow Tail wine that last year struck nearly $400 million in sales and is the most imported wine in the US, has warned attempts to swap a system based on value to a tax charged per litre would only exacerbate oversupply plaguing the sector, trigger an exodus of growers and see many lose their life savings.

Wine import volumes, excluding other fermented categories like cider, declined by five per cent on a year-over-year basis to 255.6 million liters in the first quarter of 2015. A 25 per cent rise in imported sparkling wines, including champagne, was offset by a nine per cent decline in table wine volumes. Volumes for fortified wines, which include additional alcohol added during the fermentation process, were up 23 per cent.

The latest figures from the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, for the second quarter of 2015, show that “consumers are finally getting the break they deserve after years of inflation-busting tax rises”. The latest report from the WSTA highlights the role that a combination of factors have played in slowing price inflation, a positive result for consumers. Duty cuts and lower inflation are cited as the main reason for the positive findings in the report, which indicated that the benefits of the slowing price increases were being passed down to the customer by producers and retailers.

IN the desert sands of central China, the first sprouts of a potential giant is emerging. The Chinese wine industry is slowly gaining a foothold in a domestic market that has, until now, been dominated by foreign wine. But with more affluent Chinese consumers turning to wine, the future looks rosé for both Chinese and Australian wine producers. Much of China’s local wine is emerging from Ningxia Province, which sits in the geographical centre of China.

Len Evans must be turning in his grave. Qantas has dismissed the wine selection panel he instituted and replaced it with a chef. Neil Perry, who seems intent on being the all-round wine guy as well as a restaurateur and chef, is the new wine consultant for Qantas, replacing the panel of three of Australia’s most highly regarded winemakers, Steve Pannell, Vanya Cullen and Tom Carson, who have done the job for more than 10 years. No doubt Perry will be relying on his teams of sommeliers in his various restaurants to do the hard yakka of tasting massive numbers of wines.

Wine sales have continued to fall in restaurants, pubs and hotels over the last three months with only sparkling and fortified wines bucking the trend. According to the Wine & Spirit Trade Association’s (WSTA) Quarter 2 Market Report, wine sales (volume) declined two per cent while sparkling and fortified were up 35 adn 15 per cent respectively. Red wine led the category’s overall decline with sales down five per cent while Rose also saw a drop. White wine was the only category to see little or no change in volume sales.

Two major wineries are getting ready to ramp up production to meet growing demand with new infrastructure being built in time for next season. Wither Hills Winery is readying for a 50 per cent increase in production with the construction of a new 3000-square metre white wine cellar. The building will help add an extra 3000 tonnes of white wine production to the Lion Nathan-owned company’s current annual production of 8000 tonnes. The increase follows the company’s intention in 2010 when it obtained resource consent to target 15,000 tonnes per year.