Château Tanunda has appointed Neville Rowe as Senior Winemaker, taking over from Stuart Bourne. Neville has had 20 years’ experience in the wine industry with time at some of Australia’s top wine companies including Domaine Chandon LVMH Group, Hardy’s Tintara, Mitchelton and Sevenhill Cellars.
During her time as Dan Murphy’s CDO, Faye Ilhan has helped drive a number of innovations, including being the first retailer to launch click-and-collect across all outlets, and introducing Dan Murphy’s ShipSmart, which enables customers to receive unlimited deliveries.
“We knew the number one grudge with delivery is the delivery charges,” she told CMO.
There is a renaissance in the Australian wine industry with exports looking up for the first time in nine years. According to Stuart Barclay of Wines Australia, wine exports from Australia have increased by five per cent to fetch AU$1.89 billion in the past 12 months. It is the first increase in export revenue for Australian wines since 2006/2007.
The maker of McGuigan wines has raised a glass to the falling Australian dollar.
Australian Vintage says it is looking to increase sales in the United Kingdom, the United States and Asia in the year ahead.
The push to expand further overseas comes as the company tries to cope with increased pressure on its margins, or the money it makes on its wines.
A wine industry leadership summit ‘Grape and Wine 2015 – A Focus for Action’ will be held in Adelaide tomorrow, Friday 27 August. It is understood representatives from 40 national, state and nominated regional industry organisations will be involved.
There is an ambition Grape and Wine 2015 will reach consensus on:
– Priority areas for industry representative bodies to contribute to a return to profitability; and
– Principles that should shape a future industry representative structure and organisations.
However, on the eve of this ambitious meeting, opposition to one proposed restructure has gained momentum.
A mild winter, warm spring and hot summer are yielding the earliest harvest in memory for Washington state’s wine growers.
“I would say it’s a record-breaking early vintage,” Casey McClellan, founder and winemaker at Seven Hills Winery in Walla Walla, said last week. “I’m picking semillon on Monday (today) and that’s two weeks before schedule.”
Landowners who want to sign up to the Flaxbourne Irrigation Scheme and diversify into viticulture are being asked to grow grapes solely for Yealands Wine Group in a deal questioned by Marlborough District councillors.
Flaxbourne Community Irrigation Limited has promoted a deal to 58 landowners to sign a grape supply agreement with Yealands Wine Group.
The Winery Engineering Association’s 2015 national conference and exhibition is underway in the Barossa. The theme for WineEng 2015 is ‘finding a better way – excellence in winery operations and asset management’ and the Chateau Tanunda Winery is hosting the event.
Naked Wines, an online wine retailer that lets customers fund independent winemakers, just launched a new service letting people order bottles of plonk via text.
The “Text for Wine” service was suggested by employees and lets existing customers order a case of wine by texting the name to Naked. That then gets added to their order.
A Fleurieu winery has joined an elite club of producers that have had their grapes regularly appear in, arguably, the state’s most prestigious red.
Oliver’s Taranga Winery at McLaren Vale has received the Penfolds Triple Crown Grange Growers perpetual trophy.
It recognises wineries that have had their grapes used in the Penfolds Grange for three years in a row.