John Spalvins, one of Australia’s best-known corporate raiders, has sounded a note of caution as Treasury Wine Estate shares jumped almost 17 per cent to hit a record high after coming out of a halt for the institutional part of a capital raising for the acquisition of most of Diageo’s wine business. Spalvins, whose company once owned the famous Penfolds wine brand for a decade when it was part of the once-mighty Adelaide Steamship Company, which ultimately collapsed under $7 billion of debt in 1991.

Australian wine exports to the U.S. market registered a 12 per cent increase to A$117 million ($85m) in the three months through September, with the key California (+20%), Florida (+56%) and New York (+14%) markets all showing double-digit gains. The shipment increase represented a reversal for the Australian wine category in the US, which has struggled in recent years, surrendering nearly five million cases from 2010-2014, according to Impact Databank

The wine writer and educator Jayne Powell, known as Champagne Jayne, has won the right to keep her brand name following a court battle with the Comité Champagne (CIVC). The CIVC originally took Powell to court in December 2014, claiming that she had misled the public and infringed on its trademark by promoting sparkling wines other than Champagne while using the Champagne Jayne name. This, it claimed, had “damaged the goodwill of the Champagne sector”.

Ross Brown, executive director of Brown Brothers, has been named the 2015 Victorian Legend of the Vine by Wine Communicators of Australia (WCA). Brown received the award in front of 150 industry peers and guests at the WCA Royal Melbourne Wine Show awards lunch. The Legend of the Vine recognises an individual who has made an outstanding and lasting contribution to the Australian wine industry and has a passion for telling its story.

More than three out of every five acres of vineyards in Sonoma County — 62 per cent of the 60,000 acres — have been through the first phase of Sonoma County Winegrowers’ campaign to have all the acres self-assessed for sustainability by 2019. “Sustainability reporting takes time and effort, but it’s worthwhile because you learn about your business and how to be more productive, protect the land and take care of people,” said Steve Sangiacomo, a Sonoma Valley-based wine grape grower and advocate for the program.

The 25-year celebrations at Bridge Pa “triangle” winery Alpha Domus received a boost with the arrival of a slice of gold. The winery was among several from Hawke’s Bay which took medals and trophies at the recent Six Nations Wine Challenge and which ensured New Zealand came out on top. Alpha Domus managing director Paul Ham said the gold for its 2013 Aviator followed up a double gold at last year’s Six Nations.

A Marlborough wine company its playing its part on the New Zealand arts scene, having resigned in a supporting role with the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Nautilus Estate began their association with the ballet in 2011, and at the end of last month the contract with RNZB was renewed until the end of 2017. Nautilus sales and marketing manager Katy Prescott said the ballet company was the perfect match for Nautilus.

The winners of the ninth 2015 Young Guns Wine Awards have been announced, and all the awards have been collected by Victorian and South Australian winemakers. The trophy presentation, which was held at Sydney’s Nomad on Tuesday, included a splash of drama in a tie for the Winemaker’s Choice Award. The 12 finalists, who chose the winner, were required to vote again after the tie was announced.

Red wine grape production increased by five per cent across the 2015 vintage, compared to the 2012 vintage, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The ABS figures also showed that white wine grape production decreased by two per cent over the same time period, to an estimated 764,000 tonnes. Katie Hutt from the ABS said: “We estimate that there were 86,600 hectares of red wine grapes in 2015, accounting for 64 per cent of all wine grape vines in Australia.

Finalists of the first Australian Women in Wine Awards have been announced with organisers praising the number and calibre of entries. “Reading through the entries filled me with so much inspiration,” said Corrina Wright, CEO of Oliver’s Taranga and AWIWA Board member. “What these awards have clearly demonstrated is that women are making a significant difference across the breadth of the entire wine community, and the business case for gender diversity has never been stronger.”