Australia’s first wine tasting delivery service Secret Bottle has launched with a new take on the traditional wine club. Encouraging wine lovers to “discover local”, Secret Bottle is a monthly subscription service that delivers samples of boutique Australian wines from a specially selected Australian winegrowing region each month. Like a winery tour delivered to your very own front door, Secret Bottle is passionate about supporting local winegrowers by uncovering the country’s best hidden, secret and award-winning gems.

While the Australian wine industry is struggling for profitability and markets to sell its wine, Penfolds’ the nation’s most famous brand, can’t get enough A-grade Cabernet Sauvignon grapes to make some of its renowned red wines. Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago said yesterday that the shortage of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes is preventing the Treasury Wine Estates brand from substantially expanding its world wine sales.

Australian farmers are celebrating an historic breakthrough in international trade talks that puts an end to agricultural export subsidies. The agreement between more than 160 members of the World Trade Organisation will see the immediate removal of subsidies by developed nations. Developing nations will follow by 2018. National Farmers Federation president Brent Finlay said Australian farmers, whose exports are not subsidised, would be big winners from the first major agricultural deal in the WTO for more than 20 years.

MURRAY Valley Winegrowers executive officer Mike Stone says there have been some modest increases in the indicative prices released by some wineries for wine grapes next year in the Murray Darling and Swan Hill regions. Stone said it was disappointing the indicative prices did not reflect the benefits being generated for the wine industry through its success in export markets and free trade agreements with Japan, Korea and China.

Paul Schaafsma joined the wine industry after graduating with a degree in manufacturing management from his native Australia. He was responsible for managing the UK and Irish businesses of Australian Vintage, building its McGuigan brand into one of the biggest in the UK, before taking on the same responsibilty at a recently-launched company called Accolade.

From California doubling down on Tuesday night wines to Oregon’s embrace of a new muse to the Savoie finally climbing out of the Jura’s hip-cocked shadow, Jon Bonné lays out the wine stories that will make a difference in 2016. Why did this year in wine feel so off-kilter?

Face it: calories lurk in that tasty glass of wine. Do you want the wine industry or government to tell you how many? In the mid-1980s two particular events made an impact on the American wine business: one was dubbed The French Paradox; the other was a new federally mandated government warning label. At first glance, the two may not have seemed related, but they were.

Don Ditter, who stepped into the legendary Max Schubert’s shoes as chief winemaker at Australia’s Penfolds and improved the overall quality of the wines at a critical juncture in the company’s history, died Dec. 16 in Sydney. He was 89. Raised in Barossa Valley, Ditter began as a lab assistant at Penfolds’ Magill Estate in Adelaide in 1942, rising through the ranks until he took over for Schubert in 1973, overseeing production of wines ranging from popular-priced blends to Grange.

Most Riverland winegrowers were optimistic that this year, they could begin the long journey back to prosperity. These ‘ongoers’ were cautiously convincing themselves the decade of digging in and digging deep was about to reveal some payback; some recognition of their commitment to the industry. The recent headlines have all been positive. The key indicators have been strong. Exports are well up in both volume and value.

FORGET French fizz — Australia has just released its most expensive bottle of sparkling wine and it’s made right here in SA. The special-release bottle of bubbles, the House of Arras EJ Carr 1998 Late Disgorged 20th Anniversary sparkling maxes out the credit card at a cool $350, making it not only Australia’s top-priced fizz but also its priciest white wine.