The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) expects meat and wool, horticulture and forestry export revenues will support New Zealand’s primary sector export growth to 2017, and help offset the recent year’s fall in the dairy sector. The signs across the primary sector are encouraging with New Zealand’s primary sector export revenue expected to increase to $37.6 billion in the year ending June 2016, up $1.9 billion from the year ended June 2015.
Wine industry leaders and representatives came together in Adelaide on December 1 to progress discussions and agree a plan for undertaking industry reform to enable representative organisations to contribute to a return to profitability. According to a joint statement from the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) and Wine Grape Growers Australia (WGGA) the meeting reached consensus on a number of issues and agreed on a plan moving forward.
The new look Sampson and Bowen, formerly Duckstein Brewery has officially opened, with guests welcomed to a cool and relaxed opening night on Saturday December 12. Internationally award winning local winemaker Robert Bowen and long term business partner Stewart Sampson acquired the lease of the property earlier in the year, renamed it and given the property a new look and vibe.
Wines of Argentina is upping its efforts in Australia, now one of its fastest growing markets, after revealing that exports to the country have increased 400% in volume in the past four years. While historically a combination of New Zealand and Old World countries have taken the lion’s share of Australian imports, some of the more traditional areas of countries such as France and Italy are starting to see a decline, according to Andrew Maidment, Europe and Asia head of Wines of Argentina, giving New World and emerging wine regions an opportunity for growth.
It’s not unheard of to pay through the nose for a good bottle of wine but what about for an empty bottle? An incredibly rare six-litre bottle of 2015 Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier sold for more than $10,000 at a charity auction on Thursday – but it wasn’t the signature by Murrumbateman winemaker Tim Kirk which sent buyers into a frenzy.
Australian winemaker Mark Arnold almost lost his Picarus wine label to a Chinese company. “We were tipped off and managed to lodge our claim one day earlier,” Mr Arnold said. But he said he did not manage to save another wine label, Ocean Grove, which he cannot now sell in China. “You go to all the effort of developing a product and a brand and to find out someone else has taken ownership of it in any market is a major shock,” he said.
AUSTIN, Texas — About 500 bottles of counterfeit wine have been destroyed in Texas in a case linked to a California dealer who mixed cheap vintages and sold them for millions of dollars. Rudy Kurniawan in 2013 was convicted of mail and wire fraud in federal court in New York. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, ordered to forfeit $20 million and must make nearly $25 million in restitution.
When it came to getting together this week to toast a remarkable string of national and international awards for wines from Hawke’s Bay’s Bridge Pa ‘Triangle’, none of the 10 winery representatives who turned up arrived empty handed. They arrived with award-winning wines from what has quickly become a firmly established part of the region’s winemaking landscape. “We are on a red hot run,” was how Bridge Pa Triangle Association chairman Paul Ham from Alpha Domus put it.
Ex-wine boss Peter Scutts’ convictions have been upheld in a case where he was found to have taken almost $65,000 in kickbacks. Court of Appeal’s Justices Paul Heath, Rhys Harrison and David Collins today dismissed Scutts’ appeal against his conviction on 16 charges of dishonestly using a document and one Secret Commission Act charge of receiving secret reward for procuring contracts.
The Wine Communicators of Australia (WCA) and Sydney Royal Wine Show will be hosting gala dinner in February and tickets are now on sale. The black tie dinner will celebrate the history of the Sydney Royal Wine Show and will showcase Australia’s award-winning wines. WCA NSW chair, Lisa Webber, told TheShout: “Wine Comminciators of Australia want to celebrate and acknowledge the contribution of the Sydney Royal Wine Show to the diversity of Australian wine styles as well as look to the future for Australian wine both locally and overseas.”