SACRAMENTO — Growth in U.S. wine sales slowed in 2015 as competition heats up globally to slake the thirst of wine consumers for higher-priced wines, according to experts at a major wine industry conference. “When you look at it from 60,000 feet overall, the wine business is great; it’s booming and things look very good for the coming year, including this year.”
A fire that destroyed an implement shed and valuable machinery at a Martinborough winery did about half a million dollars of damage, but could easily have cost a lot more. Murdoch James Estate founder Roger Fraser said had workers removed about 50 kilometres of customised bird netting worth up to $200,000 on Wednesday, just hours before the blaze. “If they’d been in there [during the fire], we would never have been able to replace them before vintage,” he said.
The Wine Communicators of Australia has confirmed that Lyndey Milan OAM will host its upcoming Gala Dinner. Ms. Milan will also be joined by Robert Joseph and Chair of Judges for the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW, Samantha Connew. This year WCA will host the Sydney Royal Wine Show Retrospective Gala Dinner in conjunction with RAS NSW. With efforts combined, the night will provide an opportunity to look back at the awards’ revered history through insights from Ms. Connew, as well as the past, present and future state of the industry in this country.
Way back in 2009 the SA Government engaged Prof. Andrew Fearne as the ‘Thinker in Residence’ to educate SA businesses about the importance of Value Chain principles in long term business ventures where customers are important. Riverland Wine invited Prof. Fearne to the region to meet with groups of producers and processors. Many were curious. Yalumba got on board and worked with the State Government and Prof. Fearne to map the supply chain in the ‘Vine to Dine’ project.
A MILDURA-based wine bottling company says the increase in Australian wine exports is creating more employment opportunities at its firm and expanding its customer base. Best Bottlers managing director Jim Kirkpatrick said the drop in the Australian dollar had generated an increase in wine exports to the United States and Australia’s free trade agreement with China had also benefited the industry.
Evaporative cooling systems are being used in South Australian vineyards as part of a project to protect grapes during heat waves ahead of harvest. The project is using under-canopy sprinklers in the Riverland and Coonawarra wine regions to cool vineyards at night at the height of the Australian summer. Mike McCarthy, principal scientist with the South Australian Research Development Institute is leading the project.
At the Australia Day Tasting held this week in London, Accolade Wines new general manager for the UK and Ireland Rob Harrison issued a ‘word of warning’ that challenges lay ahead for Australian wines, which now sits below the average price of wine of £5.83 (A$11.82) at just £5.20 (A$10.54). “At this point what I want to make is a bit of a warning for Australia. In terms of being fit for the future I am not really sure we are exactly where we want to be.”
Rather than tannic structure or time in oak, a wine’s acidity levels are the most important factor as to whether or not it will age well according to one winemaker. Speaking to the drinks business during a recent visit to Argentina, Martin Kaiser, chief agronomist at Doña Paula estate, said: “Acidity is the most important element to ageing but the wine also needs to have a good tannic structure to perform well during the micro-oxygenation process.
A winemaker in the Vaucluse has become the latest producer to withdraw his wine from organic certification, citing his concerns over the environmental sustainability of organic winemaking. Sebastien Vincenti, of Domaine de Fondrèche in Mazan, AOC Côtes de Ventoux, has been certified organic with French body Ecocert since 2009. But, that is about to change.