A winery on Kangaroo Island is being influenced by Europe, in particular France, from growing the grapes through to storing the wine. French winemaker Jacques Lurton chose Kangaroo Island as the location for his Australian winery, Islander Estate Wines. The winery is spread over 11 hectares and produces about 70 tonnes of grapes a year.

VINTAGE 2016 is off and running in Victoria with Rutherglen’s sparkling producers leading the pack. Both Cofields Wines and Anderson Winery began picking last week, beating last year’s record start by eight days. Damian Cofield, who brought in chardonnay grapes that will be used for a sparkling base, said sugar levels were the reason they started so early this year. “We had to go,” he said. “Our hands were tied — as it was it was sweeter than we ideally wanted but the flavours were good. They were ready.”

Australian wines were the star of the show in China at the nation’s biggest value wine competition, the China Wine and Spirits Best Value Awards. Wines and spirits from 31 nations participated in this year’s annual spring tasting, with Australian producers awarded 311 medals in total – the most of any country in the competition. Taylors Wines came out on top, bringing home the trophy for Australian Wine of the Year for its 2015 Taylors Estate Merlot along with three Double Gold and nine Gold medals awarded across the Clare Valley winery’s portfolio.

California vineyards have been forced to throw away tons of grapes after they became unusable following wildfires that swept through the state last summer. “The smoke was the main concern, because wine is not supposed to have a smoky flavour to it” says José Enríquez, of Rutherford Hill Winery, who has worked at wineries in Napa and Sonoma counties for more than 20 years. He admitted that prices will likely go up this year as a result.

Beer and football may go together like wine and cheese. But lately more and more people seem be favouring a Bordeaux over a Bud Light. Wine has made inroads into football stadiums and living rooms across the United States on Sundays. Americans still buy far more beer than wine over all, so there is no end coming to the beer commercials.

For the Hawke’s Bay wine industry, 2015 was a good year. In fact the industry has had a few good years, indeed great years, of late. The 2013 and 2014 vintages were superb and hopefully, without putting the mockers on it, the current upcoming vintage is lining up to be another little red and white cracker. Last year the exports of wine from New Zealand hit a record high of $15 billion, with the industry looking at trends and predicting that by 2020 it will likely hit the $2 billion mark.

The Marlborough wine industry is gaining prominence as a key player in New Zealand’s export economy, with latest industry figures showing continued record growth. Statistics released by New Zealand Winegrowers last week showed total New Zealand wine exports for 2015 had reached a record $1.54 billion. New Zealand Winegrowers chief executive Philip Gregan said there was no regional breakdown available but estimated 80 per cent of the total export value would have come from Marlborough.

AN increase in the number of Chinese wine drinkers buying imported wine “off-premise” and consuming it at home is helping to drive the sale of Australian wine in China. A three-year study by the University of South Australia’s Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science funded by Wine Australia is nearing completion and has found the number of people buying imported wine in China and their frequency of consumption was on the rise.

The winery team at Printhie Wines in the Orange region of New South Wales had a nickname for the new premium wine they were working on. The ambition was to create a ‘super duper’ Chardonnay, they succeeded in more ways than one. Nathan Gogoll reports.

Stanthorpe wine growers are in good spirits as the picking season begins for white wine grapes. Growers on the Southern Darling Downs were smashed last year by severe storms and hail, with90 per cent of some crops damaged. This year, however, things are looking up. Growers Sam Costanzo and Angelo Puglisi are neighbours who were hit by the storms, and both are optimistic about the season ahead.