Delegat Group, New Zealand’s largest listed wine company, boosted first-half operating profit 5 percent as wine sales rose to a record. Profit excluding one-time movements in the value of its assets rose to $21.5 million in the six months ended Dec. 31, from $20.5 million in the year earlier period, the Auckland-based company said in a statement.
It’s hard to overstate the excitement over the 2014 Hunter Valley red wine vintage. I know, I know… We’ve heard it all before. It’s all marketing hype. Blah, blah. Cynical? Absolutely, but not without cause. Wineries all over the world will talk up their vintage – it’s their livelihood, after all. But the 2014 Hunter vintage is different… A thing of beauty… Stellar.
Wolf Blass Winery is celebrating four decades since the inception of its iconic Black Label – the only wine in history to win four prestigious Jimmy Watson trophies. This year marks the 40th vintage of the estate’s Black Label Cabernet Shiraz Malbec 2012, which won the Jimmy Watson Trophy for three consecutive years at the Royal Melbourne Wine Show.
It normally goes like this… Act 1: Dreams of a ‘better year’ keep recurring and tensions build in November as growers count down the last few sprays before ‘indicative prices’ season. Act 2:
In the second week of December, clusters of growers are invited to the ‘unveiling’, just prior to December 15. The messages vary ever so slightly from earlier years. “It’s a tough market out there; Yes the dollar is still 30¢ below parity and Yes you are correct, industry is in reasonable shape in terms of supply and demand…”
Music plays a huge role in many of our lives. The right song often has the power to change our mood almost instantaneously by arousing particular memories and emotions. So what should be playing in the winery tasting room? Emilie Reynolds reports.
AUSTRALIAN wine and horticulture businesses were the darlings of the agriculture industry this week, with several of the country’s largest companies posting record performances. Wine giant Treasury Wine Estates posted earnings growth from all its key regions. The winemaker, which produces brands including Penfolds, Wolf Blass, Lindemans and Seppelt, announced a net profit of $87.6 million for the first six months of 2015-16, up 39 per cent.
Burgundy wines may become even more difficult to find because of vine disease and smaller harvests from ageing vineyards, according to a new report by the region’s wine council. The future is challenging for Burgundy, according to a report by the Burgundy wine council, BIVB. While demand for Burgundy is strong, and prices for top wines remain high, overall harvest size is set to shrink – and not just due to the perennial threat of hail storms.
AS we transition from winter chills to spring warmth, our fair city still has a number of frigid nights perfect for savoring winter-friendly red wines. What makes a red wine winter friendly? An abundance of concentrated palate pleasing black and red fruit flavors is a good start, but the best winter reds also offer plenty of smooth tannins that pair beautifully with weighty winter dishes like stews and roasts.
New Zealand winemakers are about to plant the country’s first Glera vines that will go on to produce Prosecco in three years’ time. The Prosecco variety, otherwise known as Glera (to differentiate the grape from the protected Prosecco source in Italy’s Veneto), will be planted this spring in Gisborne, New Zealand, following the release of Prosecco vines from quarantine earlier this month.
Under the full moon, at a thriving vineyard on the west coast of Australia last night, they were picking cabernet sauvignon. I know this because Vanya Cullen, winemaker and managing director of Cullen Wines tweeted a picture saying so – “Full moon fruit day. Cabernet harvest today”. Cullen grows grapes and makes wine according to biodynamic principles – that is, according to the waxing and waning of the moon, the positions of the other celestial orbs, and with the help of special preparations placed in cow horns and buried in the earth.