Having a dam is the new norm for wine companies and grapegrowers as they seek to protect themselves from future water restrictions, a dam builder says. It used to be uncommon for small to medium-sized vineyards in Marlborough to need a dam, but two years of drought and soaring global temperatures had hammered home the need for a reliable water source. Peter Wilkinson grows grapes with his partner Penny Dollimore in the lower Waihopai Valley, drawing water from the Southern Valleys Irrigation Scheme and a well on the property.

WHEN your five-year-old daughter offers to empty her money box to help finance your invention, how can you do anything but move forward? That expression of unquestioning faith from young Neli was enough to spur Manjula Nishantha to get on with designing and building a prototype of his multi-row foliar and weedicide applicator in his home workshop. Three years later, the machine has completed numerous trials, passed all tests and is ready for investigation by interested spray equipment manufacturers.

It might sound like a cask of wine on steroids, but the 24,000-litre plastic bladders of wine that arrive at a giant bottling facility in Bristol, in Britain, have become a core part of the business model of Australia’s second-largest wine company, Accolade Wines. Accolade is 80 per cent-owned by CHAMP Private Equity, which is weighing up a potential exit after five years of ownership.

A NEW — and controversial — generation of South Australian winemakers has been thrown into the international spotlight after one of the world’s leading restaurants chose to feature them on the menu. Copenhagen based Noma’s 10-week pop up on the shores of Sydney Harbour has championed an alternative stream of so-called “natural” wines, particularly from the Adelaide Hills.

The Wine & Viticulture Journal is inviting producers of Sauvignon Blanc on both sides of the Tasman to enter its forthcoming tasting. The tasting is only open to Australian and New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs with recommended retail prices of more than A$20. The results of the tasting will be published in the May-June issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal – a special issue that will mark 30 years since the Journal was first published.

Now is the time to reserve your seat at the 2016 Irrigation Australia International Conference with early bird registration rates ending this Friday, April 1, at 11.59pm. After this, prices will revert to full rate and you could miss the opportunity to join industry leaders to learn and cultivate new ideas, discuss current industry challenges and see where the future of irrigation lies at the discounted rate.

The Kuvée Bottle is, without question, one of the most ridiculous Internet of Things devices I’ve ever seen. It’s a Wi-Fi connected wine bottle with a touchscreen that needs to be constantly recharged and is only compatible with proprietary wine cartridges. In exchange for this hassle, it promises to keep wine fresh for up to 30 days. It’s exactly the kind of absurd product the Internet of Things is deservedly mocked for, and yet I love it for that very reason.

A big crowd packed into Clyde’s historic precinct yesterday to sip and sample the best of what the district had to offer. About 4500 people attended the 15th annual Clyde Wine and Food Harvest Festival, up on the past two years. The event is a celebration of the grape harvest and showcases wines from Clyde, Earnscleugh and Alexandra. Patrons could choose from 21 food stalls and wine from 18 vineyards.

New Zealand wineries eager to tap the Chinese market have racked their palates for the perfect match of wine and Chinese food. Wine tasters and gourmets chose hotpot and Sauvignon Blanc, a crisp, dry, refreshing white, as the most popular pairing, Natalie Potts, marketing manager in Asia with New Zealand Winegrowers, told Xinhua on Wednesday night.

IT’S the new drop that’s tantalising tastebuds yet confusing even the wine snobs. Popping up in bars, it’s definitely not a red wine and it doesn’t look like a white. With its pastel hue you might think it’s related to a rose. Think again. And while it’s called orange wine, its name has nothing to do with the wine growing region of Orange. But it could conceivably come from there.