As the 2016 harvest draws to a close in New Zealand, growers are reporting an excellent vintage with yields up 34% compared to last year’s smaller than average harvest.
“The rebound in production from the 2016 Vintage will be another boost to the export ambitions of our sector. The 2016 Vintage will definitely keep us on track to achieve our goal of $2 billion of wine exports by 2020,” said Philip Gregan, New Zealand Winegrowers CEO.
Jeff Byrne came to Australia in 1995 with a backpack, a love of Caribbean rum and, bizarrely, a love of surfing. Bizarrely because in his homeland of Canada – he’s from Halifax, Nova Scotia – temperatures can regularly plummet to between minus 10 and minus 30 Celsius. Average snowfall is more than 150cm a year. Fast forward 21 years and he’s one of the Hunter Valley’s bright young winemakers, in charge of not one, but three labels … Audrey Wilkinson, Poole’s Rock and Cockfighter’s Ghost.
REDUCING the Wine Equalisation Tax rebate will have a “catastrophic” impact on jobs in the local industry, says the boss behind one of WA’s oldest wineries. The Turnbull Government announced in its Budget that the WET rebate cap would be cut from $500,000 to $350,000 from July next year and further decrease to $290,000 in 2018. The changes are expected to boost government coffers by $300 million in revenue in the next four years, but Sandalford Winery chief executive Grant Brinklow said would also hurt WA’s largely boutique wine industry.
TAFE SA is introducing a new scholarship to support South Australian women looking for careers in wine. TAFE SA Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and French Wine Scholar Gill Gordon-Smith says she had been inspired by the inaugural Australian Women in Wine Awards in 2015 to show support to other women keen to develop their career in the industry.
McLaren Vale Winemaker and Australian Women in Wine Awards advisory committee member Corrina Wright said the amazing work that women are doing in wine should be more widely recognised.
Alex Beckett, a born and bred Hunter Valley wine enthusiast, has been awarded the prestigious 2016 Sydney Royal Wine Scholarship. Beckett, a fourth year Viticulture and Oenology student at the University of Adelaide, will receive $5000 towards his tertiary studies, as well as the opportunity to steward at the 2016 KPMG Sydney Royal Wine Show, in July.
“I was very lucky to have grown up in the Hunter, which has created opportunities from my first cellar door job through to this amazing scholarship opportunity,” Beckett said.
The overall wine industry consensus is that global climate change is real, but in the vineyard, the results are neither uniform nor clearcut, nor can they strictly be attributed to the climate. Denis Dubourdieu, winemaker and Professor of Oenology at the University of Bordeaux reports the French climate definitely warmed between 2000 and 2010 and, despite variations from year to year, France has produced a number of great vintages within that decade. Meanwhile, in Australia, Brian Croser says by adapting to it, warming has been an overall plus for Tapanappa Wines.
Majestic Wine has reported the first improvement in its sales figures in four years as it made a “good start” to its three-year turnaround plan. Overall sales rose 41.3pc to £402.1m in the year to March 28, while Majestic Retail enjoyed like-for-like sales growth of 4.8pc.
New Zealand Winegrowers is offering three sommeliers from the UK and Ireland the opportunity to visit New Zealand to participate in an invite only sommelier scholarship event, with a select group of international sommeliers. The one day Sommelier Summit will see the group hosted by local sommeliers, Cameron Douglas MS and Stephen Wong MW. Cameron and Stephen will lead tastings and discussions on current trends, as well as presenting some unique examples of New Zealand wines that have limited availability.
A smattering of the great and the good of the UK wine trade turned up for a debate last Tuesday (June 14), titled ‘What direction should New Zealand winemaking take for the future’, sponsored by Villa Maria and arranged by its UK agent, Hatch Mansfield. The ‘elephant in the tasting room’ is: ‘Is New Zealand a one-trick pony (Sauvignon Blanc).
Whether it’s bold and innovative techniques in the vineyards, pushing winemaking boundaries or experimentation with non-traditional varieties, Australian wine’s new breed are prepared to throw out the old rules and step forward with a fresh attitude and approach. The desire to embrace the funky and gritty art of winemaking has led to wines that are truly exciting and capture a revolution in the glass. These are the people and the wines that are celebrated with the Young Gun of Wine Awards.