THE Winemakers’ Federation of Australia says it will be assessing and monitoring how the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union will affect Aust¬ralia’s wine industry. Acting chief executive Tony Battaglene has issued a briefing note to the nation’s wine industry about the impact of Brexit. The UK is Australia’s number one export destination by volume with 247 million litres of wine exported last year.
LANGHORNE Creek winery Rusticana is marrying two of its more unusual produce pursuits to create a unique food offering at its cellar door. The winery is now making jams and sauces infused with its Zinfandel and Durif variety wines to further showcase the label’s rare grape varieties. It’s a typically unpredictable approach from Rusticana owners Brian and Anne Meakins who have 25 acres of lesser known grape variety vines planted on their property.
NEW England wine producers have warned changes to a tax originally designed to better support wine producers in rural and regional Australia could end up pushing many to the financial wall. The fallout for the wine industry is continuing after the 2016/17 federal budget revealed changes to the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) rebate, which supporters say is long overdue to stop widespread rorting of the rebate, but which critics argue will have the unintended consequence of business closures and job cuts.
Australian wine is in the “healthiest place for years”, but needs to continue to challenge perceptions about its quality through single vineyard and site specific wines, Jacob’s Creek’s new winemaker Ben Bryant has said. Speaking to the drinks business during a recent visit to London, Bryant, who took over from Bernard Hickin when he retired in June, said there was a lot of innovation coming out of Australia, and winemakers were beginning to “turn the dial” in building the perception of Australian wine quality.
The extent of the almost cult-like following of Longview Estate’s White Diamond wine became clear when news broke that the bottles would soon disappear from local shelves. Brent King, a spokesman for new owners Australasian Food Corporation (AFC), described the wine as a “star” and said Chinese demand for the candy-sweet style was higher than Longview could meet.
Visiting Wisconsin wineries is an easy way to enjoy a vast variety of wines while having the opportunity to learn direct from the winemakers, growers and purveyors of the state’s booming industry. According to Anna Maenner, executive director for both the Wisconsin Winery Association and the Wisconsin Grape Growers, she has seen the explosion of growth firsthand since she started with the state’s wine groups six years ago.
Rosé-flavoured gummies may be fancier than most viral foods, but like their rainbow bagel and overflowing milkshake counterparts, people are losing their minds over them. Before the candy hit stores on Friday, it already had an over 3,300-person waitlist, according to Sugarfina co-owner Rosie O’Neill. Their website had crashed a few times from the volume of traffic.
Vine-growing and wine-making are among those old traditions in all of Kyrgyzstan and the south of Kazakhstan, while the east of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are now reviving the industry under new brands. Technological upgrading with European input could boost output even further with the outlook to conquer a place among global wine exporters. Tolerable and affordable.
We look at how the historic blind tasting known as the Judgment of Paris inspired the world’s winemakers to challenge France’s lock on the wine world. This July 4th, no matter if you’re enjoying a cabernet from Napa, a sauvignon blanc from New Zealand or a pinotage from South Africa, it’s in great part due to the Judgment of Paris.