Will the new online Pokémon game become a marketing tool for wineries seeking to attract Millennials? The ‘pocket monsters’ have shown up in the award-winning Noma restaurant and vineyards in the US, France and Australia… Wineries and restaurants around the world have been among those tweeting sightings of the pocket monsters after the launch of the Pokémon Go app earlier this month on iPhone and Android phones.
The wine tax and its accompanying rebate are outdated and distorting the Australian wine industry. The tax is encouraging the production of cheap wines and oversupply at a time when the industry is struggling to compete internationally. While Australian wine drinkers might not care too much about drinking non-premium wine, this comes at the expense of Australia’s reputation as a premium wine producer to overseas markets.
Wine packaging processes strongly influence the integrity of wine that reaches consumers. If microbial contamination occurs during packaging it can cause off-flavours and hazes/deposits, which negatively affect consumer perception. The worst cases of such problems can result in costly product recalls and brand damage.
The best of Australian wines have been put under the microscope at this year’s KPMG Sydney Royal Wine Show. Michelle Bouffard, world renowned French-Canadian sommelier was busy smelling, sipping and spitting more than 2,200 Australian wines on day-two of judging out at the Sydney Showgrounds. “I am so impressed with the rigour of the judging process at the KPMG Sydney Royal Wine Show and delighted with the standard of the wines that I have tasted so far,” she said.
San Rafael, Calif.—After the announcement last week that veraison is happening in some Napa Valley vineyards, Wines & Vines asked sources in other areas how their grapes are faring so far this summer. Veraison has also begun in the vast Paso Robles region. At Halter Ranch in the Adelaida District, vineyard manager Lucas Pope reported that it is just starting, with colour on about 10% of the ranch, putting it on par with 2015, or about 3 weeks earlier than average.
Waimea Estates winery are another Nelson winery to win medals at the San Francisco International Wine Competition. Waimea Estates left the competition with six medals overall, two gold and four silver. The winery’s Waimea Albariño 2015 and Spinyback Pinot Gris 2015 won a gold medal each. The Waimea Sauvignon Blanc 2015, Waimea Chardonnay 2014, Waimea Classic Riesling 2015 and Waimea Pinot Noir 2015 were all awarded Silver Medals.
One of Marlborough’s last remaining conventional sheep and beef farms in the lower Awatere Valley has been sold to Yealands Wine Estate for vineyard development. Straits View Farm, a 266 hectare property owned by Ken and Shirley Marfell in the valley, was bought by the wine producers for $4.35 million. The land is on the boundary of the 1000 hectare Yealands Estate, near Seddon, and will be developed into a vineyard.
Had sommelier William Wilson been creating a wine list for Sydney’s new International Convention Centre just 10 years ago, he says he would not have been able to rely on wines produced in this state. But this week a panel led by Mr Wilson is blind tasting more than 800 wines over four days, which it will narrow down to around 70 different products – 80 per cent of which will have been produced in NSW.
A HISTORIC 125-year-old brick and stone building is the centrepiece of a ready-to-roll winery business for sale at Taminick in North East Victoria. Auldstone Cellars dates back to the 1880s with the cellar built in 1891, which has been extensively restored and includes a dining and tasting room and fully functioning winemaking equipment.
AWARDS are nothing new to Ridgemill Estate. But that didn’t take the gloss off Peter McGlashan’s grin when he claimed the prestigious Queensland Winemaker Bursary earlier this month. The prize includes entry into an Advanced Wine Assessment Course at the Australian Wine Research Institute in Adelaide. “It’s a pretty amazing prize,” Mr McGlashan said.