Since the boom time of the noughties, the big players have applied an increasingly powerful grip over Central Otago. With little land now left for sale, what’s next for this extraordinary Pinot-producing region, asks Patrick Schmitt MW. Let’s face it, New Zealand is one lucky nation. Not only did the country accidentally create one of today’s most powerful associations in white wine – Marlborough and Sauvignon Blanc – but it went on to do so in red wines too, with Central Otago and Pinot Noir. With the Marlborough Sauvignon success story attributed to the fortuitous combination of the right variety in the right place at the right time almost 50 years ago, similarly, Otago’s Pinot triumph was not planned: as next year marks 30 years since the region’s first commercial release of Pinot Noir, producers willingly admit that they had little sense that this grape would work so well in this remote area – or, indeed, that the variety would become so fashionable.

Convincing the world that Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay is among the world’s best is one of the biggest challenges – and opportunities – for brand New Zealand, says Vidal Estate’s Hugh Crichton. Highlighting the success of the Gimblett Gravels, which has come to be seen as a superior Hawke’s Bay sub-region for Bordeaux grapes and Syrah, the winemaker said a similar sub-regional focus could propel Chardonnay to new heights in the eyes of wine consumers around the world. “That sort of thing is really important from a regional branding point of view,” he explained to db. “Gimblett Gravels is just one sub-region within Hawke’s Bay, but that sort of thing helps to put Hawke’s Bay on the map.

For Unfiltered’s “comically” out of touch readers, there’s a star-studded new Marvel superhero movie coming out this weekend, and we were on the case at the New York premiere of Doctor Strange, starring Emmy winner Benedict Cumberbatch, SAG winner Rachel McAdams, Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton and Unfiltered Most Unnerving Guy Who Always Plays the Villain winner Mads Mikkelsen. Hosted by Cinema Society along with Australia’s 19 Crimes wines (singer Meghan Trainor’s favorites!) at the Times Square AMC Empire theater, the premiere finally answered the age-old question, “What would happen if you dropped a bunch of sorcerers into an M.C. Escher lithograph?”

After 16 years in operation and ticket sales of 3 million, Australia’s A Day On The Green winery series celebrates a milestone Nov 19, which its 400th show in two states. Singer-songwriters Rodriguez, Xavier Rudd, Russell Morris and Archie Roach are at the Bimbadgen Estate in the Hunter Valley, NSW. Over at Peter Lehmann Wines in South Australia’s Barossa Valley are rock bands You Am I, Something For Kate, Spiderbait, Jebediah and the Meanies. “The idea of getting together with some friends to enjoy good food and wine with great music in a picturesque location is as appealing now as ever,” said Mick Newton, co-director of Roundhouse Entertainment. From a single show outside Melbourne on Jan. 26 (Australia Day) 2001, it’s expanded to each state in Australia, and across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand.

More than 500,000 bottles of wine are exported from Orange to Russia in a deal worth over $1 million every year. Robbie Robinson and the team at D’Aquino Group are keen to see that develop and have brought a group of wine buyers and the sommelier from a leading St Petersburg restaurant to Orange to show them where their Wallaby Creek brand calls home. The five young Russians arrived in Orange on Thursday fresh from minus five degrees and snow in Moscow to a sunny spring day. Import manager for Russia’s leading wine and spirit import company, Luding, Natalia Semenets said: “We are looking at different brands and different qualities of wine. We are looking at what the possibilities are. How we can extend our business.”

Australia’s unique environment doesn’t always translate successfully to less pristine corners of the globe. There’s a pattern in Australia’s corporate ecosystem. With notable exceptions – Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and Twenty-First Century Fox, Frank Lowy’s Westfield, shipping pallet distributor Brambles and the mining and energy companies that raise global revenue from their domestic assets – the country’s biggest businesses seem to thrive at home. They often stumble the moment they head overseas. If food and supplements makers Treasury Wine Estates, Blackmores and Bellamy’s have done better, it’s thanks largely to Chinese demand for Australia-branded products.

In Australia, the average cost of a 750 mL bottle was $21.59, factoring in both local and imported wines. In contrast, New Zealand was ranked as the 10th least expensive country in which to buy wine, with an average bottle costing only $14.43. Paraguay took the title of cheapest, with an average price of $9.90/bottle; at the other end of the scale, the United Arab Emirates came in at over five times higher, at $51.15/bottle. Australia drinks an average of 28.80 L of wine per capita annually, ranking 14th in the world for most litres consumed.

A former New Zealand Young Winemaker of the Year has won the title of NZ Winemaker of the Year.
Four international wine judges picked Patrick Newton of Mudbrick Vineyard as the inaugural winner on October 15. The competition replaces the New Zealand Young Winemaker of the Year as part of the New Zealand Aromatic Wine Competition, administered by the Canterbury A&P Show. The Waiheke Island winemaker describes the award as “quite an honour”.

Argentina, Chile and New Zealand have bucked the downward trend in wine sales in the UK for the major producing nations, according to figures quoted by Concha y Toro this week. The wine company, which is Chile’s largest, cited IRI figures that show wine from the country increased its sales in the 12 months to 8 October by 4.5% on the corresponding period a year earlier. The rise, to GBP441.3m (US$538.2m), pushed Chile ahead of South Africa into fifth position. Overall, UK sales from the top ten producing nations were down in the 12-month period by 2.6% year-on-year, coming in at GBP4.8bn.