The Clare Region Winegrape Growers Association says lower yields are boosting prices for quality grapes. Prices for red winegrapes have increased slightly in the lead-up to next year’s vintage.

The strong Australian dollar has sent sales of French champagne soaring up to 25 percent in Australia in the past year. And for the first time, many Australian ‘methode champenoise’ sparkling wines are now more expensive than the prized French fizz. Imported Moet, which makes up more than 40% of Australian champagne sales, is now selling in liquor barns around the nation for $49 a bottle. As the sound of popping corks explodes across the nation in the lead-up to Christmas and New Year, Australians have developed a love of champagne, said Elizabeth Drysdale, from the Champagne Bureau of Australia.

The producers behind the top three 2011 Verdelhos identified in a recent tasting by the Wine & Viticulture Journal have banded together to help create an upsurge of interest for the variety.

For many of us, the red wine we bring out for the Christmas feast – perhaps while exclaiming ‘tar-an-ta-raa!’ – is one of the most important of the year. Susy Atkins, in The Telegraph, writes it should certainly be something special, by which I don’t mean crazy-expensive, necessarily, just that your wine should convey a sense of careful selection.

For more than a century, grapegrowers have chosen rootstocks to fight phylloxera. More recently, viruses, nematodes, limited lifetimes, productivity and soils have been major concerns, but now it’s becoming clear that water usage will be increasingly important. Wines & Vines reports in many areas where grapes grow well, it’s only because they’ve been irrigated—and in some cases are protected from drought by spraying.

For more than a century, grapegrowers have chosen rootstocks to fight phylloxera. More recently, viruses, nematodes, limited lifetimes, productivity and soils have been major concerns, but now it’s becoming clear that water usage will be increasingly important. Wines & Vines reports in many areas where grapes grow well, it’s only because they’ve been irrigated—and in some cases are protected from drought by spraying.

Western Australia’s Environment Minister yesterday rejected an application to develop a black coal operation in the Margaret River wine region. The Sydney Morning Herald reports Bill Marmion said he was upholding a recommendation by the Environmental Protection Authority against a black-coal mine 12 kilometres north-east of the town. The Vasse Coal Project is owned by partners Vasse Coal and South West Coal, which engaged LD Operations to manage the approvals process.

The Wine & Viticulture Journal will be holding its next regular tasting in Tasmania to coincide with the International Cool Climate Symposium being held in Hobart from 31 January to 4 February. The focus of the tasting will be Australian Pinot Noirs with recommended retail prices of $50 and over.

This is a beautiful, rich wine that is fairly intense but not overpowering. In the glass it is a deep red with a touch of purple,writes Wine Time columnist Denis Sodomka, in The Augusta Chronicle. The aroma is full of black currant, anise and a bit of eucalyptus. The flavours are full of rich, red-berry fruit, black currant and cassis, with some cedar and spice. It’s a very pleasant wine that’s good to sip and great with food.

The people have spoken. And the verdict: Cairns is one of the top 10 best food and wine destinations in Australasia. The city has been ranked the 10th best food and wine destination in the South Pacific by leading global travel website TripAdvisor, which uses public reviews to rate destinations, reports Cairns Post. Cairns placed 10th behind Melbourne (first), followed by Sydney, Queenstown (New Zealand), Auckland Central (NZ), Christchurch (NZ), Wellington (NZ), Surfers Paradise, Brisbane and Perth