"Hong Kong is rapidly becoming a major Asian hub for the international wine industry, a role that will bring with it jobs and investment, and discussions are under way to further the collaboration on wine trade between Hong Kong and Australia.
"The Hong Kong Trade Development Council held its first international wine fair last August, attracting more than 240 international wine merchants from more than 25 countries, and over 40 Australian wineries were represented there."
With a name like Inkberry, I thought I knew exactly what the wine was going to be like. Instead I was surprised by the finesse of the wine. While I would hesitate to call it elegant, there is a brightness and freshness that I found appealing. Apparently the winery's vineyards are at an elevation of about 1,900 feet, giving the grapes an unusually cool environment. This allows the grapes to have a long, slow growing season, which keeps the sugars low and the alcohol in check. It also makes for small, intensely colored berries, which is why the wine is named Inkberry.
The choice of blending shiraz (syrah) and cabernet sauvignon is so Aussie. While the rest of the world tends to group varietals that grow in the same region (e.g. cabernet with merlot, or syrah with grenache), if a blend sounds good to an Aussie it will wind up in the bottle. They have taught everyone else how to think out of the box.
The industry said that as the global economic crisis took grip of key markets in 2008, Australia exported 11 per cent less wine by volume and 18 per cent less by value than a year earlier.
MURRUMBATEMAN (Reuters) - From a picturesque hill overlooking the hazy distant foothills of Australia's eastern ranges, Bruce March can see a crisis facing the country's A$2.4 billion (£1.1 billion) wine export industry with crushing clarity.
March, chief winemaker at Doonkuna Winery, in prize cool climate vine country north of Canberra, had been looking forward to a bumper 2009 harvest, tripling production capacity last year in anticipation of rocketing China demand for his wine.
But the global financial crisis has exploded that interest, bringing with it a soul-searching for Australia's vignerons, ironically when good rains and a late summer are set to bring one of the best harvests for years.
SYDNEY (AFP) — Asia had a thirst for Australian wine in 2008, with an industry report on Thursday naming China, Hong Kong and Japan among its top-five growth markets in an otherwise dismal year.
Low-yield harvests and a strong Australian dollar placed enormous pressure on the country's winegrowers last year, driving down the value of exports for the first time in 15 years, said the government's Wine and Brandy Corporation.
"Despite the challenges there were some highlights during the past 12 months, particularly in Asian markets," the corporation said in its annual report, released Thursday.
While the value of exports to Europe and North America declined -- sinking 17 percent and 25 percent respectively -- Asian exports grew eight percent, with the value of shipments almost double that of Europe.
First the good news: Australia's wine grape growers are looking at another big vintage, probably close to last year's 1.837 million tonnes, meaning consumers will continue to enjoy plentiful cheap wine - the glut continues.
And now the bad news: Australia's wine grape growers are looking at another big vintage, probably close to last year's 1.837 million tonnes, meaning our wine industry remains under stress, with vineyard values falling, plenty of smaller wineries going under and our biggest wine makers being steadily reduced to slave-status by the supermarket giants.
But wait, there's more: We're exporting less wine and doing it at lower prices. The mainstay UK market has turned particularly sour - supermarket gorilla Tesco almost makes Woolworths and Coles appear supplier-friendly.
Kym Schroeter, Penfolds Senior White Winemaker, reported that the climate in 2005 had been favourable for the Adelaide Hills region, helping produce high quality wine. "Vintage 2005 was a cool year and particularly suited the Adelaide Hills," he advised. "The wine is normally a multi-regional blend, sourcing the best parcels of fruit available. After a very strict culling of barriques, the resulting blend was exclusively Adelaide Hills, for the first time ever."
The trophy was established in memory of a former chairman of the AWBC, Mr George Mackey, who died in office in 1990.
The award is presented annually by the AWBC to the most outstanding export wine of the year. Initial nomination is made by AWBC wine inspectors, who set aside the best wines during the routine inspection of every exported Australian wine.
The accord signed today in Brussels specifies when Australia will phase out terms such as Champagne, Port, Claret and Sherry, the European Commission said in a statement. It also outlines the conditions for Australia to continue to use certain quality wine terms such as “vintage,” “cream” and “tawny” to describe wines exported to Europe and sold domestically.
“Crucially, we have obtained protection for our geographical indications and traditional expressions, which was of the utmost importance for European producers,” said EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel.
This is the third time Peter Lehmann Wines has been awarded this trophy, having also won in 2003 and 2006.
“To win the International Riesling Trophy for the sixth time as well as 2 Gold medals for Stonewell Shiraz and Futures Shiraz, highlights not only the quality but also the versatility of this spectacular winemaking district,” said Andrew Wigan, chief winemaker at Peter Lehmann Wines.
Peter Lehmann Wines were awarded:
2 Trophies: Maersk Logistics Trophy for Australian Wine Producer - Peter Lehmann Wines
Recent figures show New Zealand's table wine, contributed to the biggest growth in wine sales across the Tasman.
They accounted for $219 million in off premise sales in the year ending July.
Nielsen spokesman Michael Walton says New Zealand is dominating the Australian wine market, saying after doing analysis of all the Australian wine regions, found that New Zealand had grown the most.
Walton says New Zealand wine increased its value share of the Aussie market by 3%.
A high Australian wine crush will see the sector's surplus continue, according to Winemakers Federation of Australia chief executive Stephen Strachan.
Australia’s wine crush grew by nearly a third in 2008 to 1,830,673 tonnes, according to new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.Australian wine researchers have become the first in the world to map the genetic code for wine yeast.
Researchers from the Australian Wine Research Institute started work on the code this year, after a four-year head start for their northern hemisphere counterparts.
The Institute's managing director, Professor Sakkie Pretorius, says the discovery means new strains of yeast can be developed without genetic engineering.
"To tailor-make your wine making process in such a way that you can shape your aroma profile, or the composition of your wine according to market specifications is absolutely critical, and that critical element in that process is the choice of yeast," he said.
It's a good week when two of Australia's most talented winemakers are in town.
That was the case recently when Penfolds' Peter Gago and Yalumba's Jane Ferrari were in Calgary.
Gago is the chief winemaker for Penfolds, and a tireless ambassador for the winery. His knowledge and relaxed demeanour make him one of the most charismatic wine educators in the business. When he's not overseeing Penfolds' considerable array of wines, he's on the road conducting re-corking clinics and hosting Rewards of Patience tastings.
The company will be putting three of its winemaking facilities on the market, valued at about $200 million, rationalising its packaging operations, increasing prices, cutting its workforce and shedding about a third of the labels under its brand names.
At the same time, another beverage giant, Foster's Group, is also reviewing its Australian wine operations and there is speculation in the business media that the industry could be seeing a preview of the outcome.
CWA will be selling its winemaking facilities at Clare and Padthaway in South Australia, and Mount Barker in Western Australia, streamlining its product portfolio and adjusting fruit sourcing requirements to suit.
And to showcase the new rivalries, Wine Australia and Wine Focus are bringing together some of Australia's best wines under one roof for an exceptional tasting experience.
Respected wine writers Max Allen and Campbell Mattinson have selected a list of wines that exemplify the Landmark Australia values of excellence and authenticity.
Together, they have chosen 10 wines that are established icons, and matched them with current expressions that they believe are the emerging stars of the same variety or style.
These wines are the core of an event titled 'Landmark: Great Australian Wines – Past, Present and Future' and include classics such as Grosset Polish Hill Clare Valley Riesling, Leeuwin Estate Art Series Margaret River Chardonnay and emerging stars like Torbreck 'The Gask' Eden Valley Shiraz and Bindi Quartz Macedon Ranges Chardonnay.
The Capel Vale Winery usually uses carbon dioxide to bottle wine for 100 WA wineries, but has been unable to source any CO2, because it is no longer being produced, due to the gas shortage.
The winery has now opted to use nitrogen gas which costs three times as much.
Site manager Keith Warrick says he is negotiating with his supplier, working out the logistics to get the nitrogen to the south-west.
"They have at least had somebody on site that's determined the appropriate location for the bulk vessel, the amount of engineering that's going to be required to get it up and running," he said.
A thirty three percent decline in bulk wine shipments and 41 percent drop in tetra -pack shipments has led to a nine percent drop in the volume of Australian wine exports, reports Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation.
The volume of wine exports fell to 724 million litres in the 12 months to the end of May this year, the AWBC says, while the value of overall wine exports dropped seven per cent to $2.8 billion, in the same period.
Lawrie Stanford from the AWBC says while bulk shipments have declined, the rate of bottled shipments has also slowed in recent months as they grew only 1%, by 8 million litres.
