Billy Button 2023 Not The Cheese Alpine Valleys Pecorino has won the North East Victorian Wine Challenge – held for the first time since 2019. The show is a regional challenge between the 5 GIs of the North East Wine Zone: Alpine Valleys, Beechworth, Glenrowan, King Valley and Rutherglen. There were a record 335 wines entered across 60 different varieties. Jane Faulker was chair with Steve Flamsteed and Sophie Otton as panel chairs. Other judges were Bridget Raffal, Sandrine Gimon, Franco D’Anna and Lisa Cardelli. Trophies… Abbe Chief of Judges Wine to Watch Little Frances 2022 Shiraz Xcel Fre ..read more

When Angove Family Winemakers – a fifth generation family business established in 1886 – was in need of a superior and high-quality cooling solution for their barrel hall and cellar door, they turned to The Climate Wizard by Seeley International. They operate over two major South Australian wine regions, with a cellar door in McLaren Vale and a second cellar door along with winery and barrel storage in Renmark. The barrel hall in Renmark required a climate control solution that would maintain the wine temperature within the barrels, at or near the target storage temperature of 16˚C. The humidi ..read more

Total sales of Australian wine were 11 percent above production in 2022-23 after the lowest wine production in 15 years, but were not enough to substantially reduce pressure on the historically high national wine inventory levels, according to Wine Australia’s Wine Production, Sales and Inventory Report 2023. Australian wine production was 964 million litres, the lowest since 2006-07 and the first time since then that it has fallen below 1 billion litres. Meanwhile sales of Australian wine remained steady at 1.07 billion litres, with a small increase in domestic sales countering a similar-size ..read more

Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) has announced plans to acquire a substantial Marlborough premium vineyard in New Zealand, expanding its local footprint from 505 hectares to 750 hectares. This will increase supply of highly sought-after lighter varietals including Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, which continue to grow in popularity with consumers around the world. Grapes from the new vineyard will be used in future vintages of the company’s New Zealand wine brands including Matua and Squealing Pig. This year, TWE also celebrates 50 years since Matua created the first commercial Sauvignon Blanc in ..read more

Jane Lopes and Jonathan Ross have been named Wine Communicator of the Year for their new book, How to Drink Australian. The Wine Communicators of Australia (WCA) awards were announced in Sydney last night. The judges described the book as “perhaps the best example of this kind of book ever written”. “The fact that Jane and Jonathan are flying the flag for Australian wine in the important US wine market is an added bonus,” the judges say. “They possess that unique combination of education, both having passed the prestigious Master Sommelier exams, life experience, having curated fine dining wi ..read more

Australian Vintage, one of Australia’s largest vineyard owners with more than 2,600 hectares under vine, has achieved certification of 100 percent of its owned and operated vineyards by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia. Australian Vintage senior viticulture manager Jurie Germishuys says, “The SWA certification supports Australian Vintage in progressing our sustainability roadmap – incorporating regenerative agriculture practices and monitoring impact. “Across our vineyards we’ve installed soil moisture probes that allow us to water when required, preventing excess water use and soil erosion ..read more

First Creek 2022 Single Vineyard Wills Hill Road Hunter Valley Chardonnay won the NSW Governor’s Trophy for Wine of the Year at the ICC Sydney NSW Wine Awards. The Governor of NSW Margaret Beazley presented the award to Greg Silkman on behalf of Silkman Wines, which is led by chief winemaker Liz Silkman who claimed the same trophy in 2021 for Silkman 2014 Reserve Semillon. Chair of judges Nick Spencer described this year’s award-winner as “a wonderful and powerful example of Chardonnay” with great concentration, length and phenolics. The Graham Gregory Award was presented to Tom Ward of Swingi ..read more

Grain of the Silos restaurant in Launceston has won the Judges’ Choice Award in the 2023 Tasmanian Wine List of the Year awards. The Best Regional Wine List was awarded to Kermandie Hotel, while Stanley Wine Bar received awards for both Best Small Wine Bar List and the People’s Choice Wine List, receiving more than 43 percent of votes from the wine-loving public. The outstanding quality of finalists in the 2023 awards also saw the introduction of a highly commended category for the first time, recognising Hobart’s Mures Upper Deck and Peppina, Launceston’s Little V and regional entrant The Imb ..read more

Australian Grape & Wine no longer has the industry mandate to continue to exclusively represent the interests of all Australian producers. So says Bill Moularadellis, pictured, owner of Kingston Estate in the Riverland and chair of the Australian Commercial Wine Producers Ltd (ACWP). “And it certainly does not have the moral authority to convene the R&D and Marketing Advisory Committees which advise Wine Australia’s strategic priorities,” he says. The ACWP has written to Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt seeking to be formally recognised as a declared representative body as prov ..read more

Mark O’Callaghan has been named Winemaker of the Year at the ASVO Awards for Excellence. Dr Catherine Kidman was named Viticulturist of the Year and Professor Andrew Clark won the Wine Science & Technology Award. “Beyond his work at Wine Network Consulting, Mark is an exceptional communicator and educator,” ASVO president Andy Clarke says. “He has actively shared his extensive knowledge with industry members by writing articles and presenting at seminars and webinars at AWITC and for the AWRI and ASVO. “Among his core themes are winery modernisation encouraging improvements in energy, wa ..read more