Australia

Almost half of all vineyards in Hunter Valley, Australia’s oldest wine region, were ripped out in the past eighteen months, reports the Australian newspaper Newscastle Herald based on information from the Hunter Valley Wine Industry Association. Fifteen hundred of the 3,250 hectares of vineyards in the valley or 46% of the total have disappeared, especially in the Upper Hunter Valley, where > Read more …

The Australian wine industry is in dire straits and the economic crisis is not the only one to blame. Australia produces too much wine, the Australian dollar is too expensive, the image of Australian wine is damaged by cheap labels such as Yellow Tale and Rosemount and the industry in recent years failed to renew itself or diversify. Nearly 8,000 > Read more …

Australian wine exports slumbed for the first time in fifteen years, reports The Australian. Last year Australia exported eleven percent less measured by volume and eighteen percent less measured by value. Reasons for the decline are the global financial crisis, the increasing competition from other countries and currency fluctuations. Britain, one of the most important wine markets for the Australians, > Read more …

The Australian wine giant Forster’s Group is the first in the world to bottle wine in recyclable plastic bottles. Wines of the Forster’s brand Wolf Blass will shortly be offered in plastic PET bottles in Canadian and British supermarkets. Oliver Horn of Wolf Blass (in The Advertiser) lists the many advantages of PET bottles: lighter, more easily transportable, unbreakable, and > Read more …