Cider is back in popularity with sales over the last five years leaping ahead. Why is it though that a lovely beverage which has been around for centuries can fall in and out of favour? more...

Well we have seen the end of 2011 but before the year fades let us say fare-well to one of the great Australian companies Fosters or Carlton and United Breweries as it will be remembered, now owned by SAB Miller. more...

A decent new year's resolution would be to drink more Champagne because when the mood is right it's the only drink. So it was that I opened the Agrapart Fils 'Blanc de Blanc' Brut Grand Cru 12.0% and what a delight it was with delicate, soft flavours and a fine texture though lacks the seriousness, bread notes and the like, that reserve wines add to Champagne so is inherently simpler that a grand de-luxe wine. Incidentally the Agrapart is another of the so-called artisanal Champagnes, made by owner-growers-makers, which I have commented on over the last year. more...

The Journal of Women's Health has just published a study suggesting that red wine might be the next big thing in breast cancer prevention. The study has found that women who drank just under two servings of red wine daily experienced hormonal changes that mimic the effects of a drug used to prevent malignant breast tumors from coming back. Consuming the same amount of white wine did not have the same effect in premenopausal women participating in the study. more...

In the wine business I am very cautious about using phrases like; 'best suited to the advanced drinker who understands older wines', or 'not recommended for those who like a sweeter fruiter taste'; as you are drawing a line between customers. Also any form of negative may also throw a doubt into those to whom you are appealing. I guess the term is, "it may back-fire". more...

Over the last 15 years the view has spread among wine writers in English speaking countries that wine should portray its place of origin and wines that are true to this ideal taste better. This is largely an embrace of the European and particularly the French concept of terroir. Some writers go further and enlarge this idea to include trends about 'natural-authentic' wines, and organic and bio-dynamic viticultural and winemaking methods. more...

Turning cheap plonk into dollars is no easy task in these times of the great wine surplus so surely it cannot be long before there is an Australian entrant in the booming fad for wine spas. more...

The astonishing rise, in numerous countries, of sauvignon blanc as the white wine drinkers favourite represents one of the most significant consumer tastes shifts ever seen in the wine category. There is no sign of this reaching a plateau and it may signal a permanent move by consumers towards the flavours of cool climate white wines. more...

The last surviving neon advertisement for the fading Australian brandy business can be seen when you descend the stairs into St James Station, Sydney. The Mildara sign I spotted outside a pub in the Victorian town of Nhill. Relics they may well be, but useful reminders that brandy and fortified wines were once the 'wine' business in Australia. When consumers discovered table wines in the 1950s-1960s they turned the wine business on its head.