Want to get your wine on our supermarket shelf? Then sell us some of it in bulk along with your labelled bottles so we can undercut it with our own label product. That's the story being told by New Zealand winemakers with particular reference to the United Kingdom market but if it isn't happening on a large scale in the Australian market yet it surely soon will be. more...

It comes as a bit of a shock when you actually see the figures: the Chinese wine industry has nearly three times more area under vines than Australia. And here are we thinking that this market to the north might prove to be some kind of salvation when the truth is that we should start worrying about China pinching market share from us elsewhere in the world. more...

A cautionary note from the wine writer for the Canadian Winnipeg Free Press that I stumbled across recently:

While we don't have much that's worth drinking on our shelves just yet, expect Chinese wine to get a lot of attention in the months and years to come. Many writers, critics and other wine folk who have visited their winemaking regions and/or tasted the wines coming out of China say that the country is poised to make a serious breakthrough in the global market. more...

The current head of the still growing and still family owned Gallo wine company of the United States had some advice recently to its industry peers about developing a market for wine. Making a rare public appearance at the annual San Joaquin Valley Winegrowers Association's Wine and Grape Industry forum in Fresno, Joseph Gallo recalled how his late father, Ernest Gallo, spent many years trying to come up with ideas for how to generate new consumers, but he ultimately gave up on all of them. "He finally came to the conclusion that to make wine consumption grow, the industry had to make a better product that the masses want to drink," Gallo said. "It is that simple." more...

The Bank of China has joined with Zhonghai Trust Co Ltd and the Changyu Pioneer Wine Co Ltd to launch what they describe as China's country's first history-themed wine investment product. The wine-based financial instrument, offered only to VIP clients of BOC, has a 1.08 million yuan ($168,804) minimum investment that is locked in for 18 months. more...

The sale of the 2010 classified growths of Bordeaux have set a cracking pace with most increasing prices and the 1st Growths moving up at least 10%. They may go higher as traders judge the market. Fantastic stuff, and for those with the money to buy 1st Growths, you can expect to pay over £1000 a bottle by 2012. The 'lesser' wines or seconds made by the 1st Growths, from younger vines or parts of the vineyards with lower quality fruit now fetch what the 1st sold for back in 2000. more...

That's the attitude of French youth when it comes to wine according to a recently published study. Research from the ESC Pau research centre and Toulouse 1 Capitole University shows that younger generations are less likely to savour a bottle over food and more prone to drink simply for pleasure. more...

A little bit of a boom in wine drinking and the Chinese industry is showing its capacity to follow in the footsteps of its longer established peers. Last month came the news that six people had been detained, several wineries shut down and bottles pulled from shelves in China after authorities found wine containing several chemical additives. more...

Is nothing sacred? Americans are now making ice wine by picking grapes while the sun is shining and the temperature is warm and then putting them away to age in freezers that simulate the chill that takes place under ideal outdoor conditions. more...