The marketing hype said this: "Clarke (Michael Clarke CEO Treasury Wine Estates) said TWE will launch its biggest ever consumer promotion next month. For any six bottles of Penfolds Bin Series or Icon and Luxury wines purchased, consumers in Australia will be able to purchase an exclusive refrigerated wine cabinet that stores up to 32 wine bottles at a significantly reduced price. more...

Coles liquor (Liquorland, Vintage Cellars, First Choice) is a big business but they lost direction in the early 2000s and have since wandered aimlessly. They are not the tough, vibrant, number two to Woolworths, which we need, but instead a dispirited retailer with little to say. It is said that Woolworths make $450 million out of liquor while Coles make $40 million. more...

Retailing has its challenges but if you can buy the same products as competitors at a lower price you start the day a long way in front. The options then are; charge the same price as everyone else and make more money or become aggressive with prices to sell more and extend your advantage. more...

Goodman Fielder and Pacific Brands, both sell many icon brands, yet struggle to convince retailers that they have 'brand power'. The big chains suggest the opposite is true as strip away the brand and what is dressed up as powerful is just a basic commodity. The grape vine is a productive plant and water and sun work wonders in making fruit that can be manipulated into an alcoholic beverage which has found favour for over 6000 years. more...

Australia grows good grapes and has high technical skills in wine making and to keep this production side humming along is surrounded by scientific institutions which provide answers to problems for the growers and makers.
On top sits a complex system of judging which sifts through the yearly crop and gives subjective but useful views on the quality being made. more...

The yearly release of the Penfolds bin wines is a major event for providing a quality bench-mark and an image boost for Australia. The Bins are important for the financial health of Treasury and some analysts calculate that with the super premiums like Grange and St Henri, Penfolds accounts for +50% of Treasury's profit.

From the red wine experiments of Max Shubert in the 1950s Penfolds wines has grown into a very large family tree. Most times 50 wines can be purchased. more...

The Spence brothers, Bill and Ross, have a special place in the history of New Zealand wine as they planted the first sauvignon blanc vines in 1969 though these were on the North Island not at Marlborough. The first wine was made in 1973 the year the first vines were planted in Marlborough. more...

Farmer Bros opened its first liquor store in the Canberra suburb of Manuka in June, 1975. The store was long and narrow and was fitted out in the usual manner though in the middle was a square coolroom with glass doors displaying beer and wines. The idea was that when you walked beyond the coolroom, you entered a private area, full of fancy wines, like a cellar. more...

'March Mataro Madness' is underway at Glug and we will do our best to get you to try this wonderful variety. We will win on this score as with every order this month you will receive a FREE bottle of really good Mataro'.

It is the business of wine and food magazines and their stable of wine writers to explain the qualities of new grape varieties. Australians are reluctant to try new styles, but bit by bit the wine fraternity chips away and overtime they expand the range of varieties that move from novel to familiar. Currently they are encouraging the adventurous to try varieties such as pinot gris and prosecco (sparkling wine) and reds like sangiovese, nebbiolo and tempranillo. more...

Decades ago I owned a large bottle shop in the Sydney suburb of Waterloo. It's expensive real estate now but back then the hoods propped up bars in the local pubs, we often drank at The George opposite the shop, while down the side lane, Beaumont Street, the hookers relaxed between jobs. more...

I have been at the direct mail business a long time. Back in the mid 1970s we did the page layouts with letra-set and now Ben writes a bit of code to place my stories on Glug. And this revolution has arrived just in the nick of time as the chains have the selling of wine from shops all tied up. more...

The sudden and dramatic growth in production of gas and oil from 'tight shale formations' in the U.S. still has me shaking my head in amazement. Oil explorers have always known these reserves existed but working out how to extract the hydro-carbons for a profit seemed impossible. Where there is a will, a way will be found and small and medium sized companies beavered away in the background, I assume for decades, seeking answers. more...

It is not easy to innovate in the world of wine. After all there is only so much you can do with the taste. more...

The year 2000 must seem like another time for Coles liquor as back then they were the king. Now they are a distant second to Woolworths; but not a tough, vibrant second with a strong customer appeal. Rather a group with few ideas for growth and seemingly becalmed, a spectator not an aggressive competitor. more...

Lion Nathan announced on the 17th October it was closing the Swan Brewery. As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald; "Lion intends to transfer its WA keg production and the brewing of Swan and Emu to its West End Brewery in South Australia and its WA pack production to its James Boag & Son Brewery in Tasmania". more...

"A HIGH-CLASS escort has signed a statutory declaration alleging she had sex with the federal MP Craig Thomson". Sydney Morning Herald, 25th May, 2012. It makes no sense being an escort if you can become a high class escort as I assume the pay and conditions are better. more...