SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - Bottling wine in recycled plastic may be good for the environment in the long-term, but not for the quality of the vintage, an Australian study shows. The study, commissioned by plastic bottle maker Portavin, revealed the gr
THE quality of Australias 2010 wine vintage promises to be the best in a decade, and drinkers will also continue to savour some heavy discounting. Fewer grapes were produced in the 2010 harvest, with the Winemakers Federation of Australia estimating
Barossa grape grower Leo Pech is urging removal of tax breaks for new vineyards, saying it is ridiculous to encourage development during a wine glut. Growers in the Clare and Barossa Valleys have been told they need to pull out at least 17 per cent
Australia`s largest brewer Foster`s is to separate its struggling wine arm from its beer business. The firm expanded into wine in 1996 when it bought the Mildara Blass brand. The business now includes Southcorp with its Penfolds and Lindemans brands
A $12 billion demerger announced by Foster`s earlier this week was the culmination of `stupid` wine acquisitions, a poor management culture nurtured by monopoly positions in the beer market and the changed economics of the wine industry. The scathin
FOSTERS wine chief recently raided Coles liquor outlets, buying as much Penfolds 389 as he could as part of its campaign to protect his brands from retailer discounts.
Ian Henderson says the unusual micro-climate on his Granite Belt vineyard at Ballandean means his grapes can be picked in the dead of winter, several months after the last fruit in the country has been harvested.
After extensive and meticulous work which will probably always be ongoing, researchers at the University of Auckland have concluded their country`s iconic Sauvignon blanc is best stored chilled, at around 5 degrees. Cold storage can triple the shelf-
People who are overweight have a greater sense of smell for food, a study has found. Researchers from the University of Portsmouth say their early findings may go towards explaining why some people struggle to stay slim.
Archaeologists say they have found the worlds oldest known winery in a cave in Armenia, indicating that humans were distilling grapes during the Copper Age, more than 6,000 years ago.
Composer Andrew Lloyd Webbers wine collection has sold for US$5.6m (£3.5m) at an auction in Hong Kong. Among the 746 lots, the most expensive case of wine was a Chateau Petrus 1982, 12 bottles going for $77,564 (£48,500).
Can a wine really have notes of chocolate, truffle and violets? Can wines be feminine, pretentious or cheeky? Can wines express anything? Or, more philosophically, are the senses of taste and smell as structured as sight?
The Australian understands the groups vice-president, Ge Junjie, who has been visiting Australia this week, has been urging Fosters to split its wine division into separate assets, rather than demerge the unit to shareholders in a newly listed vehicl
MODERATE drinkers actually live longer than teetotalers, lending more weight to the argument that imbibing does improve health, according to findings published today. Researchers from the University of Texas, Austin found that people who completely
AUSTRALIAN winemakers might have won over Chinese drinkers with the flavour of their product, but they need to work on the snob factor. China is Australias fastest-growing wine market, with exports growing 46 per cent by value over the 12 months to
Family-owned vignerons plan to restore the industrys faded fortunes It is tempting to portray the Australian wine industry as a vast collection of wineries all piled on a huge seesaw, with 20 very large companies churning out 75 per cent of the nati
DOUG Crittenden gently eases the cork from a bottle of 1964 Barossa cabernet sauvignon. `This is one of ours,` he says as he slowly pours the russet old wine into a decanter. `We bought this in bulk from Saltram. Peter Lehmann was the winemaker back
