Winestate Magazine

I HAVE SAIDTHIS SO MANYTIMES OVER the past few issues it may be verging on getting boring. I know that the trend now is to drink what is in front of you but please don’t miss out on getting a few extra wines to put away for further cellaring. Not only will you be delighted to enjoy these in the future, but you will also be helping out the many wineries who may be doing it a little tougher than usual. Heaven knows I can’t remember a time when more great wines have been heavily discounted. Whilst this may last into next year this opportunity is not going to last forever. And definitely try some wines you have not tried before. If you can’t find some of the wines, we…

TAHBILK CHANGING OF THE GUARD ALISTER Purbrick is standing down as head of Tahbilk - Victoria’s oldest family-owned winery. And Tahbilk has gone outside the wine industry to appoint a replacement. Tahbilk, established in 1860, has been owned and operated by the Purbrick family since 1925. Fourth generation Alister Purbrick will retire in June and will be replaced as Chief Executive Officer by Ross Sudano. Sudano is described as having "experience in disrupting existing markets". He has worked with familiar brands including Little Creatures Brewing, Anaconda Adventure Stores, BP Australia, Foodland Associated Limited and The Reject Shop. Alister Purbrick is a well-known figure on the Australian wine landscape, having served on several industry boards and committees over the course of his career. This includes his role as the inaugural chair of Australia’s First Families of Wine,…

NEW GI FOR BANNOCKBURN CENTRAL Otago’s sub-region Bannockburn has been formally registered as a Geographical Indication (GI). Carrick winemaker Rosie Menzies, who worked on the application, says, “It’s been a long journey to get here. First, the wider New Zealand wine regions had to be in place – something that was achieved five or six years ago. Then it was a case of collecting evidence to show that Bannockburn was a clearly defined sub-region within Central Otago.” Central Otago Winegrowers general manager Jake Tipler says, "Whilst the Central Otago brand name will always be first and foremost for the region, there has always been a concern that sub-regions may also be exposed to misrepresentation," and he expects that other sub-regions will in time follow in its footsteps. The GI will provide…

CERTIFIED organic viticulture has been a benchmark of viticulture looking to preserve the finite resource that is soil, biodiversity, and to reduce agrochemical inputs. It has moved from quirky oddity of the 1980s and 1990s, to something aspirational, if not yet mainstream. It’s worth remembering that ‘non-organic’ agriculture - conventional agriculture - is a phenomenon of post-world war two, as agrochemicals were widely introduced in the 1940s and became lauded as a way to produce high yields of crops, more reliably, with reduced manpower inputs; things that were desirable in the aftermath of global conflict. But it didn’t take too many decades before the risks of agrochemicals were becoming evident, such as toxicity, resistance development, and the damage to non-target species, and so a new organic impetus began. In a study…

PINOT Noir is a difficult grape variety to get right. But when it is handled correctly, both in the vineyard and winery, it is capable of providing the finest entertainment in the world of wine. Understanding pinot noir can be tricky as the grape has a number of masquerades, which is driven by the region, soils and the hand of the winemaker. Pinot Noir loves a cool to warm climate. But the conditions must be warm enough to get the grapes fully ripened, otherwise it has a habit of producing thin and herbaceous wines that lack colour. The one exception to this is if the grapes are made into sparkling wine. Champagne produces glorious sparkling wines from pinot noir. Occasionally they make table wines in the region and if you have…

THE American seaside resort was invented in Newport, Rhode Island. Some of the wealthiest families in the US started building extravagant mansions, ironically called summer cottages, during the so-called Gilded Age in the late 19th century. Anyone who became addicted to the recent TV series of the same name, written by Julian Fellowes of Downtown Abbey fame, googled locations for filming to discover that many of the scenes were shot in the former Newport getaways of the Vanderbilts, Astors and Morgans, including The Breakers, Marble House and Chateau-sur-Mer. Several of these plush piles are open to the public and like Highclere Castle in the UK, the home of the fictional Crawleys in Downtown Abbey, they can be hired for weddings and events. Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence married her longtime boyfriend Cooke…