Australia’s entire vineyard area has been comprehensively mapped in the country’s first ‘National Vineyard Scan’ and was found to be 8% bigger than previously thought. Funded by Wine Australia and conducted by Consilium Technology, the programme used both artificial intelligence and satellite imagery to record every scrap of land planted with vines. The new data will replace the old Australian Bureau of Statistics sector survey which was last issued in 2015. That paper had recorded Australia’s national vineyard at 135,133 hectares but the new scan has shown it to be 146,128ha, 8% bigger. Region’s...

A study of a Celtic site in modern Burgundy has examined the extent to which Greek culture influenced local wine drinking and feasting rituals. Vix, Mont Lassois A new study by a Franco-German team has examined 99 pieces of both imported Greek (‘Attic’) and locally made pottery from the 7th to 5th centuries BC at the site of Vix-Mont Lassois near Châtillon-sur-Seine in northern Burgundy; specifically from the plateau of the hill where the upper classes of the local Celtic culture lived and feasted but also areas where craftspeople lived and worked. Trace chemical analysis revealed the presence...

Sotheby’s wine auctions have reached US$65 million in the first half of 2019, a rise of 23% over the same period in 2018 and the highest spring total since the wine auctions began in 1970. The results were boosted enormously, effectively single-handedly, by a four-day auction in Hong Kong which made HK$273.1m (US$34.8m) in total, a new world record for a series of wine sales and which included the ‘Tran-scend-ent’ single owner collection which made US$30m alone. The 75 cases of Mouton Rothschild wines sold to benefit the Palace of Versailles and Notre-Dame Cathedral added a further $2.7m. Meanwhile,...

Asda has rolled out three glittery, colour-changing gins inspired by classic old-fashioned sweet flavours, as well as a range of mixers. The new gins, which are branded under the Extra Special own label, comprise a Lemon Sherbet Gin, Pear Drop Gin and Parma Violet Gin, and will retail for £18. Ed Sowerby, Asda spirits product manager, said novelty, quality gins had become a summer must-have for customers looking to entertain with flair and flavour. “Working closely with our suppliers, we’ve created a range of gins which are both glitzy and gorgeous to look at, but also deliver popular flavours...

As a group of wine trade cyclists gear up for this year’s fund-raising challenge for The Benevolent, we look back at the Lycra-clad participants from charity rides of the past. As previously reported by the drinks business, Mentzendorff managing director Andrew Hawes has orchestrated a 350km bicycling challenge in aid of The Benevolent, and the riders will set off next week. Among them will be me, as I swap the sodden streets of London for the sun-baked terrain of Tuscany – the ride takes us from the Maremma to Sienna, and has been dubbed the Giro di Toscana. However, this is far from the first...

Want to see what this year’s students had to contend with in the Master of Wine examination? Look no further, as we bring you the questions and wines from 2019’s ordeal. Revealed by the IMW this morning was this year’s Master of Wine papers, which cover both a ‘theory’ essay-writing element and a ‘practical’ exam, which comprises three 12-wine blind tastings, held over consecutive mornings. The famously difficult test was held from 3 June to 7 June, with 160 students sitting the exam across three sites: London, San Francisco and Adelaide. Over four days, the students had three 12-wine...

Lidl UK is gearing up to launch wine sales online, db understands, as the discounter announces it is upping its spend on London expansion. Lidl UK’s French Wine Cellar Collection Although the retailer has not confirmed any timescale, or clarified exactly what the online offer will be, db understands that wines will be part of the planned online offer, after the online team were at this year’s London Wine Fair. A spokesman for the retailers told db: “Ecommerce is something we’re exploring and we have a digital team of experts within the business who are looking at this.” Since...

More than a quarter of Oddbins’ stores have shut since the retailer was placed in administration, db has learned. Since Oddbins was put into administration by its parent company European Food Brokers Ltd at the end of January, blaming the uncertain economic pressure from Brexit, rising rents and the deterioration of the high street, 13 of its stores have been shut. Although the administrators originally said they planned to continue to operate the stores as a going concern while assessing the companies options, out of the retailer’s original 45 Oddbins stores, only 32 have remained...