Tag: Australia

The 20th Canberra International Riesling Challenge starts today

One of the biggest international promotions of Riesling starts today at the Albert Hall in Canberra, Australia.

The Riesling challenge has attracted 502 entries from 228 wineries from across nine Riesling-producing countries.

Judges from China, the UK, New Zealand, and Australia will rate the wines by region, country, and the world over three days, with results announced this Friday evening at an awards ceremony at the Hotel Realm.

The week will conclude with one of the biggest consumer tastings of Riesling in the world.

A feature of this year’s entries is what may be the first-ever entry from China to an Australian wine show.

“… one remembers the early days when Riesling was regarded as a cheap low-quality wine. Riesling’s profile is now that of the greatest white wine in the world” states CIRC chair James Service

Riesling Week Events

  • Judging: 14-17 October 2019: Albert Hall, Yarralumla – Media only
  • Riedel Riesling Master Class: Thursday 17 October 2019, 6.00pm – 9.00pm at the Hotel Realm
  • Awards Presentation: Friday 18 October 2019, 5.30pm – 7.00pm at the Hotel Realm
  • Hotel Realm Riesling Dinner: Friday 19 October, 7:30pm, Buvette Restaurant, Hotel Realm
  • ActewAGL Trade and Consumer Tasting: Saturday 19 October 2019, 11.00am-3.00pm Albert Hall, Yarralumla

rieslingchallenge.com

European wine scientists to share expertise and knowledge with Australian Wine Research Institute

European wine scientists are set to share their expertise with the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) in Adelaide as part of a major EU funded exchange program.

A consortium of 13 members of the Oenoviti International network of grape and wine research organizations, including the AWRI, has received €874,000 in funding to allow 39 wine researchers from the EU to spend a total of 190 months at industry organizations around the world.

As part of the international exchange program, the AWRI said 11 researchers from France, Portugal and Spain were expected to spend time in Adelaide.

“The program aims to enhance collaborative networks, facilitate knowledge sharing and build personal relationships within the international grape and wine research community, resulting in enduring benefits for the people and organizations involved and for global wine producers,” said Dan Johnson, MD, AWRI.

“Our scientists look forward to sharing their knowledge and learning from the high calibre visiting researchers, he added.
Oenoviti International is a network dedicated to research excellence and education in viticulture and oenology. The network includes more than 55 partners around the world and is coordinated by the University of Bordeaux – Institut des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin.

Program co-ordinator, professor Pierre-Louis Teissedre, said: “When grape and wine scientists from around the world work together and share their expertise and knowledge, there are positive outcomes for all wine-producing countries.”

Participating countries include: Argentina, Italy, South Africa, Chile, France, Spain, and Australia, will host the placements between 2019 and 2023.

Global Coalition to Protect Wine Place Names Adds 20th Member

The South Australian wine region of Barossa became the latest signatory of the Joint Declaration to Protect Wine Place & Origin, a global movement to ensure wine place names are protected and not abused or miscommunicated to consumers. The coalition welcomed Barossa on Friday at a meeting in San Francisco, where members discussed how to build on the coalition’s recent successful effort to protect place names online.

SF Declaration Meeting 28-October-2016.jpg

“Over the last year, our coalition has expanded its work to protect wine place names globally, including online where consumers increasingly shop for the wines they love,” said Linda Reiff, president and CEO of the Napa Valley Vintners wine trade association, one of the founding signatories to the Declaration. “We are proud to have another esteemed winemaking region join our collective efforts to ensure consumers aren’t misled and that the identity of a wine’s place is protected.”

In January 2016, American-based Internet name registry Donuts launched the new .wine and .vin domain extensions. Prior to the launch, members of the Declaration worked with Donuts on an agreement that put safeguards in place to ensure the extensions could not be falsely used to mislead consumers. On the heels of this effort, representatives from Barossa attended last week’s coordinating meetings with other Declaration members and will participate in activities that were outlined for the coming year.

“We are honored to join this remarkable group of leading world wine regions dedicated to protecting place names. Barossa wines, like all those represented in this coalition, are unique in representing their sense of place,” said James March, CEO of the Barossa Grape & Wine Association. “Despite our fierce competition in the worldwide marketplace, we all agree that location is the most important ingredient in creating truly unique and distinctive wines.”

Text Box: Members from the Declaration gather around Barossa representative Anne Moroney at a meeting in San Francisco on October 28.Since it was first signed in 2005, the Declaration efforts have led to increasing attention around the protection of wine place names. For example, this year five winery members of the Napa Valley Vintners announced that they are voluntarily giving up use of the name Port on their fortified dessert wine labels. While the producers have the legal right to use the term because they were grandfathered following the signing of the 2006 U.S. and European Commission Wine Trade Agreement, each agreed to abandon use of the semi-generic term in support of Napa Valley’s efforts to protect winemaking place names and its alliance with Porto in the Declaration. 

For more information, visit origins.wine or follow the coalition on Twitter and Facebook.

About the Declaration

The Joint Declaration to Protect Wine Place Names & Origin was signed in Napa Valley on July 26, 2005. The signatories of the Declaration include: Barossa, Bordeaux, Bourgogne/Chablis, Champagne, Chianti Classico, Jerez-Xérès-Sherry, Long Island, Napa Valley, Oregon, Paso Robles, Porto, Rioja, Santa Barbara County, Sonoma County, Victoria, Tokaj, Walla Walla Valley, Washington state, Willamette Valley and Western Australia. To lend support and read the full text of the Declaration visit origins.wine.

 

SEPTEMBER 1ST DEADLINE: AUSTRALIA CORKS ITS USE OF “CHAMPAGNE”

On September 1 Australia joins the global movement to support robust truth-in-labelling laws that protect consumers by requiring that wine growing place names are reserved exclusively for the regions where the wines come from.

Any bubbly produced in Australia after September 1 can no longer be labeled as “Champagne”, and will have to be called ‘sparkling wine’ or other term.

There has been a trade agreement signed between Australia and European Union which is meant to protect winegrowers around the world, and to enforce labelling laws, an initiative of the Comité Interprofessionel du Vin de Champagne, or CIVC in France.

Russia and Vietnam continue to mislabel their bottles, says a CIVC spokeperson, and more than 50 percent of sparkling wine in the US is mislabeled as champagne.

Canada has robust labeling laws and consumers have been educated and are aware they are purchasing a bottle from the Champagne region of France.

To mark this industry milestone, CIVC has created this website to count down the days and minutes until the new Australian law comes into force http://countdown.champagne.us/