Australian wine firm De Bortoli Wines has revolutionised the sparkling wine industry by partnering with two of Australia’s leading packaging suppliers to launch the country’s first screw-capped sparkling wines this week. Dubbed ViivaTM, the innovative screw-cap was developed locally by Guala Closures Australia in response to complaints from industry and consumers about traditional cork-closed sparkling wines including opening difficulty and loss of carbonation. Guala Closures...

OIV has announced that Dr. Federico Leighton from Chile, who actively participated in the creation of the first OIV sub-commission on wine, nutrition and health, has passed away. “After 50 years of complete commitment to his role as both researcher and professor in the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC), Prof. Dr. Federico Leighton passed away last Friday 27th April age 74”. Professor Leighton’s academic achievements and scientific contributions...

Pontet Canet brightened the mood this week with the release of its 2011 at €66 per bottle ex-negociant. According to Liv-Ex, the vintage has been well received so far and has traded on the platform several times at £689 per case, making it one of only two wines to have found a secondary market above its release price. The 2011 is slightly more expensive than the 2007 and the 2004. In the last few years, the quality of Pontet Canet’s wines has risen sharply, with the...

According to statistics released by the Spanish wine market observatory (OEMV), China imported 924,000 hectolitres of wine worth approximately 2.5 billion yuan over the first quarter of the year. Volume and value consignments rose respectively by 9.5 percent and 20.1 percent compared with the same period in 2011. At the end of last year, the increases stood at 27.7 percent and 71.1 percent. France ranks as China’s leading supplier country though OEMV says that Spanish bottled wine...

The London International Wine Fair App went live on May 4th. Designed to allow visitors to create their own unique agenda for the LIWF, the App allows users to access a full event schedule of timed tastings, Industry Briefings and Masterclasses, exhibitor listings, floorplan maps and view personalised agendas.  The app will also incorporate social networking.  The fully interactive App has been designed for use on iPhones, Blackberries and Android devices and is free to...

Over two billion people use the internet worldwide. That’s 30 percent of the global population and rising.  Although penetration rates often top 80 percent in Europe however, online wine sales remain surprisingly low, embryonic even, compared with internet sales in the aggregate and the wine market as a whole. The advent of mobile applications and the increasing prevalence of social networks may well bring a whole new dimension to online wine sales though, provided the industry...