http://winebiz.com.au/dwn/ Your daily source of wine news en-au Copyright 2012, winebiz.com.au Lauren Corsey Nick Welsh http://www.winebiz.com.au/dwn/details.asp?ID=8210 Family-owned Taylors Wines has triumphed overnight winning Australia’s Best Wine Bottle for the dynamic, standout design of its 2010 Taylors Winemaker’s Project GSM bottle at Australia’s Wine Industry Design Competition 2012. The Clare Valley winery was the most awarded winery on the night taking home three of the eleven trophies, including the top prize of Australia’s Best Wine Bottle, as well as ‘Best White Wine Bottle’ in its class for its 2010 Taylors Wines Crooked Horse Semillon Sauvignon Blanc and ‘Best Red Wine Bottle’ in its class for its 2010 Taylors Winemaker’s Project GSM, reports the Stock Journal. http://www.winebiz.com.au/dwn/details.asp?ID=8211 This year's winegrape harvest across southeast Australia is apparently one of the best in two decades. Yields were down in most areas but fruit quality is excellent, thanks to favourable summer weather. The lighter crop is attributed to cool weather last November but a mostly mild summer has been credited with bringing the outstanding fruit quality, reports Weekly Times Now. http://www.winebiz.com.au/dwn/details.asp?ID=8212 According to the marketing gurus, it's not so much what's in the bottle that builds a wine's reputation, but the story behind the label. And few vineyards have stories and a history to match those of Bill and Frank Cassimaty's GlenAyr vineyard near Richmond, writes Graeme Phillips in The Mercury. In the mid-1830s, George Loveless (the leader of the world's first trade union and the transported Tolpuddle Martyrs) lived and worked as a convict on the Richmond property. Tasmania's first prize-winning hops were grown on the property, the original oast house now featuring on GlenAyr's wine labels. http://www.winebiz.com.au/dwn/details.asp?ID=8213 Wine Australia is pleased to announce a successful start to a month-long Australian wine thematic in Quebec with the Societe des alcools du Quebec (SAQ). The May 2012 promotion is a partnership between the SAQ and Wine Australia to drive visibility and sales for premium Australian wines. Resulting sales for the promotion exceeded expectations reaching over $2.96 million in combined in-store, on-line and mail order transactions, reports Market Watch. http://www.winebiz.com.au/dwn/details.asp?ID=8214 On July 1, winemakers from two neighbouring but very different Victorian regions - Rutherglen and the King Valley - present their wares in Canberra. Rutherglen, to the north of the King Valley, spreads along the Victorian side of the Murray River. It's a hot region, famed, historically, for its magnificent, luscious fortified wines and thunder-in-the-brain reds, notably Durif - a serendipitous cross between Syrah and Peloursin, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.winebiz.com.au/dwn/details.asp?ID=8215 What is it about the Scots and making wine as far away as possible from the heather clad hills, mist across the lochs and the skirl of the pipes? For two families, the journey from Scotland to Wairarapa is paying off. I have long referred to the Wairarapa as the mouse that roared - tiny but perfectly formed, and deserving of more attention. It produces some excellent wines and not just Pinot Noir, for which it is probably best known, writes John Hawkesby in The New Zealand Herald. http://www.winebiz.com.au/dwn/details.asp?ID=8216 British born Master of Wine, Jane Skilton, has been announced as Wine Education Director for Le Cordon Bleu New Zealand, the latest addition to the renowned culinary institute’s global network of schools. From September 2012, Skilton, an internationally respected wine writer, lecturer and judge, will be teaching a number of Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) courses including the WSET Level one, two and three Wine Awards, and the Level four Diploma. The Level four Diploma is the WSET’s highest qualification and Skilton is the only approved provider in New Zealand, reports Scoop. http://www.winebiz.com.au/dwn/details.asp?ID=8217 For a business that has been around for more than 8,000 years, the wine trade still manages to evolve at an impressive speed. Money, politics, climate, fashion and science are remaking that glass in your hand in ways both discreet and radical, and the speed of innovation is increasing as never before. In this changing world, power is on the move, consumers decide what goes, and the old aristocracies of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Piedmont and California are scrambling to adapt. But adapt to what? The first new rule of wine is that there shouldn’t be any rules, reports The Telegraph.