NEWS     JUNE 2008

Increasing summer temperatures could mean some parts of southern England are too hot to grow vines for making wine by 2080, according to a new book launched today (26 May 2008).

'Patience, patience and more patience,' is how Philip Costandius, Chairman of the Cape Winemakers Guild, describes the 2008 grape harvest, which seemed to take forever but brought welcome rewards of lower alcohol, more elegant reds and some above average whites.

France was the most searched for country at this year's London International Wine Fair, new figures show.

BORDEAUX, Burgundy… Xinjiang. The world's wine map may have to be significantly re-drawn with figures showing more than a glass is being raised to China.Such is the pace of wine consumption in China that last year the country produced more than 700 million bottles with new statistics showing that production will outstrip Australia's by 2009.

ULTIMATE Air Solutions, the company founded by Johann Murray of MBB Consulting Services, is doing spirited business in reducing evaporation from wooden wine barrels. Ultimate holds the local franchise for the Israeli Optiguide humidity control system, which comes into its own wherever dry atmospheric conditions, airconditioning of refrigeration equipment cause natural produce like fruit and vegetables to lose moisture - or where wine and brandy are losing volume though the evaporation from barrels in which they are matured.

South African wine exports continue to soar, with volumes of packaged wines sold in the UK, the country's biggest foreign market, up 26% year-on-year for the first four months of 2008. A year ago, we were working towards reclaiming lost ground after a slight dip in sales in 2006. Now our position is far stronger, said Su Birch, CEO of Wines of South Africa (WOSA) that promotes South African wines generically worldwide. We not only have FirstCape, Kumala and Namaqua within the UK's top 20 retail sellers, but we have other brands showing solid growth and across a growing range of price points.

Carbon footprint is the measure of energy used to make a product. Depending on interpretation, it could measure energy spent digging sand to manufacture glass, through to transportation of wine bottles from factory to retailer to a consumer's home. Ultimately the focus is reducing raw materials used. Kim Maxwell monitors moves in the UK to reduce wine-related wastage, and ponders whether bigger South African companies are paying attention. South African volume wine producers should be working with glass manufacturers to scale down wine bottle weights. Nicola Jenkins of WRAP (Waste & Resource Action Programme), a United Kingdom government-funded waste and resources action program, says larger South African companies have an opportunity to reduce their carbon footprints massively by reducing their wine bottle weights.

The focus of wine producers and brand owners is clearly pointing in the direction of the US market. In terms of sheer numbers of current, and more importantly, potential consumers, the US market is unparalleled. We know that only around a third of US adults drink wine, whilst a third consume beverage alcohol, but not wine - and a third abstain from alcohol all together.

Over the years the UK wine media has commented on certain aromas which are being picked up in, and are considered distinct to, South African red wines. Descriptions have included rubbery, burnt, smokey, green, singed, under ripe, earthy and dirty. Many acknowledge that the quality of South African wines is improving year on year, but that the reds are lagging behind the whites.

Cape Classics, the largest importer of fine South African wine into the USA, is expecting a banner year in 2008, building on the success of fiscal year 2007 which was the strongest in the company's history. Cape Classics' South African-born CEO Andre Shearer says the US Dollar's weakening relative to the currencies of Australia, New Zealand and Europe, has presented South African winemakers with an opportunity to significantly boost volumes in the USA particularly if they maintain their 2007 prices.

PARIS (Reuters Life!) - Southern hemisphere wine producers received a boost last week after a leading industry body announced an increase in the region's production and continued growth in the share of world wine exports.

SONOMA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--America's new wine media will gather in Sonoma County, California on October 24-26 for the first annual Wine Bloggers Conference. As the number and influence of wine bloggers grows, the Sonoma gathering will bring together hundreds of online wine scribes to discuss their impact, how to better impart information to wine lovers across the globe, and how to stake their claim as the next generation of wine media

Australia has posted a vastly bigger than predicted grape crop of 1.83m tonnes for 2008.

Following the great success of this program in South Africa last year, Wine Business Solutions will shortly run a two day workshop designed to help you sell your wine, manage your route to market and optimise sales revenue.

Interna