De Bortoli Wines has announced a major rebrand of its website, logo and wine labels to highlight the company’s family heritage and ownership. The De Bortoli Wines trademark will now be displayed as De Bortoli Family Winemakers, while a new website will bring to life the stories and personalities behind the wines. De Bortoli was established in 1928 by Italian migrant, Vittorio De Bortoli, and was later r…

Hop Thief 8 is the newest release from the James Squire Hop Thief Varietal Series. Like the other releases in the series, Hop Thief 8 is an American-style pale ale made from the finest hops available from the season. For this release, Malt Shovel Brewery has sourced Cascade and Crystal hops from the Yakima Valley, Washington State USA, to create a unique brew that boasts spicy citrus and floral aromas. Ch…

Wild Turkey Kentucky Bourbon has announced a multi-year partnership with Academy Award winning actor, Matthew McConaughey, for its new global campaign “It’ll find you”. McConaughey will lead the campaign as Creative Director, with the aim to encourage consumers to the bourbon category, with Wild Turkey. “If our bourbon is for you, you will know, Wild Turkey, It’ll find you,” the campaign tagline reads. Au…

Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) has been facing growing pressure from several trade unions and its customers over the last few weeks, over the company’s decision to end its contract with maintenance service provider, Quant, which impacted the roles of 55 workers at its main brewery in Melbourne. The issue has gained media attention as the maintenance workers began protesting outside of the Abbotsford…

Judges of  drinks trade and drinks bulletin’s Tasting Bench, recently reviewed the top ‘alternative red’ wines available in Australia. From tempranillo to sangiovese, these wines showcase how winemakers in Australia are developing and working with varietals not necessarily native to here, as well as the skill and expertise of winemakers across the world, either experimenting in their own right or showc…

Iconic Winemakers is a new online venture that is the first retailer to focus exclusively on Australian wine from selected independent winemakers. As an online only site, Iconic Winemakers aim is to supply wines from quintessential Australian winemakers that are not available in bottle shops or large retail chains. Launched by wine expert John Quinn and Lindt Australia CEO Steve Loane, the pair have assem…

fermentAsian in Tanunda, SA has been awarded the coveted title of Wine List of the Year for 2016 at Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards. The restaurant was named by awards partners Gourmet Traveller WINE and the drinks association on Monday night, at the Glass Brasserie at Hilton Sydney Hotel. L-R: Grant Dickson, Judy Sarris, Sandra Przibilla and Rob Hirst fermentAsian is a modern Southeast Asian re…

The International Spirits Challenge (ISC) in London has named William Grant & Sons (WG&S) ‘Distiller of the Year’. The title is the top honour at ISC and recognises the independent family distillers as among the best in the world. Overall, ISC was a great success for WG&S, which also received Scotch Producer of the Year and Liqueurs Producer of the Year. Simon Hunt, CEO of WG&S, said, “We …

David Stewart is the world’s longest-serving Malt Master, having joined The Balvenie distillery in 1962 at the mere age of 17. This year marks David’s 54 th year with the distillery and in July, in recognition of his contribution to the Scotch whisky industry, he was awarded an MBE by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. To celebrate, David and The Balvenie distillery have created one of the most significant …

Upon the discovery of an abandoned wine cellar in 2010, Champagne Bollinger decided to carry out extensive archive research to identify the seemingly very old bottles and magnums of reserve wines it contained. After years of careful restoration of the vintages, Champagne Bollinger has now unveiled the Galerie 1892 and La Réserve wine libraries. The huge project began in 2012 and has seen over 4000 bottles…