Santa Rita Estates (SRE) has announced that the new CEO of the group will be Andrés Lavados, who has replaced Silvio Rostagno.

Agnes and Hermann Seifried, from Nelson’s Seifried Estate winery, have  beeen inducted as fellows of New Zealand Winegrowers, one of the New Zealand wine industry’s greatest acknowledgements.

The wine trade is in mourning after Wine Australia’s UK/Europe Regional Director Yvonne May lost her battle against Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia and passed away on Friday, aged 53.

The generic body for the Ribera del Duero wine-producing region of Spain has announced the launch of its first-ever major promotion in the UK.

A methuselah of Pol Roger Blanc de Blancs 2004 - estimated at £5,000-£10,000 - is to be auctioned at Bonhams, London on September 11, in aid of the Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation. 

The Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association has embarked on a new Responsible Retail Training Programme (RRTP) for DFS staff in stores at Singapore Changi airport.

The harvest has begun, and the 2014 crop looks to be impressive in both size and quality, according to the Conseil des Vins de Provence.

The Napa Valley Vintners has announced it will donate $10 million to create a disaster relief fund to help the immediate needs of local residents and businesses impacted by Sunday’s earthquake.

More than a quarter of Americans are spending more on wine in the off premise, according to a new report from Wine Intelligence.

The damage from the earthquake that took place recently in California’s premium wine producing region, Napa Valley, is variously estimated at between US$500 million and $1 billion.

The Tax Free World Association has announced Air France-KLM CEO Alexandre de Juniac will speak at the opening conference of its Cannes exhibition in October.

Treasury Wine Estates is the subject of a bidding war, according to reports from Australia.

Recent research reveals that 59% of French wines analysed contained significant quantities of a particular form of phthalate, dibutyl phthalate, and only 17% did not contain any detectable quantity of at least one of the reprotoxic phthalates.

Diageo Global Travel and Middle East (GTME) managing director Doug Bagley, has announced two senior appointments to his Singapore-based team.

The Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) has announced that the first half of 2014 saw the WSET Level 3 award in wines and spirits being run for the first time in Chinese.

The Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships has announced its medal results of the 2014 competition.

La Martiniquaise owner of the Gran Cruz, the world's largest producer of port, has announced the opening of a new site with a modern winery and centralised bulk storage.

Argentinean wine brand Trivento has signed an exclusive deal to be an ‘Official Supporter of Premiership Rugby’, in the UK.

The Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) trade association has announced that the first of Napa Valley’s sparkling wine producers have begun picking grapes, two days earlier than the start of last year’s harvest.

Champagne house Krug has released of a new vintage of its rare single vineyard cuvée, the Krug Clos du Mesnil 2003.

New Zealand wine has become the number two country of origin in the UK market for wine sold over £7, according to the latest Nielsen data (MAT June 21, 2014).

The English & Welsh Wine of the Year Competition, the industry's annual national wine awards, has boasted an unprecedented number of medal winners, with vineyards in south east England dominating.

UK drinks industry figures gathered for the Benevolent Roof Gardens Party last week to celebrate the end of the London Wine Fair 2014. They raised more than £10,000 for their trade charity.

The 2014 New Zealand grape harvest has been completed with high quality grapes picked across the country, according to New Zealand Winegrowers.

Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) famous auction, the 34th, netted US$18.7 million this year.

Brintex, organisers of the London Wine Fair, has hailed the reinvented, relocated trade show a success.

Treasury Wine Estates has rejected an AUS$3.05 billion (US$2.85 billion) takeover bid from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR).

Russian consumers are turning to imported wines, especially sparkling wines, as traditional beverages such as vodka and beer decline in popularity, according to Wine Intelligence.

The Academy of Food & Wine Service (AFWS) has announced the names of the sommeliers going through to the semi-finals of the Moët UK Sommelier of the Year 2014 following the regional finals held earlier this week in Bristol, two London venues and Stafford.

CA Grands Crus says it has succeeded in making exceptional terroir-focused wines across its portfolio of Bordeaux estates in the region’s most prestigious appellations, despite a challenging growing season in 2013.

Michael Jordaan, a 46-year-old venture capitalist and former CEO of South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB), has been appointed chairman of Wines of South Africa (WOSA).

The South African wine industry expects an average sized, good quality wine grape harvest, with exceptional harvests especially in the coastal regions.

Kingsland Wine & Spirits and Legacy Wines will now be known simply as ‘Kingsland’, the Manchester-based company has announced.

Pernod Ricard’s net sales for the first nine months of the 2013/14 financial year totalled €6,186 million – down 7% on the same period last year. The company says the results are in line with the first half-year and sales were stable excluding foreign exchange and group structure effects.

Pernod Ricard has announced the purchase of Kenwood Vineyards in California’s Sonoma Valley from F. Korbel & Bros.

The Control Board of DOCa Rioja (The Consejo Regulador Denominación de Origen Calificada Rioja) has officially rated the 2013 vintage “good”.

Accolade Wines has annoucned that it has finalised the purchase of Mud House and Waipara Hills and their assets, from the Mud House Wine Group.

Martini has announced that the brand is to sponsor Vector, the British powerboat racing team and global manufacturer of high performance powerboats and performance yachts.

Australia’s wine industry hit the wall in 2013, after 30 years of surging growth, according to the The Australian and New Zealand Wine Industry Directory (WID).

Kingsland Wine & Spirits has appointed former HwCg md Guy Young as commercial director.

An survey of 6,000 consumers, by IPSOS* to discover consumer preferences on wine and spirit closures claims the majority prefer an aluminium closure, over other closure options.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the UK’s chief finance minister, has frozen the controversial so-called alcohol duty accelerator on spirits and standard cider.

New figures show pubs in Britain are becoming increasingly reliant on wine and spirit sales, according to the Wine and Spirit Trade Association.

The inaugural AfrAsia Bank Cape Wine Auction 2014 (AfrABCWA), regarded by the organisers as possibly the most extraordinary international wine event ever seen in South Africa, will set a local philanthropic precedent.

The date and timings of the memorial service to celebrate the life of Michael Cox, the former European head of Wines of Chile who died on March 20, will take place on April 10.

US wine exports, 90% from California, reached a record high $1.55 billion in winery revenues in 2013, up 16.4% compared to the previous year, according to the Wine Institute of California.

The Napa Valley Vintners' (NVV) 18th annual Premiere Napa Valley made history by bringing in a total of $5.9 million, nearly doubling the previous record of $3.1m raised in 2012.

Michael Cox, a well known figure in the UK wine and spirits trade and latterly European director at Wines of Chile, has died.

The Consejo Regulador of Rioja (Wines from Rioja) has announced that Rioja sales have reached 277 million litres in 2013, surpassing the all-time record set before the global economic downturn.

The New Zealand owned winery has bought a 41-hectare property in the sought-after Gimblett Gravels sub-region in Hawkes Bay.