News

ABAC has now commissioned JWS Research to undertake proactive monitoring of ABAC signatory and non-signatory compliance with ABAC Responsible Alcohol Marketing Code Placement Rule 2. ABAC Code Placement Rule 2 provides that an alcohol marketer must utilise available age restriction controls to exclude minors from viewing its marketing communications.   JWS Research will randomly select …

Australia, through the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Australian Grape & Wine have assumed the role of government and Industry Chair of the World Wine Trade Group (WWTG) for 2024. This leadership role places Australia at the forefront of efforts to streamline international wine trade, working towards the mutual acceptance of winemaking practices …

There are significant concerns across many agriculture sectors regarding the potential cost to growers from the loss of certain use patterns of key weed control ingredients, Paraquat and Diquat (eg Sprayseed). The recommendations from APVMA technical reports will effectively put an end to the existing approved uses of Paraquat and Diquat in vineyards. Paraquat and …

The South Australian Government is proposing reforms to modernise South Australia’s beverage container deposit scheme (CDS) via the draft Environment Protection (Beverage Container Deposit Scheme) Amendment Bill 2024. Proposed reforms focus mainly on scheme governance and system modernisation, however, the proposal includes the removal of the exclusion for wine glass from the ACT to include it …

Australian Grape & Wine has approached US grape virus expert Marc Fuchs to present to key decision-makers in Government and industry on the seriousness of grapevine red blotch virus. The disease is known to lower vine vigour and yield, reduce fruit quality and negatively affect wine composition, resulting in reported losses of up to USD170,000 …

Australian Grape & Wine would like to ensure that vineyard managers considering planting new vineyards, replanting or grafting existing ones understand the risk (or lack thereof). We are concerned about the reaction to isolated reports of crown gall symptoms associated with propagation material. Crown gall symptoms have only been reported in a small percentage of …

ABARES latest outlook for crops report released earlier this month highlights the ongoing impacts of a long-term decline in global wine consumption. ‘Per capita wine consumption in major wine consuming markets has been falling for the past decade, driven by competition from other alcoholic beverages and an increased consumer focus on health and wellness.’ In …

Draft changes to Special Consumption Tax Vietnam’s National Assembly (Parliament) is expected to consider and approve increases to the Special Consumption Tax on 8 June 2024. Based on deliberations to date, for most wine this will likely lead to an increase in the ad valorem rate of tax from 35% to 45% from 1 January …

Temporary allowance for Ontario’s MRL for phosphorous acid Working with AWRI and Wine Australia, we have confirmed with the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) that they will maintain the temporary raising of the maximum residue limit (MRL) for phosphorous acid in Australian wines from 0.1 ppm to 21 ppm. This means that the LCBO …

UK wine regulatory reform As noted in previous updates, the UK is undergoing significant reforms of its wine regulation under a phased approach. Both phase one, which was implemented in January 2024 and phase two, which will come into force in July 2024, are now complete. On 16 April 2024 the UK began consultation on …