The Wine Bottle

Australia has long been considered a big player in the global wine industry and this has to a large extent been down to its ideal grape growing conditions. However, Fiji and New Zealand have also come onto the scene in recent years and has increased their market share largely as a result of their flexible wine producing policies.

Very recently there was a great deal of contention over the allowing of wine produces to make rosé wine, simply by mixing together the white and red varieties. Rosé is normally made by separating the juice from the red grape skins before too much of the red colour can be absorbed into the liquid. However, just mixing small quantities of red wine into white is the method that has seen a massive rise in popularity recently…a result of the recession forcing cheaper production methods to be adopted.

Countries such as France, widely considered the finest wine producing country in the world, were not best pleased with this “mutilation” of rosé wine and did not agree for it to be sold in their country, or even be given as wine gifts. However, some countries, including those surrounding Australia have allowed the wine to be produced, and it is certainly paving dividends for their wine producers. A spokesman from the New Zealand alcohol authority defended his country’s move by stating that people are free to consume whichever wine they wish. The companies that produce this blended form of rosé wine do not use any trickery to try and sell it as the traditionally made variety, and there are clear differences in the pricing. The spokesman argued that if people can make milk chocolate in a thousand different ways, why can the same not be done for rosé?

Many of the Australasian countries have even embraced the full blending together of other wines as well.In Fiji for example you can buy Chenin Blanc mixed with Pinot Grigio and Tempranillo blended with Cabernet Franc. Mirroring the laid back approach of New Zealand, the Fijian wine makers suggest that wine is able to be blended just as easily and with the same success rate as whisky. They state that companies all over the world, and in particular Scotland, produce some very fine blended whiskies that not only often taste superior to single malts, but that are also able to sell at more modest prices. Next they will be telling us which tableware we must use when consuming the wine, stated one official.

The new blended wine has proved to be a real hit internally with the Fijian population, with producers selling around 120,000 bottles in 2008. Many might consider this to be a small about, but relative to the population of Fiji, which is around 850,000, this rate of sale is incredibly high. Fiji plan to sell their blended wine all over the world and seeing as the product is cheap to produce and sells for less than most classic wines, it is likely the export will do well.

Tags: blending, drink, rose, wine