Australia targets China's new 'wine class'

A new deal will ban Australian imitation champagne and sherry from the EU - but Australia welcomes simplified wine labels.

Australian drinks giant Foster's Sunday warned one quarter of the nation's grape vines needed to be pulled up to reverse a damaging wine glut forcing growers to let their fruit wither on the vine.Chief executive Ian Johnston said global wine growers were experiencing a "very painful period" due to the global economic downturn, and a significant amount of Australia's vineyards needed to be pulled up."The commonly held number is somewhere around 30,000 to 40,000 hectares, about a quarter of what is planted," Johnston told ABC television's Inside Business programme.

Drinks maker Pernod Ricard reports a rise in half-year profits as consumers continue to buy wine and spirits.

In a country where the wine industry is dominated by mass-production vineyards producing mediocre wine, the Silver Heights winery perched at 1,200 metres (about 4,000 feet) is creating a buzz.Located on the eastern slopes of Mount Helan in the northern Ningxia region, China's first garage wine, or micro-winery, has won applause from wine lovers and support from the trade."The first time we tasted Emma's wine, we knew we had to help her," said Alberto Fernandez, managing partner of Torres China, one of the three largest wine distributors on the mainland.

Asian women are having a profound impact on the evolution of the world's fastest growing wine culture, including the emerging Asian palate."The American or European palate is better understood, especially with respect to wine," said Jeannie Cho Lee.A popular Hong Kong-based wine critic, she is the first ethnic Asian to earn the notoriously difficult title of Master of Wine."We don't have the answers but it's important to begin to ask the right questions now," she said.

China is mad for wine. At the Haagen Dazs cafe in the trendy Xintiandi district, well-heeled Shanghai urbanites decide between Rum Raisin and Cookies 'n Cream to go with their Chilean Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc.While a wine glass might not grace every dining table in China, wine has become a symbol of a desirable urban lifestyle, equal parts sophistication and quirky enthusiasm.

Wine-loving China, the world's fifth-biggest consumer, is not known for making top-quality wine but its potential is drawing elite vintners like Spain's Torres and France's Lafite."We are looking to make the best wine possible, but not necessarily the best wine in the world," said Gerard Colin, managing director of Lafite's wine estate in China.Colin spoke on a hilltop on the Penglai peninsula in eastern China's Shandong province as a bulldozer flattened ochre earth into neatly terraced vineyard plots.

Wine-loving China, the world's fifth-biggest consumer, is not known for making top-quality wine but its potential is drawing elite vintners like Spain's Torres and France's Lafite."We are looking to make the best wine possible, but not necessarily the best wine in the world," said Gerard Colin, managing director of Lafite's wine estate in China.Colin spoke on a hilltop on the Penglai peninsula in eastern China's Shandong province as a bulldozer flattened ochre earth into neatly terraced vineyard plots.