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TASMANIA - WINE & GASTRONOMY MAP with Breweries & Distilleries, is a gastronomer's delight: evocative descriptions of Tasmania's wine regions by Hobart wine & food writer Graeme Phillips; precise plotting of 250 vineyards on topographic background; climatic, touring & cellar door info; vintage charts & history. Double-sided. Over 1m x 700mm. A steal at $14.95. Info & orders from vWMaps at australianwinemaps.com
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Brilliant cartography by vWMaps, regional intelligence by wine writer Max Allen, and precise plotting of 900 vineyards by VineFinders, provides a fascinating exploration of Victorian wine. Topographic, climatic & cellar door info make it a must for all wine buffs. A steal at $14.95 - find retail outlets, more info and/or Order online... |
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NEWS
 12 August 2010
VineFinders' iPhone App puts Grape Varieties at your fingertips!
Ever embarrassed by an endless wine list, by too many grape varieties or styles? And how to pronounce them?
“Grapes 101” is an iPhone App with 166 unique grape varieties used in Australian wine. What are the differences between Chardonnay, Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio? Where do they come from?
Discover the different tastes of Sangiovese (SAHN-joe-VAY-zay) and Sagrantino (SAH-grahn-TEE-noh), and know how to say them! We may be over the ABC “Anything But Chardonnay” phenomenon but, as Australia is also “A Big Country” threatened by climate change, there has been an explosion of new varieties.
“Grapes 101” lists varieties from Aleatico-Zweigeltrebe under their 190 most commonly used names in Australia, and cross-indexes each by country of origin. Discover the 11 varieties that are uniquely Australian.
Is it red or white? Each variety is cross-indexed if it makes one or more of sparkling, dry white, red, rose, dessert wine, fortified and/or cask wine!
Learn how many vineyards have each variety planted – Shiraz tops the list with an incredible 2,580 – and iconic regional examples are provided for each variety. This draws on the VineFinders database of 5,400 vineyards, wineries and cellar doors – researched over 8 years of travelling and tasting in 85 Australian wine regions.
Author Dick Friend writes amusing descriptions of members of the great family of wines – how they develop, mature, taste and indeed breed! – tantalising and teasing while educating his readers.
“Grapes 101” is an easy-to-navigate guide to the wine world which, when downloaded from the App Store to your phone, is knowledge at your fingertips.
Software development and production was undertaken by XVT Solutions.
For further information:
See the Grape Varieties page or contact Dick Friend - m 0419 503 198
19 July 2010
What is "cool climate"; what is not cool?
Under a heading "Friendly opinion" wine industry analyst Tony Keys (The Key Report - 5 August 2010) published material we earlier submitted regarding the debate on who represents "cool climate", and what is "cool climate" in Australian viticulture. We argue the competing demands of the National Cool Climate Wine Show (held in Bathurst, NSW), the International Cool Climate Wine Show (held on the Mornington Peninsula) and the International Cool Climate Wine Symposium (to be held in Tasmania in 2012) are a recipe for consumer confusion. Having mapped 5,400 vineyard locations throughout Australia, we read of many absurd attempts to attach the label to vineyards in almost all regions across the country.
Leadership is needed at a national level, and is lacking. We criticised an otherwise excellent report of the Australian Wine & Brandy Corporation (AWBC) in which they stated "the cooler climate areas are all regions except the three warm inland areas (Riverland, Riverina and Murray Darling-Swan Hill)". I was subsequently advised by the AWBC that they were "not official definitions but merely terms of convenience to assist with or simplify the reporting of over 60 GI regions" and that it was "by no means a reflection of our marketing programs".
We re-iterate the need for establishing consistency and clarity for consumers and industry, whether for statistical reporting or marketing, and to build an industry that must have clear diversity to meet different demands of pricing and quality in various markets domestically and internationally. As before, we call on the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) or the AWBC to lead the way, and offer our assistance with mapping the country's vineyards, regions, and climates.
Tony Keys wrote that "Dick may be disappointed that big chunks have been chopped out" but my full report can be read on our Regions page.
July 2010
Victorian Emergency Services Mapbooks to protect wine industry assets
There are five volumes of telephone-book-sized mapbooks used by emergency services in Victoria. Data provided by VineFinders will ensure vineyard, cellar door and winery assets are better found, recognized and protected when emergency services are needed. The first to include such data is the Central book published this month. The North-West Book will follow in October.
16 March 2010
Wine Industry Tasmania (WIT) undertakes marketing drive
Wine Industry Tasmania has accessed VineFinders databases to obtain 54 fields of information on 301 Tasmanian locations from A Wing-and-a-Prayer Vineyard to Zenith Vineyard.
1 March 2010
204 Adelaide Hills wineries mapped by VineFinders
VineFinders has recently visited the Adelaide Hills to update its database of locations in the Adelaide Hills which have one or more of the attributes of a vineyard, cellar door, winery, negociant operation, brewery, cidery or distillery. Now we have:
- 230 locations in our database, each which may be a vineyard and/or have a cellar door, and/or a production winery etc
of which...
- 204 locations are mapped, with GPS equipment recording latitude and longitude at road entrances (accurate to 4m),
of which...
- 24 have cellar doors open daily
- 23 are open on specified days
- 17 are open by appointment, and
- 140 are not open to the public.
Detailed on-ground research by VineFinders in every wine region continually reveals an industry much larger than the industry itself recognises.
LISTINGS
NOT LISTED and want to be? We verify listings by ground-truthing (verifying locations by taking geo-cordinates at the road entrances) on regular visits to the wine regions. We can provide an interim listing – the information we need can be completed online using this form
LISTED but details have changed? Please provide just the information which needs updating
LISTED but don’t want to be? VineFinders understands the need for privacy, for security, and for safety. We try to record every vineyard (no matter how small) – we know, an impossible task -– but important for industry development, for biosecurity (eg controlling the spread of phylloxera), and/or your protection from smoke taint (we’ve provided fire authorities with vineyard locations to avoid burn-offs at critical times). But, if (for example) no-one lives at the site, we need the listing to provide above protections but will not display you on our online maps. Let us know of your privacy concerns.
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VINEFINDERS EMAIL NEWSLETTER
We’ll advise enhancements to this site, and new features, in an occasional newsletter. We will neither sell your soul, nor provide your details to third parties, and you can Unsubscribe anytime you find us in your Inbox.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION is the oft-quoted real estate mantra to dictate quality. And so it is for the wine industry, because of course wines are made in the vineyard! TERROIR, TERROIR, TERROIR can best be demonstrated by mapping – not just the location, but the topography, the climate, the heat degree days, the rainfall, … The Wine Map of Victoria has adapted the phrase "in vino veritas" (= in wine, there is truth) to "in loco veritas" (in location, there is truth). We hope you enjoy finding the truth of the wine in your glass, by finding the vineyard locations which produced the wine.
VineFinders Copyright/Disclaimer
VineFinders has traversed countless goat tracks in every wine region... use examples for private enjoyment... but don't abuse it... speak to us... copyright
What’s Next:
VineFinders has assisted vignerons to:
* BUY and SELL fruit
* SELL vineyards, and
* OBTAIN assistance with vineyard labour and contract vineyard maintenance.
VineFinders crafts communications to vineyards with specific information and has provided contact and geographic information for:
* annual crush SURVEYS
* disease & risk factors
* wine tourism route planning & signage.
We've researched and developed this site on our private initiative. We hope you enjoy it, and provide feedback on any inaccuracies, as well as additions and suggestions for future development. SO What's Next depends on your response.
Cheers
Dick Friend
dick@vinefinders.com.au
m 0419 503 198
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