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Plummeting grape prices have forced a Marlborough vineyard into receivership with more fallout in the region's wine industry tipped. Westpac pulled the plug on Aucklander Barry Sutton's Awatere vineyard last week, handing control of his two companies to accountants McGrathNicol. Sutton is believed to be the first major Marlborough contract grower to go under since a destabilising oversupply in the 2008 harvest. Contract prices have dropped by about 50 per cent in the two years since. The price per tonne this year was around $1200, but dropped to as low as $350 on the spot market. While contract grape growers have the security of sales, prices are mostly negotiated year-on- year and are susceptible to market fluctuations. (Jun 9, 2010) Wannabe winemakers are being tapped to participate in a unique club that will allow their inner oenophile to be part of the vineyard and winemaking process without giving up their day jobs. Rootstocks, based in Niagara's wine region, was conceived by Andrew and Christina Brooks, formerly of Calgary. They moved to the region in 2002 and purchased a rundown Concorde grape farm and orchard outside Beamsville. Now the main and guest houses on the property have been renovated and the new vineyards established. It's been another vintage season for Nelson winegrowers but as rural reporter Peter Watson reports, selling it is proving more difficult. Great wine, but how low do you go to sell it? That's the dilemma facing Nelson winemakers in what many of them describe as the most brutal trading conditions they've experienced. A massive oversupply of wine that is flooding export markets still recovering from recession has pushed prices down to often barely profitable levels, leaving only consumers smiling. By Dan Levy and Ryan Flinn June 8 (Bloomberg) -- Napa Valley vintners who saw prices plunge in the past year raised $8.5 million at their annual charity auction as bidding returned for super-premium wine. The total rose 49 percent from last year, according to Napa Valley Vintners, a St. Helena, California-based trade group. Still, the tally was 19 percent less than the peak $10.5 million raised in 2005 and down from $10.35 million in 2008. “Last year everything was depressed, but this year the spirits are higher,” said Jose Luis Nazar, 62, founder of Lexicon Marketing in Los Angeles. Nazar spent $105,000 on two lots, a quarter of what he spent in previous years. Tapping the China market will be a key source of growth for wine-makers wanting to get ahead in Asia. Kluge Estate, a US high-end winery, is one estate that is looking to take an early lead in the market. When it comes to wine, one would be excused for not knowing where to find Albermarle county. This new-world wine-making region is in the heart of Charlottesville, Virginia, and with soil and climate conditions likened to Bordeaux, its reputation as a wine-producing region is expected to grow. Kluge Estate is located in Albermarle and is Virginia's leading wine producer. In its pursuit to become the first Virginian wine to make it big in Asia, it hit the road in April to seek out a stakeholder base in the Greater China region.
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