Happy New Year. Thank you for your continuing support, especially to those who have used links from the Vinodiversity site to buy wine and other products. Also thank you to those who have commented on previous issues of the newsletter. Just hit the reply button if you want to join these people.

Vinodiversity continues to grow, both in the number of pages and in the number of visitors. With Vinodiversity's first birthday coming up it is gratifying to see some progress. We are still the only website devoted entirely to alternative varieties. I have had lots of feedback and encouragement from the industry.

I hope you have had a break over the holiday season. I have, but I have been busy with quite a few Vinodiversity projects.

The BIG THING I have been working on is the Vinodiversity Australian Wine Club. Some of the feedback I have been getting is along the lines of "Sounds great,but where can I get these new varietals?" So I have started to develop Vinodiversity's own online store. But it will take a little while to get started. I have put up a preliminary page about the club at https://www.vinodiversity.com/australian-wine-club.html But don't worry. All Vinodiversity News readers will be kept fully informed, in fact you will be the first to know.

In the meantime, if you want to buy some wine, our friends at WinemakersChoice are having a Moving Sale. There are quite a few bargains there so check them via this link. But be quick, the sale ends Tues Jan 18.

A few of the new items are listed below.

My friend Jennifer Rosen has sent a sent a chapter from her book, Waiter, there's a horse in my wine! It describes a visit to Australia with an Italian wine journalist and the discovery of Italian varieties taking off here. Check out the full chapter here.

I have added a new varietal page about Verdelho, an often overlooked variety, but one enjoying a surge of interest at the moment.

There are countless wine-of-the year awards, and they most often go to fairly mainstream wines. But wine writer and educator Martin Fields opted for the Yalumba Viognier. See details and how to subscribe to his Evine newsletter

Well that's it for the January edition. We have a big year coming up. I'm off to the Alpine Valleys Gourmet Weekend, and to visit some of the innovators of the North-East. I'll tell you about it next newsletter.

If you have enjoyed reading this please forward it on to a friend or two.