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What's new at Vinodiversity

AAVWS

The continuing saga of Emerging Varieties

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I have been steadily updating the information on the Vinodiversity website, and added a WHAT'S NEW button. So by visiting the site you will get a quick summary of what pages have been added or undergone substantial renovation. In fact the What's new button will take you to the Vinodiversity blog which is where I put all of my news. So bookmark (add to favourites) either the WHAT' NEW page or the main site. That way you will stay informed. If you are into RSS then you can even paste this into your reader http://vinodiversity.blogspot.com/atom.xml and get the feed in real time.

Some recent stories and updated pages on the site are

• A report on the 2005 AAVWS
• New pages about the Hunter Wine Region, Gamay, Petit Verdot, Chenin Blanc.
• Occasional offers from our friends at WMC; they have had a few interesting specials lately.

The Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show has come and gone for 2005. This is the most important date on the Vinodiversity calendar. Over 400 wines from outside the mainstream are judged by a panel who appreciate alternative varieties. There are a few associated events which allow makers of alternative varieties and others in the industry to discuss and explore new varieties and other issues relate to the shared goal of broadening the range of wines available. This year there was a structured tasting of some Southern Italian wine varieties, notably Vermentino and Fiano, and Zinfandel/Primitivo and Aglianico. You will be hearing more about these varieties in the future.

Meanwhile I have written a summary of the major successes at AAVWS at https://www.vinodiversity.com/aavws2005.html

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I have completed all of the prepublication of the book Emerging Varietal Wines of Australia. I hope it will be out before the end of the month, but don't worry I will let you know as soon as it is available.

The book is a guide to the new and alternative varieties being used in Australian wineries. The book is built on the same data as the Vinodiversity site, but contains much more information than the site.

Over 100 grape varieties are described, each entry contains info about synonyms, wine types, maturity dates, origin, uses and lists of wineries using the variety. An index of wineries includes the region, the website when known, and a list of varieties which they are using. There is also a guide to Australian wine regions with some comments about what varieties are or could be grown in each region.

Emerging Varietal Wines of Australia will be available on a Print on Demand basis. This means that when you order a copy a little robot will print one especially for you and mail it to you within a couple of business days. As these clever little robots are located all around the world there are savings in time and freight, as well as inventory costs. The result is a paperback book of the familiar size about (13cm x 21cm ) and quality of binding. The book will be about US$14 plus postage, and will be sold via a special website.

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