Australia has produced some very popular wines over the years and has a climate conducive to producing bottles considered some of the best in the world. Other surrounding countries such as New Zealand and Fiji are now getting in on the act however and are growing their stakes in the market by experimenting with innovative wine production.

Very recently there was a great deal of contention over the allowing of wine producers to make ros© wine, simply by mixing together the white and red varieties. Ros© is normally made by separating the juice from the red grape skins before too much of the red colour can be absorbed into the liquid. However, this method has been somewhat ‘adapted’ by some producers who are feeling the pinch in the recession and many are simply adding a small amount of red wine to white and calling it ros©.

Countries such as France, widely considered the finest wine producing country in the world, were not best pleased with this mutilation of ros© wine and did not agree for it to be sold in their country, or even be given as wine gifts. However, some countries, including those surrounding Australia have allowed the wine to be produced, and it is certainly paving dividends for their wine producers. A spokesman from the New Zealand alcohol authority defended his countrys move by stating that people are free to consume whichever wine they wish. The companies that produce this blended form of ros© wine do not use any trickery to try and sell it as the traditionally made variety, and there are clear differences in the pricing. The spokesman argued that if people can make milk chocolate in a thousand different ways, why can the same not be done for ros©?

A number of the countries in Australasia have even started fully blending standard wine varieties together to get new drinks. In Fiji for example you can buy Sauvignon Blanc mixed with Chardonnay and Merlot blended with Cabernet Sauvignon. With the same unconcerned attitude as the New Zealand authorities, Fiji claim that wine is just as suitable for blending as Whisky. They state that companies all over the world, and in particular Scotland, produce some very fine blended whiskies that not only often taste superior to single malts, but that are also able to sell at more modest prices. Next they will be telling us which tableware we must use when consuming the wine, stated one official.

The natives of Fiji have really taken a liking to this new blended wine, with around 150,000 bottles sold last year alone. This might not sound like the largest figure in the world, but when you consider that the population of the country is little over 800,000, you soon realise how popular it actually is. The blended wine is already drunk in many of the surrounding countries, but there are hopes to extend the export to every country and the Fiji producers are confident it will catch on.