One Bordeaux wine producer defies downward trend

There are plenty of doom and gloom stories about Bordeaux, with some vineyards being stripped in the wake of falling demand.

In contrast, historic right bank estate Château des Mille Anges is expanding its operations and planting new vines.

Chateau des Mille Anges has acquired neighbouring estate Château Génisson and is planning to replant 20 hectares of vines, news hub the drinks business reports.

The 25-hectare Mille Angles, situated outside Cadillac-sur-Garonne, 30km from Bordeaux city, has acquired Château Génisson with a view to re-planting the site as part of a long-term plan by owner Heather van Ekris to position the château “for recovery rather than retrenchment”.

“We are looking beyond today’s challenges and see light at the end of the tunnel,” van Ekris said.

“Bordeaux will bounce back, and we want to be part of that recovery. We plan to gradually re-plant approximately 20 hectares as market conditions improve over the next three years.

“The integration of Château Génisson is expected to enhance vineyard potential while continuing a shared winemaking heritage spanning more than two centuries.”

Château des Mille Anges has been producing fine wines for over 300 years. It was purchased by van Ekris in 1994 and has since undergone a revitalisation project, including the construction of a new barrel cellar and storage facilities.

Its red vineyards comprise 70% merlot, 20% cabernet sauvignon and 10% cabernet franc, while there are also plantings of sauvignon blanc and sauvignon gris.  

Château Angélus’s owner Hubert de Boüard and his team have been consultants at the estate for over a decade.

See https://www.chateaudesmilleanges.com/

Taste Port Douglas flies in culinary stars

Taste Port Douglas, the major gourmet festival in Far North Queensland, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year with over 40 events across four days. 

Presented by Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort Port Douglas, the food and drink event will return from August 6-9 with an impressive line-up of leading Australian chefs and international culinary talent. 

Supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland, it will see Port Douglas hosting dinners, long lunches (above) masterclasses, chef-led events and some destination experiences.

Guest pan handlers will be jetting in from Singapore, Bali and Vietnam. 

Kirk Westaway from JAAN by Kirk Westaway, Rishi Naleendra of Cloudstreet, both in Singapore, will be joined by Ryan Clift of The Cave by Chef Ryan Clift at The Edge, Bali; Michael Wilson, chef-patron of Marguerite and Hortus in Singapore, and Sam Aisbett of Akuna in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Appearing at Taste Port Douglas for the first time, Mindy Woods of Karkalla, Byron Bay, heads a 
fresh wave of Australian talent. She joins TV favourites Manu Feildel and Laura Sharrad, Colin Fassnidge, Matt Stone and Tasmanian maestro Massimo Mele, along with veterans Guy Grossi and Ray Capaldi. 

Port Douglas sits between two UNESCO World Heritage-listed natural wonders, the ancient Daintree Rainforest and festival founders Reina and Spencer Patrick are inviting guests to experience standout locations hosting events. 

“The 2026 program is a celebration of everything Taste Port Douglas has become over the past decade, world-class culinary talent, unforgettable food and drink experiences, and a genuine connection to place,” says festival director Reina Patrick. 

Find out more at www.tasteportdouglas.com.au

Slovenia boosts air connectivity for tourists

Slovenia's clean, green blend of scenery, activity and gourmet offerings has seen it emerge as one of the hottest European destinations for the 2026 summer.

Easily reached by road from Venice, Zagreb or Innsbruck, Slovenia is a small nation with a big offering.

During the summer season, which will run until the end of October, Ljubljana Airport is upgrading its flight offering and expanding capacity.

There will be additional frequencies on many existing routes, a wide selection of charter flights to popular holiday destinations, and two new connections.

As of now, a new regular service from low-cost carrier easyJet will be launched at Ljubljana Airport. In addition to flights to London Gatwick and Manchester, the airline will also offer flights to Edinburgh.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which operates daily flights between Ljubljana and Amsterdam, and Swiss International Air Lines, with its route to Zurich, are introducing morning departures and evening return flights.

Spanish airline Iberia will strengthen its seasonal connection between Madrid and Ljubljana, with flights starting in early June and operating twice weekly until the end of September. Low-cost carrier Vueling Airlines will continue its flights to Barcelona during the summer schedule.

airBaltic is adding an extra weekly frequency on the route to Riga, while Aegean Airlines (Athens), Turkish Airlines (Istanbul), British Airways (London Heathrow), and Wizz Air (Skopje) are also increasing frequencies.

Lufthansa will increase aircraft capacity on its routes to Frankfurt and Munich, while Finnair (Helsinki) and Transavia (Paris Orly) are returning to Ljubljana after the winter break.

Bad news is thatt flydubai has temporarily suspended flights on the Dubai–Ljubljana route, with services expected to resume after April 29.

After closing 2025 with nearly 1.6 million passengers, representing a 10.6% increase compared to the previous year, Fraport Slovenia expects Ljubljana Airport to continue its stable growth in passenger traffic.

Photo: FB Ljubljana Airport

 

Cold, dark and thrilling: Tasmania celebrates Off Season

Look let's be honest. Tasmania's winter is long, dark and cold.

Australians are hard-wired to chase the sun during the cooler months, but during the Off Season, Tourism Tasmania aims to lure visitors into the bleak darkness.

Tourism Tasmania's new Off Season campaign is now live and will ask visitors to become winter people celebrating cool, starry nights, warm log fires. whisky straight from the barrel and truffles fresh from the earth.

Throw in fluffy wildlife. And even fluffier doonas. And festivals like Dark Mofo that stir the soul.

Tasmania is about as far away from global chaos as you can get. 

Throw in arts, culture, Tasmanian food and drink and swimming in the nude (above). What more could you want? 

"Tasmania is well positioned as a safe, trusted and highly regarded destination, which is important in uncertain times," says Tourism Tamania CEO Sarah Kingston Clark.

Many events at Dark Mofo have sold out, and artistic director Chris Twite says: ‘We’re staggered by the support we've seen for this year's Dark Mofo so far.

"Seeing people so eager to lock in tickets and embrace the cold here in Tasmania is tremendous. Tickets are still available to some amazing shows, but you better be quick.’

Offers and events are now bookable for the Off Season period: May1-August 31. 

Visit https://www.discovertasmania.com.au/off-season/ or see at darkmofo.net.au

Australians have a continuing love affair with Burgundy

Australian wine lovers can’t get enough of fine Burgundies with with sales volumes up 13.3% and value up 26.1% in 2025, bringing the market close to record levels.

The Bourgogne Wine Board will continue its three-year communications campaign in Australia with the second chapter of the ‘Take a Closer Look’ campaign: inviting trade, media, and consumers to deepen their exploration of Bourgogne wines.

Building on a first series of events in Sydney in year one, Melbourne is in the spotlight for 2026 as the campaign encourages Australians to venture further off the beaten path, experience Bourgogne wines differently, and uncover the diversity that exists within and beyond the region’s most familiar names. 

Take a Closer Look is billed as an invitation to reconnect with “the shared foundations of the Bourgogne wine range: emotion, experience, terroir, know-how and authenticity”.

Through tastings, trade activations, consumer events and more, the second year of the campaign creates opportunities to engage with a new generation of committed winegrowers and their iconic wines. 

The focus is on producers that are "reshaping perceptions of Bourgogne while remaining deeply anchored in their places of origin".

Australia is Bourgogne’s 14th largest export market by volume (17th by value). 

Renewed growth is driven primarily by Crémant de Bourgogne (up more than 7% in volume and up 11% in value), alongside strong performance from white wines overall (up nearly 16% in volume and 4.3% in value). 

Chablis continues to stand out, reaching double-record levels with growth of 23.6% in volume and 22.4% in value.

At the same time, Village appellations from the Côte Chalonnaise and Mâconnais have doubled their export volumes (Villages from the Mâconnais was up by 110% in volume compared to 2024, and white wines from the Côte Chalonnaise up by 168%), while Mâcon wines are up 43% in volume.

“With the second year of Take a Closer Look, our ambition is to go deeper - to highlight the diversity of Bourgogne wines and show how accessible, expressive and relevant they are today," says Anne Moreau, president of the Bourgogne Wine Board's Communication Commission. 

The Take a Closer Look campaign will offer a trade tasting and  masterclass in Melbourne on June 2, a trade-only webinar training session in late July and the second edition of Chablis Week: a promotion of Chablis wines across select Merivale venues (date TBC). 

Anyone for a glass of Philippines wine?

Anyone for a glass of wine from the Philippines?

Like Indonesia, China and other unlikely Asian nations, the Philippines has a nascent industry, Minda News reports.

What began as a hobby in 2016 has grown into a promising start-up venture with a home-grown winemaker set to start selling wines made from locally grown grapes at a family-owned vineyard in Barangay Tacunan, Davao.

Jennifer Taglucop, one of the owners of the Taglucop Estate Vineyard & Winery, said the family plans to sell red and white wines to local and foreign tourists visiting their four-hectare vineyard.

She said the family aimed at world-class quality beverages that the Philippines could take pride in. Which might prove easier said than done. 

As owners of a travel agency, she and her husband, lawyer Ferdinand, often travel abroad. During their trips, they made it a point to visit vineyards in the United States, Europe, Australia, and even Thailand.

Seeing several Filipinos visiting the vineyards abroad inspired the couple to establish their own in Davao, so that Filipino travellers would no longer have to travel overseas “just to see grapes.”

The family began growing grapes in 2016 and has since experimented with different varieties to determine which ones would thrive best in Davao’s climate.

Taglucop said her family currently cultivates shiraz, moldova, cabernet sauvignon, and moscato.

Her husband learned winemaking in the US, while her eldest son studied viticulture and oenology at the University of Adelaide in Australia.

She said the wines they have produced are currently aging in barrels stored in their cellar in Tacunan, where a wine museum is being built to educate visitors on winemaking.

Indigenous winemaking traditions in the Philippines dates back to before the colonisation of the islands by the Spanish in the 16th century.

They include wines fermented from palm sap, rice, sugar cane and honey, as well as fruit wines.