New French venue for Redfern hotspot

Exciting news for Sydney gourmets with a new French bistro set to open in the hip Wunderlich Lane precinct on the border of Redfern and Surry Hills.

Baptiste Bistro, from the team behind The Apollo, Olympus and Cho Cho San, will open its doors in November.

The 80-seat French restaurant completes a trio of Apollo Group's venues at the precinct after the recent announcement of rooftop izakaya Tenjo.

Designed as a neighbourhood bistro for Redfern, Baptiste will bring an all-day French dining experience to Baptist Street, home of the hip EVE Hotel.

The new venue will be open seven days a week from 7am until late with happy hour offered twice daily. First from from 4–5pm and then 10–11pm.



The kitchen brigade will be led by Luke Papalia from Olympus, who has had stints at Pilu at Freshwater and Norma’s Deli.

The menu will be focused on French bistro classics like fresh goat’s cheese with chive oil and herbs; onion and olive tart, ham and cornichons; and Niçoise, Caesar and Lyonnaise salads.

Rôtisserie chicken will sit at the heart of the menu alongside steak frites, poached marron, and tuna steak au poivre, all served with pommes allumettes. Which is very unFrench. Bring on the frites.

An oyster station at the bar will offer fresh oysters alongside crudités, while the dessert menu stays firmly within French bistro territory, with crème caramel, profiteroles and rhum baba among the offerings.

The beverage program will see wines from classic and new-wave cult producers from France and Australia, aged bottles from the group’s cellar, and a daily selection of wines by the glass.

“We didn't want to open a restaurant that read as brand new, but a bistro that felt like it had been on the corner for years,” says owner and operator Jonathan Barthelmess.

See www.baptiste.com.au

Images: Nikki To.

French wine production to plummet in 2026

French wine production for the 2026 vintage is forecast to fall to almost 34 million hectolitres, putting the harvest 17% below its recent average after drought and heatwaves hit vineyards across the country.

The French Ministry of Agriculture estimates production of almost 34 million hectolitres for 2026, industry news hub drinks business reports.

Based on current estimates output is expected to fall 6% compared with 2025 and sit 17% below the 2021 to 2025 average. 

The ministry attributed the decline both to a reduction in productive vineyard areas and lower yields caused by the adverse weather, particularly drought and summer heatwaves.

The national figure masks considerable regional variation, however, with some wine regions suffering substantial reductions and others recording modest improvements following poor yields in 2025.

Repeated heatwaves and drought had caused widespread damage, with the average national temperature reaching 24.9°C in July, above the previous records cited for 2003 and 1976. 

Some 65% of France experienced what the ministry described as “unprecedented drought”, with water restrictions imposed in 95 departments and 79 classified as being in “crisis” at the height of summer.

In response, agriculture minister Annie Genevard announced an support plan worth more than €1 billion on September 4, intended both to compensate farmers for losses and help agricultural production recover.

The package includes an estimated €520m through France’s national solidarity compensation scheme, more than €300m in property tax relief on undeveloped land and €30m through the agricultural disaster scheme for uninsurable losses, including damage to vines and other perennial crops.

A further €235m agricultural recovery fund has been established to support farms facing difficulties financing inputs and recovering from the summer’s wildfires.

The latest production estimate comes as the French deliberately reduce vineyard area in response to declining consumption and wider difficulties facing the sector.

France is confronting two different pressures at once: structural oversupply in parts of the wine industry and increasingly unpredictable yields in the vineyards that remain.

Image: Silvia Arellano, Scop.io  

Hong Kong aims to further boost tourism numbers

Hong Kong is already a global tourism hotspot but attracting more visitors remains a major focus.

Enhancing the city's appeal as a destination for tourism and major sports and cultural events is a strong part of the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, as announced by Hong Kong's chief executive John Lee earlier this month.

Lee unveiled measures to support the integrated development of culture, sports and tourism which will help develop Hong Kong as an East-meets-West Centre for international cultural exchange.

These included enriching the supply of high-quality tourism products, while bolstering infrastructure and ancillary facilities as well as deepening engagement with markets in the Chinese mainland and around the world."Hong Kong is blessed with a unique cultural vision, shaped by both Chinese and foreign influences," Lee said.

"We will continue to engage and collaborate with mainland and overseas culture, arts and creative sectors to consolidate Hong Kong's role as a hub for the exchange, collaboration and promotion of culture, arts and creativity.

"We will also host international cultural and arts exhibitions and performances to attract visitors to Hong Kong."

To support Hong Kong's film industry and promote "Film + Tourism", a Support Unit for Non‑local Film Productions will be set up to provide one‑stop services for mainland and overseas film crews filming in Hong Kong, aiming to attract the production of more quality films to promote Hong Kong.

Lee noted that the Kai Tak Sports Park has substantially expanded Hong Kong's capacity to host international events, with more than 170 sessions of international and local sports and cultural entertainment mega events having been held so far, attracting over 2.6 million spectators.

Hong Kong's Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Rosanna Law, highlighted the growing trend of multi-destination tourism.

Law said that Hong Kong welcomed around 36.67 million visitor arrivals in the first eight months of 2026, representing a year-on-year increase of about 11%.

"The proportion of overseas visitors travelling onwards to the Chinese mainland via Hong Kong has continued to rise, exceeding 20% in the first half of 2026," she said.

Drink pink; do some good

If you are in Sydney, love your rosé wine and would like to help out a worthy charity then here is an event for your radar.

Chiswick Woollahra is raising a glass to spring with Rosé Reverie, a one-night soirée of rosé, cocktails and seasonal bites on Sunday, October 18, in support of breast cancer research through Pink Bloom.

From 5pm, Chiswick’s private dining room will see guests invited to mingle, graze and make their way through a line-up of interactive wine experiences - including a cocktail spritz station, blind rosé tasting and experts from wholesalers Joval offering advice.

There’ll be plenty to eat along the way, with a generous selection of canapés including fresh oysters, zucchini flowers with goat’s cheese, smoked salmon with pickle and cream cheese and wagyu sliders.

Naturally, rosé takes centre stage, with Bianca Vigna Prosecco Rosé, Reverie Rosé, AIX, Rameau D’Or, Audrey Wilkinson Rosé and Giant Steps Circle Rosé all being poured throughout the evening.

Tickets are $59 per person, including all food and wine, with $10 from every ticket donated to breast cancer research through Pink Bloom.

Guests can secure their spot at Chiswick Woollahra.

Australians addicted to toxic plastics

If you are a regular visitor to your local beach then you've probably noticed more and more detritus.

Australia’s use of plastics has hit a record 4.2 million tonnes a year; and the oceans are paying the price.

Australians, it seems, prefer convenience over a pristine environment, figures provided by the Australian Marine Conservation Society suggest.

Australia uses a record 80,000 tonnes of plastic a week - the equivalent weight of one-and-a-half Sydney Harbour Bridges, and generates 1.2 million tonnes of plastic packaging waste every year – about 38kg every second.

In fact, Australians sets an unwanted record of using 4,189,600 tonnes of plastic products and packaging in 2024-25, according to the latest Australian plastics flows and fates report, surpassing the previous high set during the Covid-19 pandemic.

AMCS is calling for future reports, now released annually, to include data on plastic pollution – as was previously reported in the 2019-20 plastic flows report.

AMCS Plastics Campaigns Manager Cip Hamilton said: “If you left the tap on and flooded the bathroom, the first thing you’d do is try to cut the water supply. Instead, the government's approach to managing plastic is to just keep mopping while the tap gets turned up and up.

"The only way to end plastic pollution is to cut back on how much plastic is generated.

“The federal and state environment ministers all agreed packaging reform was needed in 2022, again in 2023, and again last Friday. Ministers can agree and agree all they like, but agreement is not stopping a single piece of plastic from reaching our ocean. We need action.

“Some problematic single-use items such as lightweight plastic shopping bags have declined following state bans, but the use of thicker plastic shopping bags and plastic produce bags has shot up. 

"State and territory bans have been a great start and can work, but item-by-item bans will always be one step behind, playing endless whack-a-mole against a rising tide of plastic overproduction.

"This is precisely why we need strong national packaging laws that mandate reductions, set design standards and make companies responsible for the packaging they use.

“Our homes, our waterways, our beaches, and our ocean are drowning under a flood of plastic. Plastic entangles, starves, smothers and poisons marine life. Across Australia, sea turtle hatchlings have hundreds of pieces of plastic in their guts, seals and dolphins are being strangled, and our beloved corals are being suffocated."

Image: Colleen Hughson via BeachPatrol

New direction for popular Hunter Valley wine tasting facility

Leading Hunter Valley wine tasting facility Wine House has new owners and a new direction.

Well-known local couple Matt and Kylie White bring a range of wine industry experience and contacts to the Pokolbin facility and give Silkman, Valley Rising winemakers, and a line-up of Hunter icons, a new spot in the heart of wine country.

Wine House Hunter Valley operates as an independent regional cellar door and wine retailer, a single central destination where visitors can taste, drink and buy wine in one sitting.

Matt White has three decades of wine buying experience in Australia and the UK, while wife Kylie has a Hunter Valley specialist wine marketing consultancy.

Among the brands that will be showcased is Silkman Wines, with wines made by four-time Hunter Valley Winemaker of the year Liz Silkman, whose brand has never had a cellar door of its own.

“I've spent years telling people how good these small producer Hunter wines are and often having to explain there's nowhere to actually taste them,” says Kylie White.

"That's the piece that's been missing for brands like Silkman and many of the newer emerging wine brands who are making some of the region’s most awesome wines. Wine House closes that loop.”

Matthew White (below) has a massive knowledge of Hunter wines.

“Every wine on our tasting list is here because I've personally tasted it and rate it," he said.

Bringing back a line-up of truly iconic Hunter wines like Brokenwood Graveyard, Tyrrell's Vat 1, Maurice O’Shea, Thomas Braemore and the likes is something I think this region really needed – on tasting and all under one roof.

"And for brands without cellar doors like Riggs & Wiggs, Silkman and the newly formed Valley Rising winemakers many of which are even lesser known [think Aeon, Noman, Sabi Wabi, Thea, Gun Powder, Glover, Pokolbin Vintners and the likes] all doing extraordinary things with a tiny footprint - we're the place they can finally point people to.

 
"Naturally we’ll also taste and stock a great selection of other local independent icons to make it convenient for enthusiasts and novices to tick off the Hunter in a day or less.”

The Hunter Valley is Australia’s oldest and most-visited wine region and is home to more than 150 independent winemakers, many without a cellar door of their own.

 
The new-look Wine House also introduces one of the region’s largest local wine-by-the-glass lists, where guests can sit and enjoy being in the heart of the Hunter, choosing from over 35 wines by the glass, and over 100 by the bottle, alongside plates of food and coffees.

* Wine House Hunter Valley was founded in 1987 as the Small Winemaker Centre and was later rebranded Wine House Hunter Valley.

See www.winehousehuntervalley.com.au