The price of cask wine could double within 18 months, with major drinks companies and health experts lobbying the Abbott government to revamp a tax system that unduly favours bulk wine sales.The federal government is considering changes to rebates for the wine equalisation tax  in the May budget, which could signal the first moves towards a broader volumetric tax on alcohol sales in Australia.Changes to the wine tax rebate – targeting large producers of bulk wine and New Zealand-based producers – would reap only a little more than $50 million for the government.But with a tax white paper looming, there is potential for the longer-term removal of anomalies in Australia's tax system that are considered to favour the big players in the wine industry. Such changes could reap as much as $600 million a year, and double the cost of a five-litre cask of wine."I wouldn't expect too much in this budget, but we are certainly looking at anomalies in the tax system that favour large producers of cheap alcohol, and the health issues associated with those anomalies,"  a senior adviser to the government said."

We give a quarter of the wine taxes we collect back to the industry as rebates. The trick will be to lift the tax on cheap wine without impacting the wider industry." Treasury data shows wine is about a third of alcohol consumed in Australia, but brings in only a seventh of alcohol-related revenue for the government.The wine cask was invented in 1965 by South Australia's Angove family. A five-litre cask is among the cheapest forms of alcohol available, containing up to 50 standard drinks and selling for as little as $11.The federal government collects just 4 cents in alcohol tax per standard drink of cask wine, but beer drinkers pay more than 40 cents per standard drink in excise. Consumers who buy pre-mixed spirits pay more than $1 per standard drink in alcohol taxes.Health bodies have welcomed moves by the government to re-examine how alcohol is taxed."Cheap cask wine is a serious health issue in many communities," said Rob Moodie, Professor of Public Health at Melbourne University."

There is good evidence that increasing the price of bulk alcohol such as cask wine is a good approach, as it improves health outcomes. There is also an enormous tax benefit for the government and for society, so I am glad they looking at this issue."Michael Moore, chief executive of the Public Health Association of Australia, said tax reform was needed to help address many of the health and social issues associated with alcohol abuse."best winery near seattleThe price of alcohol has a strong correlation to the harm it causes," he said. best wine menu houston"We have gone to two elections calling for these very reforms to alcohol pricing and have seen how companies are using loopholes to produce new products aimed at the youth market that are based on wine, to try and get around the taxes."high end wine kits

He said one product, called Divas V Kat Raspberry, was marketed as "100 per cent Australian made from real Australian wine grapes, allowing it to be priced as fortified wine, yet it tastes and smells exactly like top quality vodka". A bottle costs $12, it contains 11 standard drinks, and the tax collected is just 16 cents per standard drink.best wine to buy and holdSome products marketed as cider are also made from a wine base to reduce the amount of tax paid. best wine for snacksTreasury has called on the major alcohol companies to make submissions to the government's white paper on taxation. how much does wine of fire costA special task force will consider a volumetric tax on all alcohol, with a decision to be announced later in the year.

September is wine harvest month. For Shed Horn Cellars in California’s Lake County, it has been a disaster. A wall of flame from the Valley Fire, which started on Sept. 12, burned the winery to the ground.For nearby Hawk and Horse Vineyards, this harvest is a miracle. Though the same fire charred hundreds of forest acres on the 1,300-acre property, the 18-acre biodynamic vineyard was barely touched. “No one can explain why it was spared,” said an emotional Tracey Hawkins, whose family owns the estate.Harvest is always a tense time for winemakers, who worry about hail smashing grapes before they’re picked and whether rain will interfere with ripening.The Valley Fire, which started on Sept. 12, burned wineries to the ground. Here, firefighters combat a backfire on Sept. 13, 2015. But in Washington State and northern California this year, their biggest worry has been a series of massive wildfires.  That’s especially true in off-the-beaten-path Lake County, directly north of Napa Valley, which was hit by three fires since the end of July.Now that the latest one, the Valley Fire, is under control, how did it affect Lake County’s grapes?

Is the 2015 vintage a write-off? With about three dozen wineries and more than 150 growers, the county is a cheaper version of Napa, the place big Napa producers such as the Hess Collection and Duckhorn seek reasonably priced cabernet grapes to fill out blends. In the past decade, though, a growing number of boutique producers have been drawn to the area’s high elevations and volcanic soils that are ideal for high-quality cabernet and sauvignon blanc.Some, such as Hawk and Horse, had already harvested most of their grapes and will bring in the rest this week. Ditto Shed Horn, whose bottled wines were safely stored in an offsite location.In the past decade, a growing number of boutique producers have been drawn to the area’s high elevations and volcanic soils, ideal for high-quality cabernet and sauvignon blanc. Pictured: Vigilance Winery, overlooking Clear Lake, Calif.But many big growers, like Andy Beckstoffer, still had grapes on the vines as the fire exploded from zero to 40,000 acres in the first 24 hours.

“The Valley fire delayed our harvest for a few days,” is all Beckstoffer would concede. I spoke with him, via cellphone, as he was driving around in an effort to check his 1,300 acres of vineyards in Lake County’s Red Hills area. “An awful lot of the roads were closed.” Few vineyards burned, but the Lake County Winegrape Commission estimates that the fire may have scorched as much as 15 percent of the area’s vineyards. Crews armed with shovels put out plenty of hot spots between vines and a layer of ash-coated vine leaves and grapes. (Vineyards-in-flames scenes such as those from the corny romantic drama, A Walk in the Clouds, in which Keanu Reeves uproots a burning old vine with his bare hands, weren't reported.)The fire stopped just west of the Hess Collection's Hidden Valley vineyard in Lake County, whose grapes are the backbone of Hess Select reds.The vineyards' survival depended on thousands of firefighters, sudden shifts of wind, drizzle, and just plain luck.

Winemaker Dave Guffy of the Hess Collection reported that the fire stopped just west of its Hidden Valley vineyard in Lake County, whose grapes are the backbone of Hess Select reds.Matt Hughes, winemaker at Six Sigma Ranch and Winery, crushed grapes at nearby Brassfield because the Ranch had been evacuated and, in any case, had no power to run crushing equipment.The biggest concern has been over smoke taint, which makes wines smell and taste like a wet ashtray. That’s what happened to pinot noirs from Mendocino’s Anderson Valley in 2008, when June fires burned 54,000 acres and smoke hung over the valley for weeks, like some version of nuclear winter.Grapes and vines are highly sensitive to smoke exposure during the growing season. Much of what vintners know about smoke taint comes from research conducted in Australia after huge bushfires in 2003.Effects seem to depend on timing—how early in the growing season fires happen, how long grapes are exposed to smoke, and how dense the smoke is.

“Strong west-to-northeast wind carried smoke from the first two Lake County fires away from the vineyards,” explained a hopeful Beckstoffer.  “And the Valley Fire came at the end of the season.” Those are both good signs.Taint seems to come partly from the grape skin and partly because smoke compounds enter a vine’s sap, eventually reaching the grape itself. That’s why, alas, washing grapes doesn’t help.While pinot noir grapes have thin, sensitive skins, the varietal is not planted in Lake County.Thin-skinned pinot noir, not a variety planted in Lake County, may be especially sensitive. Red wines, which are macerated with the skins and then aged, end up showing the most smoke taint, though filtration and high-tech winemaking methods can remove some of it.Historic Langtry Estate and other producers have been testing grapes for several specific compounds of smoke to see if it’s worth harvesting those that remain on the vines. There has been little evidence of taint so far.