The ongoing economic crisis has left parts of the Greek economy in tatters and wine has suffered its share as well. Yet, as Grigoris Michailos makes clear, some sectors of the wine trade are thriving.

There’s been a flurry of news stories recently about the emergence of a market for luxury goods in Africa. Christian Holthausen looks at how Champagne is faring there.

Austin is the centre of government for the state of Texas and home to one of the nation’s largest universities, but it wasn’t until the technology boom of the ‘90s that this once semi-sleepy capital transformed into the bustling cultural epicentre that it is now. Austin is one of the fastest-growing cities in the US, and firms such as Dell, IBM, Apple and others ensure this population boom is intelligent, creative and well-moneyed — qualities that do wonders for a city’s culinary scene. Wine is along for the ride, of course, and the evidence is everywhere. City wine lists eschew old standards and instead present the interesting and unknown, and Texas’s own wine-production industry is rejuvenated and refocused. Here, three of Austin’s finest share what’s going on with Scott Saunders.

Moldova, a country with Romania on one side and Ukraine on the other, is caught between the politics of east and west. Robert Joseph was there when some of the pressure began to show.

South Africa’s wines have been winning rave reviews from top critics recently. Yet the wine trade’s success is partly because the government pays it no attention, suggests Michael Fridjhon.

Recent critical reaction to the new wave of South African wines has been extremely positive. Leslie Gevirtz visits Cape Wine 2015 to find out more about what’s happening.