A vintage year ... for some

JANUARY


* Lion Nathan starts business-to-business e-commerce portal with Southcorp and United Distillers in Sydney.

FEBRUARY


* Four DB top-brass buy the group's Liquorland retail stores and some wholesale operations.

* Montana sells Truck Investments to Singapore-based Cycle & Carriage.

* PricewaterhouseCoopers deems "not fair" an Asia Pacific Breweries offer of $2.80 for the 25 per cent of DB Group it does not own.

* Millennium celebrations, America's Cup and the change in liquor laws result in sparkling-wine sales rising more than 50 per cent. A decade of declining beer volumes levels off.

MARCH


* Villa Maria opens its $7.5 million "future-proof" winery in Marlborough.

APRIL


* Montana Wines signs up to distribute beer and spirit products for Lion Nathan-owned NZ Wines & Spirits.

* Lion buys 40 hotels in Victoria for $60 million.

* DB says it wants a "strategic partner" for winemaker Corbans.

MAY


* Montana reports a grape harvest 9 per cent up on 1999.

* Lion says it will brew stellar import Stella Artois in New Zealand.

* Lion makes lightning raid on Montana Wines to protect its NZ distribution channels from Foster's. It takes 19.9 per cent of the wine producer at $2.30 a share.

* DB says it will sell Corbans by end of September.

JUNE


* Lion moves its headquarters to Sydney.

* Industry bemoans annual excise tax increase of 1.8 per cent.

* DB Breweries awarded prize for most effective ads with its "Flatmates" campaign.

JULY


* Lion launches Steinlager Light.

* Trade NZ halves direct funding to Wine Institute to $75,000.

AUGUST


* Lion increases its holding in Montana to 25 per cent.

* Lion says it will revamp lossmaking China operations.

* Foster's reclassifies New Zealand as an "international" market and revamps its ad campaign in local market.

* Montana sales for year to June up 5 per cent to $448 million and net profit up from $24 million to $48 million, buoyed in part by sale of non-wine assets.

* Foster's (Australia) buys Beringer Wine Estate in Napa Valley, California, for $A2.6 billion.

* Nobilo Wines brought out by BRL Hardy and delisted from NZ Stock Exchange.

* Carlsberg offloads its Chinese brewing operation to local brewing giant Tsingtao.

SEPTEMBER


* Montana gains approval to buy Corbans, and does so for $151 million and $3 million in debt.

* Lion buys Guinness Peat Group's 15.7 million shares in Montana for $2.60 each, taking its holding to 28.26 per cent.

* Villa Maria says it will build a $15 million winery in South Auckland.

* Montana opens Brancott Estate winery in Marlborough.

* Wine Institute annual report says export sales of New Zealand wine were worth $169 million in the 1999/2000 year, up 35 per cent from the previous year. It predicts international sales could reach $375 million in 2005.

* Lion Nathan sells its Australian business Pepsi to Cadbury Schweppes for an undisclosed amount.

* Domestic retailers and suppliers sign voluntary liquor marketing guidelines, promising not to use gimmicks which might appeal to under-age drinkers.

OCTOBER

* Lion's net profit up 6 per cent to $130.2 million in year to August, but it loses $27.2 million in China.

* NZ First leader Winston Peters supports push for spirit sales in supermarkets.

* Parliament narrowly rejects warning labels for all alcohol containers.

* Ngai Tahu invests more than $9 million in prime Marlborough grape-growing land.

NOVEMBER


* Lion hitches itself to risque online men's magazine.

* DB make $23 million net profit for September year; revenue slightly down to $530.17 million.

* Lion applies to acquire 100 per cent of Montana, and says it will offer between $3.20 and $3.80 to take its share to 51 per cent.

* First national wine tourism conference in Blenheim.

* Wine Institute holds national workshops with grape growers and producers to tidy up wine legislation.

* Foster's introduces Cascade Light.

DECEMBER


* Montana chairman Peter Masfen bids for up to 51 per cent of Montana in an offer identical to Lion Nathan's.

* PricewaterhouseCoopers decides the Masfen and Lion bids are "not fair" and suggests $4.16 to $4.64 is an appropriate range for the company. Lion says this price range is "highly ambitious," and does not stand in the market.

* Frost in Hawkes Bay destroys pockets of vines.

* Lion Nathan holds its first annual meeting in Sydney as an Australian company.

* DB Breweries says it will spend $60 million upgrading its Waitemata Brewery.

* Lion replaces DB as beer sponsor for Warriors rugby league team.

* Paris-based Pernod Ricard and London-based Diageo say they will buy North American company Seagram Spirits and Wines for an undisclosed sum.