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©AFP / Frederic J. Brown

Music legend Paul McCartney watches as his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is unveiled

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A small reminder of Beatlemania came to Hollywood when Paul McCartney was honored with a star on Tinseltown's storied Walk of Fame, watched by hundreds of screaming and jostling fans.

Police blocked off Vine Street near the intersection with Hollywood Boulevard, as the crowds swelled across the broad boulevard in front of the iconic cylinder-shaped Capitol Records building.

McCartney, in Los Angeles ahead of the annual Grammy awards show this weekend, paid tribute to the "three boys" -- John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr -- who helped make him famous.

"Way back in history, in Liverpool when we were kids and we were listening to Buddy Holly and all the rock 'n' roll greats, I would have never thought... the day would come when I'd be getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

"That was like an impossible thing to happen. But here we are today, and it's happening. But I couldn't have done it without, certainly, three boys -- so I want to say thanks to those guys, John, George and Ringo," he said.

And he added: "I couldn't have done it without them, so I want to thank those guys and bless them for being in my life."

©AFP / Frederic J. Brown

Paul McCartney mimicks playing his bass guitar while steeping on his just unveiled star

McCartney, who has just released his latest album "Kisses on the Bottom," was joined by fellow ageing rocker Neil Young outside the Capitol Records building, where staff lined the balcony to watch the star-unveiling ceremony.

Young said McCartney, 69, was "at the top of his game, adding: "Like Charlie Chaplin was a great actor, that's how I look at Paul.

"Yet even with all of that craft that he has and his ability to put melodies and chords and feelings together, it's the soul that comes out of his music that makes me feel so good and so happy to be here with him ..today," he said.

McCartney's star, which joins those of his band mates, is the 2,460th on the Walk of Fame, a long stretch of Hollywood Boulevard and adjoining sidewalk which celebrates entertainment stars from over the decades.

The Beatles themselves already have a star as a band, and McCartney attended the ceremonies for Harrison in 2009 and Starr in 2010. He was initially nominated for a star in 1993, but the ceremony never occurred.

Fans had gathered for hours for good viewing spots at the ceremony, although many had to strain to see anything as the crowd swelled out across the street for the early-afternoon event.

"He's part of history, man," said one 32-year-old onlooker who only gave his first name Brad, while other McCartney fans hoisted their children and girlfriends onto their shoulders to give them a better view.

The ceremony happened on the anniversary of the Beatles' first US TV appearance, on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964, as Beatlemania spread across the Atlantic.

McCartney will sing Sunday at the Grammys awards show at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, along with other veterans including the Beach Boys and Bruce Springsteen, as well as younger stars like British soul singer Adele.

McCartney, whose new wife Nancy was at Thursday's ceremony, is also to be honored at a pre-Grammys tribute show also featuring legendary soft rocker James Taylor, as well as Canadian rocker Young with his band Crazy Horse.

©AFP / Greg Wood

China is Australia's fourth-largest wine market and the value of exports to the Asian giant has exploded in recent years

POKOLBIN, Australia (AFP) - The coal-rich hills of Australia's Hunter Valley have long fed China's steel furnaces but the winemaking region is riding a fresh boom as the Asian power's middle classes toast their new wealth.

Mining delegations are being replaced by wine enthusiasts as China's upwardly mobile millions get the taste for an expensive drop, and Australia's vintners are turning their efforts towards the lucrative new market.

"Every buyer that I have on my books right now is Chinese nationality, every one," said Cain Beckett, a real estate broker in the Hunter Valley.

"There are parallels with the heady days when everyone was just buying everything and spending cash hand over fist -- that hasn't happened for 10 or 15 years so it's interesting times."

Beckett sold eight vineyards to Chinese investors in the latter months of 2011, some of which had been on the market since the global financial crisis and went for Aus$120,000 (US$129,000) above asking price as buyers haggled.

The wine is destined for hotels, restaurants and bottle shops across China.

©AFP Graphic

Map of Australia locating Hunter Valley

Times have been tough in the renowned winemaking district about 150 kilometres (93 miles) north of Sydney and Beckett said selling "eight of those at a time is pretty shocking, it's blown us away".

"We would have averaged less than one a month over the last year so it's a pretty big trend," he told AFP.

China is Australia's fourth-largest wine market and the value of exports to the Asian giant has exploded in recent years, from a little over Aus$100 million in 2008 to more than Aus$250 million in 2011.

Australia is second only to France in terms of wine exports to China by both volume and value.

Lucy Anderson, Asia director for the government-backed industry group Wine Australia, said overall consumption was increasing but growth was especially notable at "higher price points" as tastes matured.

"I think the Chinese wine market is incredibly complex, however, I would describe it as rapidly developing, not emerging," Anderson said.

©AFP/File / Greg Wood

Australia is second only to France in terms of wine exports to China by both volume and value

Major winemaker Tyrell's said China had gone from accounting for two percent of its business five years ago to "around 35 percent and growing", mostly involving the wholesale of its wine under private Chinese labels.

Tyrell's was working closely with a Chinese company that had just purchased one of the Hunter vineyards and international manager Grant Bellve said the rush of foreign buyers had been a blessing for the local industry.

"If they didn't purchase where would those wineries be? Would the banks own them?" said Bellve.

He added that while the Chinese buyers can afford to buy the wineries, they still needed Australian production expertise.

"Most of (the Chinese buyers) have money that you and I would only dream about. If they do buy wineries then they need the expertise, (and) it allows you to get potential new distribution through unbelievable channels."

Bellve said it was too early to say whether Chinese ownership of Australian vineyards would be a permanent trend or how positive it would be for the industry in the long-term.

©AFP/File / Torsten Blackwood

Coal-rich hills of Australia's Hunter Valley have long fed China's steel furnaces

"I think they like to have somewhere that they can bring their customers to rather than saying 'this is a winery that produces for us'. They can put their flag up," he said.

"The biggest thing... is to get them to understand that wine is not a commodity, it's an agriculture. They think it's like a production line, and that's the key thing I think in getting them to understand the business."

Neil McGuigan, from premier label McGuigan's, said the purchases to date of a few small wineries in the Hunter were for hobby or status purposes and "not a game-changer for the Australian wine industry".

But he said some in the industry believed vineyard purchases were part of a larger long-term plan and warned against "export(ing) our knowledge and all our 200 years of making wine without something coming back our way".

"It's about getting land in Australia, it's about getting water. I think the Chinese are looking more than 10 years out," he said.

"They may be saying to themselves 'wine for the next 10 years and then at least we're in Australia, at least we're in a fantastic climate, we've got water, we've got land -- who knows where it could go from there?'."

Like Bellve, McGuigan saw consumer education -- getting "people from (drinking) Coca-Cola onto wine" -- and greater access to Chinese distribution networks as key.

"The French are here, the Americans are here, the New Zealanders are here, there are a lot of countries in here already so why not the Chinese?" he said of the Hunter Valley.

"As long as the wine that is made is good quality wine and the reputation of Australian wine is protected... what's the downside?"