By JESSE GRAHAM
YARRA Valley wine industry representatives could have the government’s ear after a $1 million announcement to boost tourism and wine exports in the State Budget..
On Thursday 30 April, Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford announced $1 million under the new budget to fund the development of a Victorian Wine Tourism Strategy to bolster the state’s wine industry.
Ms Pulford said the strategy would drive the development of the industry; focus on all types of businesses, whether small, growing, emerging or established and would aim to increase tourism and job creation.
A wine Industry Ministerial Advisory Group will also be established, which will feature industry representatives advising the government on a number of issues.
Wine Yarra Valley CEO Richard Howden said the announcement had big implications for the valley, which was one of the state’s notable wine regions.
“With the Yarra Valley being Victoria’s premier food and wine region, it’s going to mean that any addition to wine through tourism into Victoria is going to certainly benefit us,” Mr Howden said.
“We’re the key region, that’s why it’s particularly good for us.”
Mr Howden said the announcement would be a leg-up for the “struggling” industry, particularly smaller wineries, which rely on tourist traffic.
“The industry overall has been struggling and, more and more, the smaller wineries are very much focused on cellar door and direct sales,” he said.
“For us to be able to drive a bit of additional tourism, that’s tremendous.”
Though details of the Ministerial Advisory Group have yet to be established, Mr Howden said that a roundtable discussion would be happening in the near future, possibly in the next financial year.
He said he was confident that the Yarra Valley, either through direct representatives or representatives of groups such as Wine Victoria, would be able to have a say on key issues.
“It wouldn’t surprise me at all if there were one or two people, as we’re the leading wine region, on the committee,” Mr Howden said.
A stumbling block for the wine industry in previous years, according to Mr Howden, was that the wine industry falls under a number of different ministerial portfolios, including Tourism and Agriculture, making it hard to make industry-wide representations to government.
With the advisory group, the wine industry will be able to directly liaise with government as a whole, rather than individual ministers, and will open discussions.
Asked whether it would help Yarra Valley wineries to broach issues such as planned burning interfering with wine growing seasons, Mr Howden said it was a possibility.
“What’s been announced … will be a bit more focused on the tourism and export aspect,” he said.
“But it certainly enables us to bring up issues that face the industries – we’re talking to the right people and we can bring those issues up.”
The government will host a large-scale wine industry trade mission in May, bringing 100 key international wine buyers, investors and industry figures to Victoria, including the Yarra Valley.
