Tasmanian
Wine.
Recently the
Tasmanian Premier announced in the Mercury [6th March} under the
heading “ Grape Expectations” that some $1.2 million was to be made available
for further expansion of our viticulture industry. Given that a film of a
similar name is currently being shown in local Hobart cinemas, I thought there
must be a misprint. It seems extraordinary that so little research has been
done to find out what is required to make our Tasmanian’s wine industry hum.
This Government effectively stopped many small grape growers from marketing
their product direct to the public with the introduction of new licence fees,
even though they already held a perpetual licence or so they thought.
The
Government needs to take a close look at how the French Government restructured
the Beaujolais wine production area in the Southern Rhone villages. Like
Tasmania, every farmer made their own wine with uneven results. The Government
required all the villages to pool their crop into a semi-Co-op cave [winery]
under their control to lift and maintain wine quality. The Beaujolais wines
have never looked back.
What does
this have to do with Tasmania’s wine industry? Currently we have some 120 odd
growers, plus how many hobbyists’ vineyards, and over 170 different labels with
a very wide range in terms of quality. Only recently a local grower sold his
Riesling grapes to an interstate winemaker, he was shocked to find his fruit
had been turned into a sweet wine which was fair enough, but the finished
product was marketed as Tasmanian wine, hardly a good advertisement for our
wine industry.
What does this have to do with Tasmania’s wine
industry? Currently we have some 120 odd growers, plus how many hobbyists’
vineyards, and over 170 different labels with a very wide range in terms of
quality. Only recently a local grower sold his Riesling grapes to an interstate
winemaker, he was shocked to find his fruit had been turned into a sweet wine
which was fair enough, but the finished product was marketed as Tasmanian wine,
hardly a good advertisement for our wine industry
If Tasmania
is serious about lifting our impact on a world market with this $1.2 million
grant more research needs to be done on the best way to market and produce a
quality product. Like the Beaujolais districts of France, Tasmanian needs an
appellation system, were our vine growing regions are classified by soil types,
yield, climate [early or late] with a controlled winery for each area. The
current larger producers will throw collective arms into the air, but they are
not supportive of small growers and charge two to three times to press small amounts
of grapes. There are small vineyards in the Southern Rhone region of France that
are only two or three acres, but produce fine wine. We need a change of
attitude, large is not necessarily better. I see no reason why Government can’t
play a decisive role in the establishment of regional wineries with quality
control. Over the years various Ministers have told me this is not the
Governments’ roll, private enterprise needs to solve their own problems.
However, if we look at our Tasmanian Apple Industry when a not dissimilar
system existed with every grower marketing their product under their own name.
Only when Tasmanian Apples were marketed as Tasmanian product did the industry
boom. If small villages in France can do it why can’t Tasmania.
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