The Weatherill Government wants to formalise South Australia as a Great Wine Capital, but the industry isn’t convinced.
The Great Wine Capitals scheme is a network of international cities which, according to the group’s website, “share a key economic and cultural asset: their internationally renowned wine regions”.
Rodney Harrex, chief executive of the SA Tourism Commission, confirmed in a Budget and Finance Committee hearing last week that SATC and the Department of Primary Industries were spearheading a push to enrol SA in the group.
“We are looking at the opportunities for that, so, yes, we’ve been engaged in that,” Harrex said.
But the wine industry appears skeptical of the merits of membership, demanding more information from Government about the likely benefits.
SA Wine Industry Association chief executive Brian Smedley said the plan was a “work in progress”.
“The Government has provided us with a view, and we’ve taken that to our board and gone back saying we need more information,” he told InDaily.
Only one Australian state can buy into the group at any one time; Melbourne was previously Australia’s Great Wine Capital, but it let its membership lapse several years ago.
A spokeswoman for Wine Victoria, the peak body representing that state’s wine industry, told InDaily she had no knowledge of why Melbourne opted out of the program, but Smedley said he understood Victoria did not see any economic benefit of its membership.
“That would be the industry’s position,” he said.
“They certainly didn’t continue the membership, because of resourcing and because they didn’t necessarily see the value or cost of it actually justified the membership.”
Smedley said while membership “of itself is not a huge cost”, the real issue is “what’s going to bring that membership to life”.
“We’re in a process of identifying what are the benefits, and what’s the cost, and we’ll make a judgement as to whether it’s worthwhile,” he said.
Opposition spokesman David Ridgway questioned whether the move was “just a publicity opportunity for the Government”.
“Melbourne was a great wine capital and got out because they saw no value in it,” he said.
“It comes back to where’s the benefit for our producers? Does it deliver any tangible benefits to the industry?”
He said industry insiders raised the issue with him before last year’s state election, warning there were “better things to spend your money on”.
“It struck me as (about) wine bureaucrats and officials wandering round the world entertaining each other,” said Ridgway.
PIRSA deputy chief executive Don Frater told the Budget and Finance Committee in April that Adelaide would be expected to host a “networking event” within two to three years of signing up as a Great Wine Capital.
“I am looking forward to that particular networking event,” he joked.
Frater said the membership cost was likely to be “substantially less” than $100,000.
He acknowledged that Melbourne had relinquished its membership but “as to why they let that lapse, I am not certain”.
