THE need to shift to new international markets for wine exports, and which countries present opportunities for Riverland winemakers and grape growers, were discussed at a recent industry event.  

The 29th annual Finlaysons Wine Roadshow – focusing on the diversification of export markets – was held last week at the Renmark Hotel.

Finlaysons Lawyers chair of partners Will Taylor said representatives of both Riverland wineries and grape growers attended the conference. 

“It was a really good group,” Mr Taylor said. 

“They’re substantial businesses and they’re very important parts of the Riverland wine business community. 

“It was a good calibre of audience. There was a really good Q&A session at the end where the speakers went up. 

“There was some really interesting discussion which tended to focus on the Riverland specifically.” 

Mr Taylor said concerns regarding the effects of Chinese-imposed tariffs on next year’s wine grape prices were highlighted by locals. 

“A lot of it was about the outlook and the impact of China,” he said. 

“The answers weren’t surprising. We are expecting pretty tough times, and even for those companies that don’t directly deal with China a lot, it’s likely to be a pretty crowded domestic market for red wine going forward. 

“Even though China was primarily premium red, there’s been people able to buy bulk premium red wine at pretty low prices. 

“That’s likely to pose downward pressure on commercial bulk prices.” 

Mr Taylor said current export challenges illustrated the need to maintain multiple potential international markets. 

“It’s a real inflection point in the wine industry,” he said.  

“The China market was starting to come off a bit anyway and the growth had slowed even before the tariffs. Those really gave it a huge boost and just smashed the market in one fell swoop. 

“But the positive to come from it is that it forced people to do what they knew they should have done anyway, which was to diversify. 

“In the long-term it will make for more sustainable businesses.”

Mr Taylor said potential expansion into the UK and US markets could compensate for the decrease in exports to China. 

“There’s substantial (opportunity) in those big markets like the US and UK,” he said. 

“The numbers are looking pretty good in the UK and there’s been some good growth there. 

“The UK traditionally has been a low-margin market for Australian wine… but there actually has been some premium Australian producers selling wine into the UK at premium prices. 

“There’s now opportunity for Australia at those premium levels.

“Admittedly the companies I’ve seen doing that have had very good distribution… but it proves you can do it.”