FEDERAL Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Barnaby Joyce will help with launching a new online sales tool aimed at assisting wine consumers with making sober choices to identify regional provenance.
But the wine-buying internet option is also designed to give smaller Australian producers a real marketing edge in their ongoing fight against the market dominance of Coles and Woolworths.
The SEEKWINE Australia initiative is being led by WA-based Harvey River Estate managing director Kevin Sorgiovanni who also sits on Mr Joyce’s Agricultural Industry Advisory Council which provides high level strategic guidance of issues impacting the farm sector.
The Council also includes highly regarded farm advocates and business leaders like former Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association executive director Luke Bowen.
Mr Joyce is due to launch the new online wine-selling service at Parliament House in Canberra later today, along with Mr Sorgiovanni.
The SEEKWINE Australia website says “Did you know that approximately 80 per cent of alcohol is sold by the two major retailers?”
“Together they own hundreds of virtual brands that have little or no meaning, no tangible attachment to any winery and are produced in bulk along with all their other virtual brands,” it says.
“The craft of winemaking has been lost on these brands, in the aim of producing them as cheaply as possible.
“So how do we as small wineries continue to survive?
“This site does not promise a ‘bottle and price’ proposition as many others do, but will be an aspirational platform where buyers can purchase regional favourites and develop an understanding and appreciation for the regions, winemakers and wineries.”
Mr Sorgiovanni - the online tool’s founder - said the Australian wine industry was one of the toughest sectors to survive in, with increasing downward pressure from the two major retailers.
But he said small, passionate winemaking families from around Australia were teaming-up to combine their market power and provide consumers with the ability to source wine from every wine-growing region in Australia “with a single click”.
“This new initiative will create a unique online space between a company’s website and the bottle-price sites, which currently exist, but offer little value to real brands, due to a focus on discounting, which is not always in the public interest,” he said.
The SEEKWINE Australia initiative is based on Geographical Indicator (GI) wine regions throughout Australia, with 11 winemakers currently signed-on from 11 regions.
Over time the tool aims to have each of the 60 GI wine regions in Australia represented by a single wine company.
Mr Sorgiovanni said there would be no warehousing of wines which would remain with each wine company for direct delivery.
“The number of participating wineries in this exchange platform will grow over time as we seek to have every GI wine region in Australia represented,” he said.
“Small, passionate, Australian wine companies working together will be a large reason for the success of this site.
“It will benefit both the small wine making companies, who need market and consumer engagement, and the consumer who is keen to learn more about Australian regions and wine.”
Mr Joyce has long-championed initiatives like introducing an ‘effects test’ to Section 46 of the Competition Act - via recently passed legislation - to help curtail anti-competitive behaviour and market power abuse, in the retail supply chain, to help protect farmers.
In speaking about recent changes to the Wine Equalisation Tax, Mr Joyce said the Australian wine industry was a “vital economic powerhouse” for the regions, attracting thousands of international visitors each year.
He said Australian wine exports were expected to exceed $2.5 billion in 2017-18, with benefits flowing to wine producers as well as regional wine producing communities.
“The Australian wine industry contributes $40.2 billion to the Australia economy and creates over 172,000 full and part-time jobs throughout Australia,” he said.