CHRISTINE WEBSTER
WAIKERIE-based Growers Wine Group has experienced one of its strongest vintages ever.
Chief executive officer, Shane Clohesy, said the weather conditions were ideal for producing good quality red and white wine varieties.
Growers Wine Group, which is a business consortium specialising in bulk wine, crushed just over 55,000 tonnes of grapes this year.
The predominant owner/suppliers of the company are the Thomson, Pfeiler and Miller families who supplied 20,000 tonnes of its grapes this year, with the rest being supplied by wine grape growers from across the region.
The Riverland also supplied the largest crush of any Australian region, accounting for 31 per cent of the national vintage of 2.03 million tonnes, according to Wine Australia’s National Vintage Report for 2021.
Mr Clohesy said the cooler summer extended the harvest period, which in previous years tended to be more compressed.
“This year we had a little bit more time, but it still was pretty busy towards the end to finish off the reds,” he said.
“Cabernet was very strong with the varietal characters, and even the colours this year were quite dark and deep due to the slower ripening patterns.”
Mr Clohesy was also happy with the white wine varieties.
“Some of the floral varieties or the sauvignon blanc especially were so aromatic,” he said.
“The chardonnay had nice green colours coming through in its wines, it was really good to see.”
The Growers Wine Group exports bulk wine to Europe, Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Japan and Mr Clohesy said the company’s exports to China has been halted due to its 220 per cent tariff on Australian wine.
Chinese company, Auswan is a small shareholder of the Growers Wine Group, which means it faces a 116 per cent tariff from China, instead of the 220 per cent impost.
But Mr Clohesy said it still makes it impossible to export wine to China.
The Federal Government last month announced it would defend the interests of Australian winemakers by appealing to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to intervene in the wine tariff dispute with China.
A resolution by the WTO is expected to take about five years.
Mr Clohesy welcomed efforts by Wine Australia and the Federal Government to seek free trade agreements with countries like the UK.
“If that happens, it helps us enormously,” he said.
“Even if it is a slower thing to happen, once that gets moving, hopefully that will work OK,” he said.