Wineries tough it out
The Kangaroo Island wine industry is facing tough times, with a major winery deciding not to pick its grapes this year and others not buying in extra fruit.
The Islander Estate Vineyard has cancelled its 2008 vintage, deciding to “tread water” this year to sell more of its wine stocks.
“Our wines are simply not moving fast enough so there is no point in making any more,” manager Henrik Petersen said.
Mr Petersen has sprayed the vines with ethylene to make the bunches of grapes drop so that the vines do not need watering and will be under less stress.
“It’s disappointing as a winemaker but it gives us a chance to focus on other things for the next nine months, such as marketing,” Mr Petersen said.
He said the winery was developing new overseas markets in Scandinavian countries, North America and Asia.
“We’re not closing down. Like everyone else we are feeling it in these economic times,” Mr Petersen said. It also had embarked on a joint marketing with some French wines from its founder Jaques Lurton and was having success in Canberra and Sydney.
Sunset Winery principal Colin Hopkins said times were tough for the industry, not just on Kangaroo Island.
The island industry was particularly feeling the brunt of a glut of bottled wine because it was still a new wine region.
“It’s hard to sell wine and grapes from Kangaroo Island when you’re competing with established regions like the Barossa, Clare Valley and Coonawarra. They have nearly 200 years on us,” Mr Hopkins said.
“Selling wine used to be easy. Prices for grapes were good and the industry was buoyant. But it’s not as easy as just establishing a website any more. The wineries that will do okay are those that have done the hard yards in terms of marketing.”
He said Sunset Winery would have its normal vintage. He and Sunset staff had spent 10 days at the last Royal Adelaide Show showcasing products and had spent a lot of time building relationships with wine marketers and outlets on the island and the mainland.
Bay of Shoals Wines manager Greg Miller said the winery had seen about a 15 per cent increase in sales over the past year, through the hard work of establishing relationships in Adelaide with such places as Jolley’s Boathouse restaurant, the Highway Hotel and the Holdfast Hotel.
“We’re ahead of where we were last year but we would always like to do more,” Mr Miller said.
Jean Dennis, secretary of the Kangaroo Island Grapegrowers and Winemakers Association said the island suffered from being a little known region. “There’s too much wine out there and it is very hard to break in to the networks and marketers,” Ms Dennis said.
She and husband Dean would make a decision in the New Year about this season’s vintage for Woolybud Wines. “We’ll have a vintage but probably a reduced one at this stage.”
Mr Hopkins was confident about the long-term future of the industry on KI. “I’m a passionate believer in the wine industry here but we are certainly having some growing pains.”