Buy-Aussie-wine law plan 'sour grapes'

New Zealand winemakers have laughed off reports an Australian MP is pushing legislation to encourage the consumption of Australian plonk in place of competing Kiwi imports.

Liberal MP Ivan Venning wanted to introduce a private member's bill to State Parliament encouraging South Australians to buy Australian wines, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed domestic sales of Australian wines slumped last year, while sales of imported wines increased by more than 50 per cent.

New Zealand wines had become popular in Australia but Australian products were just as good, if not better, Mr Venning reportedly said.

"I just think it's high time that some of us stood up and said, 'hang on, we're not prepared to sit quiet while our industry's going through some pretty tough times where families are really hurting'."

New Zealand growers dismissed Mr Venning's stance, saying they were happy to let Australian consumers make up their own minds.

Constellation New Zealand chief executive Joe Stanton said the Australian MP's comments followed a period of tremendous growth for New Zealand wines in Australia.

Constellation New Zealand, which owns brands such as Nobilo, Selaks, Kim Crawford and Monkey Bay, exported "a couple of hundred thousand cases" of wine a year to Australia, Mr Stanton said.

"To move back towards a protectionism sort of way of going to market is going back 50 years or more."

Chard Farm owner Rob Hay echoed Mr Stanton's sentiments, describing Mr Venning's proposed private member's bill as "sour grapes".

"It's tragic. It's like something out of the 1930s. It's very old-fashioned." The winery, near Queenstown in the Gibbston Valley, exported about 20,000 litres a year, or 10 per cent of production, to Australia every year.

Mr Hay said wine drinkers did not like being dictated to, and would follow their palate in selecting which wines they wished to drink.

New Zealand Wine Growers chief executive Philip Gregan was also critical of the plan.

"It's somewhat ironic. South Australia is a huge exporter of wine to other countries and trade's a two- way deal."