Survey paints bleak wine job loss picture

A survey reveals about 190 jobs could be lost in the wine industry in the Mildura, Swan Hill and Grampians regions if the economic downturn continues.

The Victorian Wine Industry Association survey shows about 20 per cent of the state's micro, small and medium sized wineries are not profitable.

The association's chief executive, Joanne Butterworth-Gray, says a lot of those could leave the industry.

She says that would mean an economic loss of more than $90 million in the industry across the north-west.

"If we continue to have an economic downturn and those marginal wineries decide to leave the industry, that's a huge impact on jobs," he said.

"As we've predicted it could be 1,000 full-time jobs lost and there could be a loss of a total of about $857 million worth of value."