Wairarapa chokes on wine tax
Last Straw: 12c Excise Rise puts wineries on brink. Photo / File
The largest wine excise rise in 20 years could cripple some Wairarapa producers already weathering bleak economic conditions, say industry players.
Emma Levins, Martinborough Vineyard sales and marketing manager, said she was working through sales forecasts for the year ahead and the 12-cents-a-litre rise announced yesterday was a significant burden.
She said the increase to $2.70 a litre could push profits out of reach for some small wineries and would make the coming year "very difficult" for the industry.
"This could cripple some producers, especially smaller producers like us. We're not like the big guns. Even a small increase has a big impact when you can't really pass it on and it makes it very hard to compete," Ms Levins said. "It's just the worry that if you do pass it on you'll price yourself off the shelves or out of business."
New Zealand Winegrowers chief executive Philip Gregan said the excise take on New Zealand wine would rise to about $180 million over the coming year and could force some wineries out of business.
He said supermarket chains were the major distribution channel in New Zealand, taking to market about 70 per cent of the wine produced.
"Times are tough and neither retailers nor consumers will stand a rise of that order.