Wineries access US, China markets with $50m grant

This comes from the federal government's $50 million Export and Regional Wine Support Package, with SA Senator Anne Ruston saying the assistance was a welcome boost.

"We already know that South Australian wine is the best in the country," she said.

"These grants will further help strengthen the local industry.

"Our wineries are producing a fantastic product, and through this program they have the opportunity to share that with some of our biggest export partners."

Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie said China and the US were important markets for our food and fibre exports and had a large demand for Australian wine.

"Australia has some of the best quality wine in the world - raising international awareness of that quality is key to increasing demand for our product abroad," she said.

"These grants help South Australian wine producers participate in international trade activities and in-store promotions as well as providing marketing and advertising materials for Chinese and US audiences.

"This grant program has been an integral part of helping our wine producers play their part in achieving a $100 billion agricultural sector by 2030."

RELATED READING: Local drop gets $50m wine export, tourism boost

For Basket Range winemaker Gareth Belton, Gentle Folk Wine, the grant allowed him to travel to the US and show wines to exporters.

"We have now started shipping wines into New York City and California and have received a lot of interest from other states, which we will begin working with from 2020," he said.

Wine Australia CEO Andreas Clark said Australian wine exports were continuing to grow in value.

"In the year ended June 2019, the value of exports to China (including Hong Kong and Macau) increased 66 per cent to $1.2b (from $721 million in 2016-17)," he said.

"Growth in sales to the USA has been more modest - with a 2pc increase to $432m in the year ended June 2019 - but significant opportunities remain at the higher price points and the grants have helped businesses take advantage of this."