During 2009 I took time out from my economics consulting job with the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies to work a vintage at Haselgrove winery in McLaren Vale. Prior to this I worked in a wine retail outlet in Adelaide and later I started working at Pirramimma winery in McLaren Vale on a regular basis at cellar door and assisting with marketing initiatives and tastings.

The interesting observations I made about the wine industry from insights shared by people I grew to know in the wineries, wine retail outlets and industry organisations, prompted me to start to ask questions about their views and concerns about the wine industry at the grass roots level, rather than at the industry-wide level which is where the analytical conversations and policy decisions usually start.

I thought it would be refreshing to gather anecdotal evidence from the horse’s mouth, giving a voice to people working in the wine industry, with a passion and a history embedded in the wine industry, and with fears, concerns, hopes and ideas that should all get their share of attention.

This Issues Paper that I produced for SACES is a non-biased record of the views of people I interviewed in the South Australian wine industry during 2009. I provide some background of the significance of the South Australian wine sector in the context of the national wine industry and show its extraordinary performance. I asked people why they thought the South Australian wine industry had been so successful, and what might influence its success in years to come. This is their voice.

Read the Issues Paper here:

Identifying the Main Economic Issues Facing the South Australian Wine Industry

Enjoy!

Tigs

(Please note as the author but not publisher I had no control over the overview at the start of the paper, or the comments in the margins or final editing and therefore take no responsibility for these.)