The Wine Grapes Marketing Board wants growers to speak “one-on-one” with their wineries if they feel prices are sluggish.

Brian Simpson, the board’s chief, said the major concern for the industry was whether prices would start to move upward as harvest progresses.

Mr Simpson is confident they will become better due to a lower Australian dollar, but he said there tended to be major variations across the industry.

Oversupply, market dominance issues and the risk of “double dipping” on the wine equalisation tax (WET) rebate are well-known industry concerns.

Mr Simpson said growers often needed to find a voice and use it.

“Growers need to be in constant discussion with wineries,” he said. 

“We need them to communicate because it is their fruit. If they feel they are not getting a fair deal, then let them know.”

The Riverina, the state’s largest grape-growing region, is about two weeks into harvest with some weeks to go. 

The Griffith area had an uncertain start to the season, as rainfall and disease pressure threatened the quality of the grapes.

Many growers have reported projected returns that are not at par with the cost of production.

“The concern we see are that some of those prices are so far below the cost of production that it is no longer viable to produce,” Mr Simpson said.

“Sometimes as an industry we live and die on what disease or natural disaster may happen overseas.”

The board chief used the analogy of a flood wiping out the Chilean grape crop.

“If there are wiped crops, Australia benefits,” Mr Simpson said. 

“Grape prices will lift if there is less available fruit.”

He said the variation in prices was such that the older neutral varieties had dropped off.

“Across the whole range we are getting a variation in the price,” he said. 

“It comes down to how much they will pay for X variety.”

Mr Simpson said growers would benefit if the government addressed the WET rebate.

Industry concerns settle on "loopholes" that have allowed the tax office to be flooded with claims.

The tax office has cracked down on the claims to some degree, but concerns persist.

The Wine Grapes Marketing Board is calling on the federal government to legislate to have it applied to cellar door sales only.

"In its current form, it has drawbacks. These setbacks allow for double dipping and devaluing of the finished product," Mr Simpson said.

“That’s how free and open the government has allowed the market to become. The government rebate is essentially subsidising cheap wine-based alcohol to consumers.”