A REVIEW of the code of conduct, stricter rules on labelling and the phasing out of the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET).
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These were just some of the recommendations that could drastically affect the grape and wine industry.
The Riverina Wine Grapes Marketing Board chief executive officer Brian Simpson is cautiously optimistic.
“We want a mandatory code,” he said.
“There is a code in place right now, but as a result of nobody being signed up for the code, growers aren't getting paid on time.
“A couple of wineries only finished paying last year's grapes this year.
“We've lost that power that required wineries to pay on a certain date.
“Since then we've had wineries that used to pay under three standard payments, they're doing whatever they want and with no interest.”
The recommendation to amend wine labelling requirements would see wine makers have to declare whether wine is produced by an entity owned or controlled by a major retailer.
Mr Simpson said at the moment, supermarkets could “approximate someone else's label,” use the same variety, same region of the wine but sell it for cheaper and stick it next to the “real person”.
He hoped this recommendation would help growers thrive.
“I’ve spoken to wineries and they don't like what Coles and Woolies do,” he said.
“The growers argue with them but they retaliate.
“When I asked what they meant by retaliate they said 'we had a variety from Western Australia on our label, they (Coles and Woolworths) pulled out the same variety, same region and almost identical wine label and put it right next to us; gave us less shelf space to put more of theirs on it and pushed us out of business.’
“It happens time and time again, so having that recommendation is very good.”
He would’ve like to see the WET tax scrapped immediately though.
“Wineries are still posting million dollar profits and the industry has turned for them,” he said. “We want to see some of that come back to the farm gate.”