The potential impact of an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) report into the country's wine market will be the focus of a roadshow which will be stopping in Griffith.
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The Griffith stop of the Finlaysons Wine Roadshow will be held at Quest on October 24, with this year's focus being a deep dive into the ACCC's report into the wine market which was released in September and the 10 recommendations made by the report.
The report recommendations include increasing how quality is assessed through the development of uniform standards for testing and measuring sugar levels, as well as calls to phase out long-term payment periods of contracts and force all winemakers with a processing capacity of over 10,000 tonnes to adopt a best practice standard of payment within 30 days of grape delivery.
Wine partner at Finlaysons Lawyers Will Taylor said the Riverina region was one area particularly focused on in the final report.
"The report focused on three warm climate regions," Mr Taylor said.
"But the information is certainly relevant to cool climate regions.
"The Riverina has the most to react to."
Mr Taylor said the report highlighted a number of key areas in which Riverina growers and winemakers will need to adapt to in the near future, with the report recommending all winemakers in the country sign onto the Australian Wine Industry Code of Conduct and any unfair contract terms are removed from standard form contracts.
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The report highlighted informal annual and multi-year agreements as being "more common in the Riverina than in other regions" and attributed the number to a lack of signatories of the code of conduct and a local industry culture of loyalty between growers and winemakers.
"The ACCC is making it pretty clear supply agreements should be in writing," Mr Taylor said.
"Oral agreements work fine when everybody's happy.
"If growers have the chance to negotiate the contract it generally will not be regarded as unfair."
Australian Grape and Wine CEO Tony Battaglene said some of the recommendations put forward by the report could damage recent improvements to the wine market.
"The ACCC's Final Report presents a mixed bag of recommendations," Mr Battaglene said.
"While there are a number of initiatives we will support, the recommendations relating to payment terms and price transparency create a range of potential unintended consequences that could erode recent market improvements."
The roadshow, which travels annually to 10 grape-growing regions across the country to inform growers of recent legal and commercial developments, is in its 27th year.
Tickets for the roadshow are $145 and to register for the roadshow, visit www.finlaysons.com.au/wine-roadshow/.
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