Wine grape growers voice competition concern after McWilliam's purchase

The announcement that McWilliam's Wines was being purchased by Calabria Family Wines was widely celebrated last week as it secured the survival of one of Australia's oldest wineries.

But amidst the celebrations, the Riverina Winegrape Growers Association has raised concerns about the region losing competition.

"I think it's a good thing that a local winery bought McWilliam's instead of it closing down," Chairman Bruno Brombal said.

"But the concern now is that because it's not a new winery coming to the region, there is now less competition for growers."

Growers in the region have already been hugely impacted by both coronavirus and controversial import tariffs implemented on Australian wine by China, which saw the price of red wine grapes drop from $625 a tonne to just $500 last year.

According to Mr Brombal, losing a major winery in the region means this price could drop even more.

"About 18 months ago, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission came out to Griffith and they told us we needed more wineries for competition, this has given us the opposite of that," he said.

"Just about all of our winegrapes go to local wineries, so we need as many as possible here so that we can negotiate the best possible price."

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McWilliam's merging with Calabria Wines has brought the number of major wineries in the region down to five, a number that would have been as high as seven or eight just ten years ago.

The hit has come at a frustrating time for growers, as many of their vineyards are now quite old and in need of replacing.

Replacing a vineyard can cost up to $25,000 per hectare, a price which could be out of reach for wine grape growers impacted by lowering prices, Mr Brombal said.

"If growers can't replace their vineyards, that will definitely become an issue in the next ten years."

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