Windowrie's Jason O'Dea will be among a delegation of NSW wine grape growers making a visit to China in June aiming to re-introduce Australian wines to the Chinese market.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
![Jason O'Dea. Jason O'Dea.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/KmaUEninnpnf2uAdKbuj4Q/c0cf405e-5976-4dee-ac04-6d9ed70e9852.jpg/r0_0_409_441_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The Australian industry is looking to reacquaint itself with the Chinese market during the roadshow after China recently announced it was lifting a tariff of more than 200 per cent that was introduced in 2020.
Beijing imposed the tariff amid a string of economic blows to Australian exports in 2020.
Australian wine representatives estimate the industry lost more than A$2b in the year after China was shut off.
"The tariff put a complete halt on sales and total Australian sales fell to below $50 million," Mr O'Dea said.
Windowrie has had wine held in customs for the last three years.
"The first step will be to have this released - it's mainly red wine so it should be fine quality-wise," Mr O'Dea said.
''Windowrie had been exporting wine to China since 2009," where Mr O'Dea's brother Steph had lived for a number of years, helping to open up the market for the Canowindra vineyard.
"In the early days it was a bit like the wild west and the market grew to represent $1Billion in sales for Australia, around 30% of our export sales," Mr O'Dea said
President of the NSW Wine Industry Association Mark Bourne said: "China has historically been a valuable export market for NSW wine producers, with strong relationships formed over the years".
June visit is the first in what Mr O'Dea believes might be a long road back.
''It will not be easy getting back into the market," he said.
"While we were excluded from the market sales of South American wines and from South Africa filled our spot on the shelf.
"The economy is also slowing in China so we expect a different climate when we get there. It will be a long road back, this is just the beginning," he said.