Master viticulturer Ian Hollick with the precious Terra rosa and limestone/calcrete profile of Coonawarra ... the dreaded Phylloxera doesn't like sand much, but it would revel in this plum layer cake if it were to cross the Victorian border. Like most of Coonawarra, the Hollick vineyards are not on rootstock, and so are highly vulnerable while giving better flavour. The Hollick winemaker, Matt Caldersmith, is "aghast" at the Phylloxera Board's mismanagement and diluting of the rigid regulations which have kept South Australia free of Phylloxera for a century. Well, so far, anyway. Touch wood.
Vine Pox Invasion Hits Crossfire
Sweaty Board Rethinks Monday
Buggers Nearly Got Away With It
by PHILIP WHITE
This last week, DRINKSTER's been up to its gullet trying to digest the terrible mess which industry and government have together made of South Australia's previously brilliant Phylloxera laws, and the Board which properly and successfully policed them for a century. It's now quite obvious that various vested interests are quietly softening the regulations to suit their desperate new parsimony. As Dudley Brown remarked on an earlier blog, it's as if the Phylloxera louse has hired its own lobbyist! But good sense must prevail here: we're not only gonna win this, but now we expect resignations.
Here's a transcription of a discussion which went to air on Adelaide's local ABC891 with announcer Ian Henschke, followed by some further explanations and disgust. It's real long, but it has to be. Chew it up, and get ready to storm the ramparts if they don't reverse the decision. We can win this. Sharpen up the axes.
IAN HENSCHKE: One of
the things you wouldn’t want to discover in South Australia is Phylloxera,
because it hasn’t been here. If you don’t know what it is, it’s a disease of grape
vines, and er well, it could cause hundreds of millions of dollars of damage
according to Philip White the wine writer.
Philip White, why are we worried about it now, seeing that we’ve been
free of it for the best part of a century or more?
PHILIP WHITE: Well, we’ve had a really effective sort of self-policing body called the Phylloxera Board, to which all [South Australia] grape-growers have
contributed a levy on their tonnes for a hundred years. And Phylloxera is in Victoria
and New South Wales
in various places. Since the wine
industry boom of the last fifteen years it started to move in Victoria
and it’s sprung up in many – I think there’s been six, seven maybe, outbreaks
in different parts of Victoria
in the last ten years (1).
Now what’s happened on top of that in the very complex and
intricate network of committees and acronyms and stuff which the wine industry
seems to thrive on, there’s been a move to actually alleviate or, or decrease
some of the very rigid restrictions that we’ve had on the movement of machinery
across the border; plant material, like cuttings, and soil (2).
What’s happened is, in a sort of almost secretive way -
because nobody was really aware of it, or talked to about it - they’ve lifted
some of these restrictions, to make it easier to move (3).
Which is putting the fear of death into the wine industry
here (4), because we have these ancient pre-Phylloxera vineyards that no-one
else in the world has – or maybe Chile and Argentina have some – but there’s
hardly anywhere on Earth which has these incredible old vineyards like your
cousins have in Hill of Grace.
So while you can plant grafted anti-Phylloxera rootstocks
and then put your Cabernet on the top of it, that just makes us the same as the
rest of the world if we do that. So
people are really really worried.
HENSCHKE (below): Well it seems as if this is going on – and I know
you’ve written a blog on this – if this is going on as you say I imagine
there’d be absolute fear out there in the grape-growing community.
Let’s go to Matt Caldersmith, chief winemaker at Hollick
Wines down in the Penola-Coonawarra region.
You’re not that far from the border, Matt Caldersmith. Are you worried that you could see Phylloxera
coming across the border if we’ve relaxed the rules?
MATT CALDERSMITH:
Yeah, definitely Ian. It’s a
major concern for us, as I think Philip was saying. We’ve been free of Phylloxera pretty much
since inception, and because of that we’ve probably been a little bit lazy with
protection, and I can’t speak for all of Coonawarra, but I know that all of
Hollick’s plantings are on their own roots, so they’re planted with vines that
aren’t grafted onto Phylloxera-resistant stock.
HENSCHKE: So how much damage would it cause, if for example
a bit of machinery or some soil came in that carried Phylloxera - because I
understand that this particular organism, I think it’s a little tiny insect,
isn’t it, it’s so small you can’t even see it – if that got into your vineyard,
how much would it cost, for example, if it broke out in the Coonawarra region?
CALDERSMITH (right): Well there’s been numbers bandied about, you
now, in the millions, but the major issue is, and you’re correct, it’s like an
aphid: it’s very small and it lives in
the ground and it chokes the roots and stops the water and nutrients from
getting to the vine.
So what happens is you lose production. The vines generally slowly die and shut down,
so you have to replace the vines.
Now the costs being bandied about really only account for
the purchase of the vines. To replace
the vines you’ve got to pull out all the infrastructure: all the water; all the
posts, and then go through and replant.
On top of that you’ve got a to wait a good four years before
you get any decent crops from the vines –
HENSCHKE: Well that’s extraordinary. If you ended up, say,
even wiping out ten per cent of an industry that’s worth two billion and you
had to wait four years, you’d be losing a billion dollars. The figures would be up around that, not
allowing for the cost of the labor of replanting all the vineyards.
CALDERSMITH: Oh, it’s potentially devastating. That’s why we’re aghast at what’s going on.
HENSCHKE: Well let’s go to Louisa Rose now the co-chair of
the South Australian Wine Industry Council.
Louisa Rose, how did this come about, that the rules are being relaxed
at a time when obviously the wine industry’s got enough problems on its hands with
oversupply and low international prices through the high rate of the
[Australian] dollar?
LOUISA ROSE (below): Hi
Ian. Well look I have to say I don’t
know how, particularly how it came about. I’m not up to speed with exactly the
history of this. I know that really it’s
the Phylloxera Board that has been you know has been looking at looking at this
and it’s my understanding that they went through, you know, a process of trying
to – you know, as all government agencies have done – to try to reduce red
tape, and this is something that came about after some consultation … and and
it has been to my knowledge, you know, available for public sort of
scrutiny.
What I, what I can say, though, is I that know that the
Phylloxera Board – and there wasn’t anybody available to speak to you today:
I’m afraid they’re they’re travelling but they are meeting on Monday to review
the information they’ve been collecting over the past months –
HENSCHKE: And to review the decision? Is that one of the things they’ll be doing as
well? Because if people like Matt
Caldersmith are that upset about it then you would imagine that they would – I
mean I understand that the Board is actually funded by grapegrowers’ levys
isn’t it?
ROSE: Yeah. Absolutely.
And I mean I think that the Phylloxera Board is the grape is the grape
industry’s board. So they’re certainly not trying to make decisions that are in
any way you know trying to harm the South Australian wine industry.
And since this has this has come up, in the last couple of
weeks, that it’s been you know come through the media and Philip’s blog, and
they have been consulting very widely with grape growers in the industry, and with
the industry regional bodies (5), and they all their work and the information
they’ve collected over the past few weeks, and months, I might say, as part of
their ongoing work, you know, it’s going to be tabled at the meeting on Monday
and they will they will review that as well as the recommend as the
recommendations that you were referring to, and then they’ll report back to the
Minister with their, their recommendation.
So that’s what I know about the Phylloxera Board and how
that’s how they’re they’re addressing this particular issue. And they can’t really comment I suppose until
after they’ve reviewed that.
HENSCHKE. Okay. So
even if they were available they may not have been available.
ROSE: Well I think
it’s a Board thing so it would only have been individuals that could sort of take
individual comments so –
The insidious, tireless, indestructible Phylloxera
killing vines at Mitchelton, in Victoria's Goulburn Valley. All the
water from here drains into the Murray. Sorry about the miserable low
res - there's a shocking dearth of proper photographs of this sicko
micro varmint and the damage it wreaks, even on the Phylloxera Board
Goebbels sheets. They don't like us taking photographs much. It's obviously a bad look!
HENSCHKE: Well Louisa Rose on behalf of the South Australian
Wine Industry Council, you’d represent quite a lot of growers, and a large
section of the industry. Do you think
then that we should be as strict as ever on this particular, well, creature,
this this microbe that could effectively give the State a massive walloping
economically?
ROSE: Oh absolutely
and I don’t think anybody, anybody that’s involved in the South Australian wine
industry would have any would have any other opinion, other than that we have
to be absolutely vigilant on it.
And as I say, I’m not exactly sure of the history of this
particular issue but what I do know is that the Phylloxera Board are absolutely
on it.
I’m just wondering Ian if you’d if you’d like a little bit
of a rundown on the Board itself?
HENSCHKE: Well I mean
my understanding is that the Board is funded by the grapegrowers. But we’ve seen, for example, we’ve seen the
apple, the apple industry being told that because of free trade between
countries that they have to allow certain types of apples into the country, and
certain types of plants into the country that might put them at risk. Is this part of the whole free trade thing between
states?
ROSE: No. I don’t - that’s not, that’s not my belief. That’s not that’s not my belief at all. It is
quite important because I think the wine industry is actually incredibly in South Australia it’s
incredibly proud of having the Phylloxera Board because it’s been around for
over a hundred years. It was established
in, I think it was in 1899, with an absolute mission to promote this healthy,
free Phylloxera state.
Almost microscopic Phylloxera devouring a hairline vine root.
It was recognized very early, very early in South Australia
history that we didn’t have Phylloxera while it while it had come into other
states, such as Victoria and New South Wales, so, for over a hundred years, you
know, as the industry, and with a lot of government support we’ve been
absolutely fighting this, this little aphid, and it is, it’s an aphid as Matt
said, so, so you know to keep it out of the of the state.
So it’s, it is an industry board, or an industry-funded
board, and it’s governed by legislation, so it’s there not just at the whim of
the industry but absolutely embedded in, you know, you know, in the state.
HENSCHKE: Look er –
ROSE: - and it and it does a couple of things and I just
want to - if you’ve got time I’d like to share this because I think as a you
know, I always, I talk about this all over the world and how exciting it is
because it’s something that nowhere else in the world and nowhere else in
Australia has.
They do aerial surveillance of every vineyard, oh, every
three years. So they go along, and they
take these aerial images, and they compare them with the same image from three
years ago, and any changes in the vigour, which can be measured by infra-red
and check things like that, they then go out and they ground-proof. I’ve heard examples of them going to a
vineyard and saying “Look, we’re from the Phylloxera Board and we’ve, we’ve um
recognized that there’s a little bit of a change in the vigour in your
vineyard,” and they’ve gone in and found that there’s a vine that’s been pulled
out. (6)
You know, it’s that sensitive.
HENSCHKE: Okay. Well I mean –
ROSE: - they’re they’re looking at this you know every year.
And they also do, as we were already talking about, you
know, you know, look after the Phylloxera Act and the laws and the regulations
about bringing things in and quarantine and all of that.
HENSCHKE: Alright. Look,
thanks for explaining that Louisa Rose, co-chair of the South Australian Wine
Industry Council. Just quickly back to
Philip White then. Philip White, want do
you think the end result of this will be then?
Because clearly there seems to be almost two agendas running here. One, we want the place to be completely
disease-free, and you’ve got aerial surveillance but at the same time you’re
relaxing some of the rulings in terms of transport of machinery and soil.
WHITE: Yeah well I beg to disagree with Louisa, with
respect. This is an indication of, or
perfect example of the industry not working together.
It was the Victorian nurserymen who’ve lobbied this change,
using free trade as an excuse. They
somehow tried to involve the Australian Constitution. (7)
Now, the reality is that in spite of all this incredible
technology, in the last decade, there’s been outbreaks of Phylloxera in all
these places in Victoria, and there are
actually people in South Australia
who are suspicious that the damn thing might already be here.
Now I don’t begin to hope that that occurs, or that it’s
true. But the really difficult bit to
face is that these nurserymen stand to make hundreds of millions of dollars
selling rootstocks if Phylloxera does spread (8).
So I’m not suggesting that they’re doing it deliberately for
that purpose, but if Phylloxera were to appear in South Australia, all the
arrows would point to these lobbyists from the state where Phylloxera exists,
who’ve managed to bully our board into softening its restrictions.
HENSCHKE: Well look Philip White, we’ll be interested
talking to the Phylloxera Board after it has its meeting and I imagine that in
the meantime there’ll be a lot of lobbying going in the other direction, now
that the lobbyists in one way seem to have got their way, I think things’ll go back the other way. Thanks for your time this morning.
WHITE: Thank
you. The wires are buzzin!
And furthermore:
Whether we did it before or not, we might as well get this
over with now:
Declaration of potential vested interests:
Ian Henschke has a small vineyard in the Adelaide Hills and
is related to the Henschkes of Keyneton. He's the announcer of Adelaide's ABC Mornings show.
Matt Caldersmith works for the Hollick family, making wine
in Coonawarra.
Louisa Rose is chief winemaker at Yalumba, which owns South Australia’s biggest vine nursery. This Yalumba Vine Nursery, possibly the
second-biggest in Australia, is managed by Robin Nettelbeck, chief viticulturer for Yalumba. Nettelbeck also happens to be the Chairman
of the Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board of South Australia.
Philip White loves drinking good wine.
Yalumba's Oxford Landing Estate Manager, Ashley Ratcliff, pointing, and Robin Nettelbeck, manager of the Yalumba Vine Nursery, South Australia's biggest and perhaps Australia's second-biggest. As a Phylloxera-resistant rootstock vendor, Yalumba Nursery is an almighty money-spinner, while Nettelbeck, renowned for his Macchiavellian management manoeuvrings. also happens to be the chairman of the Phylloxera Board. Don't laugh. Sensibly hatted is PIRSA viticulture man Mike McCarthy from the South Australia Research and Development Institute. So where's Disco Rob when you need some bright action?
Current members of the Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board
of South Australia:
Robin Nettelbeck, Chairman
Pete Balnaves, Deputy Chair
Geoff Raven
Ashley Chabrel
Ashley Keegan
Cassandra Collins
Elise Heyes
Narelle Borgmeyer
Raegan Noon
Most of these people are unknown to me. Please let me know any details which may be
helpful in further research: leave a message below, or send to whiteswine@hotmail.com
FOOTNOTES:
(1) “Around Australia
phylloxera is clearly being mobilised. Previously confined to North Eastern
Victoria Phylloxera is on the march ... Phylloxera was first detected in
Australia in 1877, in Geelong, and was responsible for the near destruction of
the Victorian wine industry in the 1880s. Until fairly recently it was confined
to small areas in central Victoria (Nagambie, Upton, Mooroopna) and northeast
Victoria (Rutherglen, King Valley), in southeast New South Wales (Corowa) and
in Camden and Cumberland near Sydney. However, there have been several
detections in central Victoria
in the past 10 years (Buckland Valley 2003, Ovens Valley 2003, Murchison 2006,
Yarra Valley 2006, Mansfield 2010).” James Hook
(2) The Australian
wine industry is not what it was.
Desperate problems with irrigation water supply, floods, totally
unpredictable weather patterns, the Australian dollar going back up to where it
obviously should be, and an international oversupply of grapes has played havoc
with the balance sheets, particularly of the big companies, whether public or
private. This has forced many to regroup
their corporate philosophies, and in the lunge to remain viable, quite
dramatically restructure their businesses.
At the risk of compromising flavour and quality, this includes the prophylactic planting of vineyards on Phylloxera-resistant
rootstock, to avoid more trouble. It has also forced centralization of
processing like never before, a desperate drive to automation, and the sale of
the many satellite, or regional wineries where grapes were traditionally
vinified closer to their source. So
large winemakers with Victorian vineyards, or which buy Victorian or New South Wales fruit,
have an obvious desire to limit unnecessary restrictions on the efficient
transport of grapes, to begin with. As
these giants can usually afford to graft nearly everything to rootstock, as
they frequently own giant vine propagation nurseries, they do not suffer from Phylloxera
damage; they suffer only from the inconvenience of the restrictive Phylloxera Board
regulations. Jacob’s Creek (Pernod
Ricard), Wolf Blass (Treasury) and Yalumba (S. Smith & Sons) are
examples. Richard Hamilton (grape boss at Fosters,
owner of Wolf Blass) was chair of the Phylloxera Board previous to Robin
Nettelbeck (Yalumba).
(3) Since 2009, the
Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board of South Australia (PGIBSA) seems to have
lost much of its power to the bureaucrats of Primary Industries and Resources
South Australia (PIRSA), whose Minister they answer to. In that year, however, when the current act
was passed, the initial ruling to monitor imports of grapes and grape products
into South Australia
by transport manifests was soon dropped as there were too many manifests.
(4) “If the South
Australian Wine Industry is serious about preventing a Phylloxera outbreak then
shouldn’t ALL interstate transfer of grapes or vineyard machinery be banned? We
should be increasing the measures of protection not decreasing them. I am very concerned about the relaxed
attitude that seems to be descending on this matter. I am unsure what I can do
as an individual but I offer my support to you wholeheartedly.” Justin Lane, Alpha Box & Dice
“The national body, the National Phylloxera Technical
Reference Group has changed the classification of the Heathcote region which
will allow importation of grapes and grape material from there. However we have
seen the spread of Phylloxera to new areas in Victoria over recent times and,
as it takes up to 10 years for Phylloxera to be apparent in vine decline,
Phylloxera may already be in these areas which will be allowed to send grapes
to the Barossa for prcessing ... The Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board of
South Australia has the brief to ensure that prococals exist to pretect South
Australia from the pest. However a number of members of the South Australian
board and also members of the National Board making the changes. The South
Australian Board is funded by a levy on growers but how can we expect them to
protect us if the are members of the group putting us at risk ... The Chairman
of the national body, who is also a member of the SA Board, was quoted as
saying that the protection for South Australia has been strengthened and that
all people importing grape material need to register with the State Government
and will need to comply with the standards ... There is sure to be a lot more
to be said about this situation. It is a very very serious matter.” Anon., Barossa
“The weakening of the state's phylloxera protection measures
are even worse than first thought, and as highlighted by Whitey, Wayne Farquhar
and Drew Noon it should be ringing alarm bells for all old-vine growers
throughout South Australia
(and all wine lovers who value these drops made from pre-Phylloxera age vines).
It's the sort of thing that deserves a full-on protest outside parliament, it's
that serious ... How the hell can the powers that be significantly weaken the
rules protecting our grape and wine industry from Phylloxera without consulting
or informing the state’s primary stakeholders in this area, the grape growers
and wine producers? Are these idiots completely unaware of the history of the
recent movement of this destructive pest into the Yarra Valley
in 2006, or are their heads too far up their own arses to care? … Once this
threat appears in this state that's it, it can't be treated, it cannot be
cured, it will very probably destroy our oldest vines first and take away the
one truly unique thing we can promote on a world scale - a large resource of
old vines on their own natural rootstock (as opposed to American rootstock that
has to be grafted to in Phylloxera afflicted regions). A small example of what
we stand to lose - Hill of Grace, Mt Edelstone, Kay Bros Block 6, Penfolds
Block 42, Wendouree, etc, not to mention the many old vineyards that haven't
had their name on a label but have been equally important in making our top
wines and establishing our reputation here and overseas - imagine if the lot
were gone? The recent efforts to increase the value of what we sell overseas
based on terroir and uniqueness can be flushed down the toilet, and we're back left
competing with the likes of Chile and Argentina in the race for the bottom,
wall-to-wall bulk booze to line the grocers' shelves labelled as "sunshine
in a bottle" with a critter label and a $2 price tag. Game over ... A
couple of years ago I remember talking with Franco D'Anna and being shocked
when he said they were grafting all of their vines on to American rootstock,
and his comments that it's only a matter of time before everyone in the Yarra
Valley had to do the same because it was in Fosters (now Treasury's) vineyards
and eventually it will be everywhere. Perhaps that's something Gail Gago should
have thought of before defending the slackening of these protections, if
Phylloxera makes its way into South
Australia it will eventually strike her husband's
most valuable Penfolds vineyards, no matter what security measures they take." Ian Hickman
"This fight is never over it seems. But we can never
stop trying. Ever. South Australian wineries never talk about the fact that the
wines you taste are some of the only vineyards in the world that taste as they
should - from own rooted vines. My little (4 acres) own rooted Primitivo /
Zinfandel block is a wonder to winemakers from the arguable ‘home’ of zin - California. If we lose
this uniqueness, we lose all. And we don't even talk about how amazing this is.
We just accept it. We can't accept our good fortune and hard work of 113 years
- we must honor this bequest and fight for it." Dudley Brown, Inkwell Vineyard
"At recent Phylloxera meetings held in South Australia by the PGIBSA, Dr. Kevin Powell Australia’s top researcher into Phylloxera said
that the Phylloxera outbreak in the Fosters Vineyard in the Yarra Valley
probably occurred in 2001 and was only visible in 2006 a total of 5 years from
infestation to detection. Under current protocols a PRZ can gain full PEZ
status only after 3 years of surveys to detect Phylloxera, and new emerging
regions after only one year, yet Dr Kevin Powell is indicating minimum of 5
years or longer which would also depend upon the soil type, moisture and
temperature ... So Phylloxera could have potentially crossed from neighboring
effected areas into Heathcote/Bendigo regions and not have been detected yet,
and while they have PEZ status under the slackened measures heavy equipment and
grapes could travel into South Australia without compulsory inspection and
cleaning at the border. For all we know, with the complete lack of checks it
may already be here and is biding its time to announce its presence in another
five years. Anyone in the wine industry and wine lovers in general should be
outraged and horrified by these decisions by the Phylloxera board?” Wayne B Farquhar (upper left, with family),
Barossa vine nurseryman at Elite Nursery, owner Frill Hill Vineyards - Home to 145 year old
Grenache and 118 year old Riesling
“BIG thumbs up on this one. You definitely have our support-
in our view the enormous risk to SA’s own rooted vines far outweighs the desire
for ‘easier’ equipment/grape movement.
We see our old vines as one of our most precious assets. Please let me
know if there is anything that I/we can do to assist. Corrina Wright, winemaker, Oliver’s Taranga (170 years of family
grapegrowing in McLaren Vale)
Corrina Wright, left with sister Briony Oliver and father Don: this family's been growing grapes on the same McLaren Vale land for 170 years - photo Philip White.
“We applaud Victoria’s
efforts to survey its wine regions for phylloxera but we cannot accept the
claims that these new interstate areas are phylloxera free ... As noted
Phylloxera is a tricky problem that can take several years to be detected ...
The surveys provide a guide only and are not a guarantee. Opening our border to
free trade with these regions is not worth the risk with South Australia’s old vines.” Glen Harminson, Angaston Vineyards
“We all know phylloxera would devastate our old vineyards
and probably a lot of livelihoods along the way if it got into SA ... I think
we are being somewhat polite about the whole thing and have taken our (SA
Industry and quite obviously Vic. - All inclusive) foot off the pedal for the
last 10 years ... In more recent times lobbying from SA has been ineffective
which has resulted in us getting to where we are now, This strongly points
towards the Phylloxera Board which seems to be wanting to please all parties
... This will be the downfall of our current Phylloxera free status … I think
we need to have a strong, well distributed and understood message in our own
region(s) to give us more strength.” Michael Paxton, Paxton Wines
(5) The Phylloxera Board is required to have Regional Committees (Phylloxera Act Section 15.1), but they have shut these down. DRINKSTER cannot understand how how they managed this. If these committees still existed, growers wouldn’t have to be learning about threats to their livelihood on this blog, which is still the only journal in the country to be running this treacherous story. This battle will be won only when healthy communication via regional committees is re-established, and the South Australian regulations dependably and fiercely protect this state from imported grapes, machinery and other phylloxera risk vectors. (Remember 2009 when it all got swept under the carpet).
(6) While the precision of aerial surveillance is admirable,
it obviously cannot detect Phylloxera in vineyards grafted to Phylloxera-resistant
rootstock – vineyards of the type developed on a vast scale by the big wineries
who can afford such luxury and compromised flavour, and whom are the most likely to be shipping whole fruit
and plant material across borders.
Vineyards in very good country adjacent to places where Phylloxera is extant are obvious choices for rootstock viticulture. Aerial surveillance can only detect Phylloxera once it has infected vineyards
on their own roots. Once that’s happened, the grower has no choice but to
uproot the vineyard and replant it with grafted rootstocks which must be bought
from a big nursery. The Phylloxera never goes away.
Kym Ludvigsen, right, picks up his Distinguished Services Award from Wines of Victoria ... his 2010 piece below, published in the Australian and New Zealand Grapegrower and Winemaker may be a clue to why they admire him!
(7) “In recent years, Victoria has made huge leaps in
managing Phylloxera … The Victorian wine industry worked for years to convince
the Victorian government of the advantages that would flow … The discussion was
successful because it was based on realistic aims and sound business sense,
including issues linked to market access, the movement of machinery, nursery
materials, grapes, grape products, and elimination of conditions that resulted
in restriction of trade between the states … [South Australian restrictions]
are particularly galling issues for grapegrowers and wine industry contractors
from Victoria, who see business opportunities in other states but are unable
to easily access them … this is an intolerable situation requiring attention by
the national and state governments … One wonders if South Australia doesn’t
trust the Victorian government officials and certification processes … It is
becoming increasingly plain that South Australia is acting to protect its grape
industry and is denying market access to contractors, second-hand machinery
dealers, nurseries, wineries and grape growers from other states ... there is
no logic in their actions.” Kym Ludvigsen, Ludvigsen Viticulture Services,
Grampians, Victoria, chair, Australian Vine Improvement Association (vine nurserymen's lobby), Treasurer, Grampians Winemakers Inc; Victorian Regional Grape Supply Manager, Southcorp, 1994-02, writing in The Australian and New Zealand Grapegrower and Winemaker, October 2010.
(8) Grape vines
grafted to Phylloxera-resistant rootstocks cost about $5.50 per cutting to purchase from a nursery. Vines are commonly planted at about 2,000 cuttings per hectare.
5 comments:
Whitey,
This is some of your most important work, and the industry will thank you for it in time.
I found the comments from Kym Ludvigsen, Ludvigsen Viticulture Services most enlightening.
"One wonders if South Australia doesn’t trust the Victorian government officials and certification processes..."
As Mr Hook, Noon and the Phylloxera boards own website shows, Victoria's record with Phylloxera in the last ten years is poor.
Lets hope the next ten years don't cause a repeat in SA.
Trade opportunities for Victorian nurseries and contractors is not worth the risk.
That'd be a better tv show than Flacon Crest!
they cant lose can they because just the fear this spreads makes people buy nmore rootstocks
Phyloxera getting into SA is an unavoidable enevitability, regardless of the efforts of anyone.
However. It is still in the best interests of everyone to be as vigilant as possible.
Kym Ludvigsen, the Chairman of the Vine Improvement Association has had a good whinge over at the ABC now that the Phylloxera Board seem to be reconsidering their shocking decision. A vested interest maybe?
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201205/s3514339.htm
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