Join CEO Tony Battaglene with our guest, CEO of Limestone Coast Wine and former Hawthorn FC captain, Richie Vandenberg. As a 4th generation grape grower, Richie talks to us about his move from the family vineyard to football. He discusses his return to the industry and his passion for the environment, which inspired him to change the goal posts with his wine brand, The Hidden Sea - a brand with a conscience. The Hidden Sea is proving to be a brand with a purpose by making it their...

Join Tony Battaglene and guest Henrik Wallgren, Business Services Manager for the South Australian Wine Industry Association (SAWIA), as they discuss the use of heavy vehicles in the Australian wine industry, particularly throughout Vintage, and addressing the Changes to the Chain of Responsibility (CoR) laws that were introduced on 1 October 2018. Australian Grape & Wine have collaborated with SAWIA to establish a Registered National Industry Code of Practice, through a grant from ...

Join Australian Grape & Wine CEO, Tony Battaglene and Lee McLean, GM Government Relations & External Affairs, as they discuss two highly topical issues currently facing the Australian wine sector. Firstly, Container Deposit Schemes and the inclusion of wine bottles as part of the environmental policy around waste reduction; and secondly, off the back of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Winegrapes Market Study from 2019, the ACCC are currently sched...

While the Australian Government’s policy is that receiving a vaccination is free and voluntary, it aims to have as many Australians vaccinated as possible. Join Tony Battaglene and guest, Will Snow, Partner at Finlaysons Lawyers as they discuss the various State Government's Vaccine Mandate positions on double vaccination for COVID-19 and the impacts these positions have on grape and wine businesses in Australia. Community transmission is the bedrock foundation that risk assessmen...

Join Tony Battaglene and guest Angie Schipano, Director of Bird Control Australia, as they discuss effective, humane and eco-friendly methods of controlling pests in and around the vineyard. In the leadup to harvest, birds damage fruit by plucking entire berries from the cluster or pecking holes in the berries. Bird damage goes beyond yield loss; pecked grapes can harbour bacterial and fungal pathogens that lead to bunch rot and off-flavours in the wine. Angie provides advice on how to ...

Join Tony Battaglene and guest Dr Martin Cole, the new CEO of Wine Australia, as they discuss Martin’s initial impressions and priorities for the Australian grape and wine sector. Martin joined Wine Australia on 15 November 2021 from the University of Adelaide, where he was the Head of School, Agriculture, Food and Wine. Along with his wine sector experience, Martin brings extensive experience across government, academia and industry – including the broader agricultural sectors – and ha...

Join Tony Battaglene and guest Mitchell Taylor, Managing Director of Taylors Wines, as they discuss cyber security. In the lead up to Easter 2021, Taylors Wines were the target of a cyber attack across their entire business systems. This is a must-listen podcast for all grape and wine businesses across Australia, as Mitchell describes the attack they experienced, what they learned as a business, plus he gives us some handy tips for all businesses to protect themselves from cyber a...

In this week's Studio Canberra Podcast, Tony & Lee discuss two significant issues grape and wine businesses are facing. Shipping issues are causing significant disruptions to the sector, including the increasing costs to ship and the difficulty many businesses are having in booking a spot for their wines on ships leaving Australia. We also discuss the availability of labour leading into the 2022 vintage in terms of finding workers in the vineyard, the winery and even on-fa...

Join Tony Battaglene and guest Lee Haselgrove as they discuss viticulture and the increasing interest from consumers about the origins of the wine in their glass; the importance of the 'partnership' between supplier and customer for strong, sustainable business relationships; and the Young Gun of Wine's 2021 Vineyard of the Year Awards, where the Australian wine sector celebrates the vineyard and its connection to the earth that nurtures and produces our grapes. An acclaimed viticultural voi...

In this weeks Studio Canberra Podcast, Tony & Lee break down the World Trade Organisation (WTO) dispute settlement process initiated by the Australian Government, in response to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s decision to impose duties on Australian wine imports in March 2021. Whether you export wine or not, the impacts of the duties imposed by China will have a ripple affect across the sector - tune in to hear how the WTO process works, why the Government has taken this path, and wha...

In this weeks Studio Canberra Podcast, Tony & Lee break down the in-principle agreement on the bilateral Free Trade Agreement [FTA] between Australia and the United Kingdom, and what it means for Australian grape and wine producers.

Join Tony Battaglene and guest Tim Bartsch as they discuss the importance of developing and nurturing relationships between winegrape growers and winemakers for sustainable and mutually beneficial business outcomes. Tim has 20 years of experience in viticulture. Since graduating from the University of Adelaide’s viticulture course in 2006 with first class honours, he has worked across many parts of the wine industry in countries including Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, South ...

In this weeks Studio Canberra Podcast, Tony & Lee break down the 2021-22 Federal Budget and discuss a number of agriculture-sector-specific announcements aimed to deliver benefits for Australian grape and wine businesses. Also, Australian Grape & Wine hosted the Australian Wine: Trade with China & Opportunities for Diversification seminar last week to look at the impacts of Chinas final determinations on the Countervailing Duties and the Anti-Dumping Investigations into Aust...

Join Tony Battaglene and guest Martin O'Dee as they discuss the impacts of China’s final determinations on the Countervailing Duties Investigation and the Anti-Dumping Investigation where tariffs of up to 218% were imposed on Australian wine exporters to China, and the buzzword of the day - Market Diversification. Market Diversification sounds like a simple thing to do. How many times do you hear people say “winemakers just need to diversify their markets”. It sounds simple...

This week Tony and Lee break down the short, medium and long term strategies to deal with the latest outcomes from China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). On Friday 26 March 2021, MOFCOM released its final determinations on dumping of Australian wines in China and trade distorting subsidies (countervailing duties), applying duties of up to 218.4% on most Australian wine exporters on imports of all bottled and still wines from Australia. Domestic tourism is one of the strategies to ...

Join Tony Battaglene and guest Inca Lee, Chief Executive Officer of Vinehealth Australia, as they discuss biosecurity in the Australian wine sector. The new biosecurity buzzword "Biosecurity Bubble" has got people talking, and Inca breaks the term down to what it actually means, plus she discusses the importance of businesses investing in biosecurity, communication at the farmgate level and the shared responsibility of biosecurity at the farm-region-state levels to ensure we are a...

This week Australian Grape & Wine Chief Executive, Tony Battaglene and General Manager, Government Relations & External Affairs, Lee McLean discuss International Women's Day and the practical measures the peak industry body is undertaking to ensure equal gender representation in leadership positions is achieved and respect in the workplace is the norm. Plus we talk about the upturn in optimism in the wine regions with wine festivals and wine shows going ahead in 2021 after the shutdow...

This week Australian Grape & Wine Chief Executive, Tony Battaglene and General Manager Government Relations & External Affairs, Lee McLean provide insights into international trade. Much is made of Free Trade Agreements, and Australian Grape & Wine are heavily involved in these negotiations and believe in their benefits, but we also engage in a broad range of multilateral and plurilateral bodies. It is a complex area to work in, but Tony & Lee break it down t...

Join Tony Battaglene and our guest Will Taylor, Head of Finlaysons Wine Group. Will created the Wine Group in the early 1990’s, and has been instrumental in establishing Finlaysons as Australia’s leading law firm in the Australian wine sector. In this Conversations... podcast, Tony & Will discuss the growing importance of good relationships between grape growers and winemakers, including having these relationships enshrined in a contract for transparency and clarity, the impor...

This week Australian Grape & Wine Chief Executive, Tony Battaglene and General Manager Government Relations & External Affairs, Lee McLean provide insight into national advocacy, as they talk about their meetings this week at Parliament House with the Hon. Dan Tehan, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, the Hon. David Littleproud, Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management, and the Hon. Andrew Gee, Minister Assisting the Minister for Trade and Investment. ...