Reuters is having a look at the travails of the Canberra region wine industry.
- [Bruce] March, chief winemaker at Doonkuna Winery, in prize cool climate vine country north of Canberra, had been looking forward to a bumper 2009 harvest, tripling production capacity last year in anticipation of rocketing China demand for his wine.
But the global financial crisis has exploded that interest, bringing with it a soul-searching for Australia’s vignerons, ironically when good rains and a late summer are set to bring one of the best harvests for years.
“We set up to produce all this wine. We spent a lot of money, and then bang, the financial crisis hit us,” March told Reuters, standing near his largely new winemaking plant. “Our Chinese importer is hoping for a better next year. Right now we’re tightening belts and we’re into survival mode”.
Them’s the dangers and rewards of long distance trade.
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