Please see below the communique from our President, Mark Bourne, which summarises the discussion and decisions made at the AGM and subsequent Executive Meeting held in person in Sydney on 4 November 2021.

The NSW Wine Industry Association held its annual general meeting and board elections on the 4^th  November in Sydney.

Thanks to the significant contributions of board members your association remains in a strong position for the year going forward and continues to play positive role through advocacy and support of the NSW wine industry.

We received strong nominations for all positions and are pleased to announce the election of the following members that have agreed to represent and contribute their knowledge and time to your industry association.

President – Mark Bourne

Vice President R&D – David Lowe

Vice President Promotions & Marketing – Nicole Samodol

Vice President Government relations & licensing - Byron Hodkinson

Secretary – Andrew McLean

Treasurer – Tim Jones

Corporate representatives - John Quarisa, John Cassegrain, Geoff Krieger, Alex Holness, Will de Beaurepaire

Regional representatives for 2021/22

Hunter Valley – Manda Duffy

Mudgee – Sam McKendry

Riverina – Bruno Altin and Andrew Calabria

Tumbarumba – Juliet Cullen

Canberra – Sarah Collingwood

On behalf of the NSW wine industry the president Mark Bourne welcomes all new board members and looks forward to working with them on the sustainable growth and prosperity of the NSW wine industry.

Executive Meeting

The AGM was immediately followed by an executive meeting of NSW Wine.

The items of particular interest for regional and industry members tabled at the meeting include:

• Weather station network
• AgSkilled courses
• NSW Wine Awards
• Research & development
• Regional wine fund support programs
• Export wine fund support programs
• New website

Weather Station Network

NSW Wine owns and operates weather stations across the State as a service to NSW grape growers and winemakers, with the data hosted on the NSW DPI grapes website page. These stations collect weather data and allow viticulturists to make informed pest and disease risk assessment and management decisions

Many of the weather stations are reaching an age where maintenance and repairs are increasing and mobile networks that the stations are currently connected to are scheduled to shut down over a period of time. The NSW Wine board has commissioned an assessment of these weather stations and the options and new technologies available to continue to provide this service to NSW producers.

We will provide an update on future plans for the weather station network to NSW wine industry as recommendations are assessed by the board.

AgSkilled Courses

NSW Wine successfully advocated for the NSW wine industry to be part of the NSW government $15m AgSkilled 2.0 program for three years and are a member of the programs steering committee. AgSkilled provides fee free courses to eligible industry participants in single units of competency (short courses).

Courses cover the areas of viticulture, cellar operations, cellar door operations, board governance, business management and marketing. Recent pest and disease courses and corporate governance courses have run across NSW been very well received.

The AgSkilled website lists all the current course offers and we urge all NSW wine industry members to make the most of this unique opportunity to upskill and train their workforce.

NSW Wine Awards

The 2021 NSW Wine awards judging is taking place at the ICC Sydney starting on the 23^{rd of} November, with strong entry numbers received this year. This year’s awards will see Mr Nick Spencer taking the role chair of judges along with an experienced panel of judges.

A continued focus of the NSW wine awards is the education and training of future industry professionals. This year we have seven associate judges from the wine industry, restaurant and retail trade joining the judging team.

On Friday 10 December, NSW Wine will host a lavish lunch at ICC Sydney to honour the medal winners at the 2021 Awards and announce the top trophy winning wines and winemakers.

Join the Governor of NSW, key NSW Government figures, valued industry supporters and a whole room full of excited winemakers and wine professionals to be amongst the first to hear this year's top winners. Don’t miss out. Book your tickets now via the NSW wine website and join us for this celebration of the quality and diversity of NSW Wines.

Research and Development

Following on from the NSW wine innovation forum in June a NSW Wine Industry RDE&A prospectus has been published containing 14 key priority projects for our industry in R&D. The prospectus has been very well received by research and industry organisations, leading to key projects within the prospectus already gaining widespread support for funding including those on biosecurity and soil carbon.

Regional Wine Fund

The 2021 Memorandum of Understanding between the NSW Government and NSW Wine Industry Association Included an NSW Regional Wine Industry Fund providing up to $300,000 per annum to support projects that create sustainable growth in the NSW wine industry.

The 2021/22 regional wine fund projects include Regional Competitive Grants, Wine Education scholarships (WSET), Regional Ambassador Program, Regional Tasting Program, Social Media Campaign, Regional visitation and events and an On-Premise Research update and plan.

The regional competitive grants, wine education scholarships (WSET) and the regional ambassador program are all currently open for applications and we encourage all NSW regions to apply for support for their members and region via the NSW Wine website programs page.

Early in 2022 NSW Wine will initiate a fully funded 12 month social media program to drive increased demand of NSW wine and visitation to NSW wine regions and cellar doors. We are pleased to announce that The Distil Agency has been appointed to deliver this year long promotion program, and the strategy and program details are being finalised now. We will be liaising with regional associations and wine businesses in the very near future on opportunities within the program.

Also, early in 2022 we will be launching fully funded monthly trade tastings for regions in Sydney. This program is targeted at increasing the listings of NSW wines on wine lists within greater Sydney. NSW wine will be contacting regional associations with details shortly of the schedule and details of this program.

Export Fund Program

The 2021 Memorandum of Understanding between the NSW Government and NSW Wine Industry Association export assistance to NSW wine producers to establish them in key markets and increase their level of international competitiveness totalling $250k per year was established.

In the 2021/22 year NSW Wine is focussed on increasing the export of NSW and NSW regional labelled wines and has allocated the funds to the following projects.

NSW Wine Export Development Program

Japan Rakuten Promotion, partnered with Investment NSW
Ambassador Program in UK and Japan for the NSW wine industry
USA Market Entry Program support
Australian Wine Discovered – Dedicated always-on education
UK Wine Australia Virtual Tasting – NSW Regional Focus
Trade Magazine Advertorial on NSW wine regions

While many NSW producers are currently experiencing low inventory levels these export assistance opportunities are substantial and we strongly encourage producers to consider the medium and long term opportunities for growth and apply for the programs via the NSW Wine website export fund page.

NSW Wine Website

The NSW wine website has been revamped and updated with a great new look and increased functionality. Memberships, event tickets, scholarships and grant applications can all be made directly on the site in real time.

New resources and information are easily accessed and searchable including newsletters, research, covid-19, NSW DPI projects, bushfire, and smoke and much more.

The NSW wine website remains a valuable industry portal and online resource, check out the new look NSW WINE online today.

NSW Wine board offer

We wish to encourage the communication of state and regional priorities, actions and challenges at all times and the open offer remains standing from NSW wine to present to regional committees and boards to increase communication and actions within our industry.

We reiterate our offer to present to every regional association at least once every year (or more if required). To arrange this please contact our executive officer Angus Barnes via email exec@nswwine.com.au

Regards

Mark Bourne

President NSW Wine