Wine Victoria

Bushfire Technical Response Program

The Wine Victoria Bushfire Technical Response Program aims to undertake the delivery of a package of technical support activities for Victorian wine industry participants affected by exposure to bushfire smoke during the 2019-20 growing season. While there is a focus on wine regions directly affected by smoke, the program seeks to deliver statewide benefits where possible. 

Minister for Agriculture Jaclyn Symes this week announced $990,000 to support a program delivered in partnership with Wine Victoria that will help winemakers assess and remediate the effects of smoke exposure on wines being made from this year’s harvest. The program will include online technical workshops on recognising and addressing the effects of smoke exposure, evaluation of 2020 wines by expert sensory panels, support to produce test batches for evaluation and access to a benchmarking kit to help winemakers assess their own wines. 

The program will also include winemaking trials to evaluate techniques for treating smoke-affected wines and research activities to better characterise the impacts of smoke on a range of locally important varieties. A steering committee made up of the Victorian Government, Wine Victoria and representatives from affected wine regions will oversee the program, which will be rolled out immediately and run until September 2021. 

Further information will be posted here as programs and activities are rolled out. 

For more information on support for the wine industry after the bushfires visit agriculture.vic.gov.au or call 136 186.