From aromatic Shiraz to elegant Rieslings and standout sparklings, the award-winning wines produced in Western Victoria’s Grampians and the Pyrenees regions near the Great Dividing Range are loved right across the country, and now Victorian Government funding is helping to put these regions on the international wine appreciation map.
The $200,000 second round of the Wine Growth Fund – a Victorian Government initiative designed to develop and sustainably build the domestic and international markets – will bring to life 10 projects throughout the Grampians and Pyrenees, driving wine tourism and cellar door sales, fine-tuning vineyard production and improving strategic planning and marketing.
Not only will the funding help growers, intermediaries and representative bodies capitalise on opportunities to better market and export some of Australia’s best drops, but it will also spur on job creation: Victoria’s wine industry plays a vital role in regional and rural economies, bringing in an estimated $7.6 billion to the state economy and employing nearly 13,000 people.
It’s an exciting new chapter for the picturesque Grampians and Pyrenees that have a long history of viticulture, with some vines first laid down in the 1860s.
Wine Growth Fund Round Two Projects include:
- Blue Pyrenees Estate – to establish a Wine Education Centre
- Grape Farm Winery – to create a commercial kitchen
- Malakoff Estate Vineyard – for biodynamic wine innovations
- Pyrenees Grape Growers and Winemakers Association – to promote the 2018 Avoca Wine and Food Festival
- Pyrenees Grape Growers and Winemakers Association – resourcing for local and international trade fairs
- Quartz Hill Wines – to establish a new straw bale cellar door at the vineyard
- Summerfield Winery – to extend the cellar door café area and increased food offerings
- SubRosa – for digital marketing upskilling and website upgrade
- Grampians Estate – a feasibility study for cellar door extension
- Visit Ballarat – funding of a project manager to implement recommendations from the Grampians Pyrenees Wine Tourism and Culinary Master Plan 2017-2020, funded under the Wine Growth Fund Round One.
