A FOCUS on promoting the region, retaining youth and meeting demand will be part of a larger blueprint announced by Riverland Wine recently.
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Launched by the industry body last month, the idea for the Riverland Wine Industry Blueprint was formed about a year ago, when the region's wine industry leaders met with government representatives to devise a way forward for the sector following an embattled period for the region.
Riverland Wine executive officer Lyndall Rowe said the blueprint would assist the Riverland wine industry as it continued to deal with ongoing challenging conditions and navigated its way through changes to improve productivity and ensure sustainability of the sector over the next decade.
Ms Rowe said marketing the region to homegrown and international tourists had been a strong focus of Riverland Wine for about 18 months, starting with its Riverland Uprising initiative.
The project was comprised of a series of photographs and stories about local wine families and culminated in an advocacy exhibition held at the National Wine Centre.
The exhibition was then announced as the winner of a regional resilience award at the SA Regional Showcase Awards.
"That means the photos and stories really resonated with readers which is really cool, " Ms Rowe said.
"Now we're in the process of developing a campaign that we've been working on called the Riverland Runs Free.
"Early next year, we'll be running campaigns to promote the sale of more Riverland wine in local establishments and also producing assets to help winemakers and cellar doors and pubs and clubs to actually sell people our wine as well."
Targeting and retaining skilled workers and young people in the region is also another part of the blueprint, after a survey suggested about 200 growers were looking to exit the industry.
"We have 900 growers who are members with Riverland Wine, so 200 wanting to exit is a big number," Ms Rowe said.
"The survey also revealed the demographic is aging and we're not attracting and retaining enough young people to the industry.
"We don't have a wine course in the region so people can study and learn here, so that's a really important focus for us moving forward."
During the launch, the state government announced further support for the initiative following challenges faced with oversupply of red wine grapes, global reduction of alcohol consumption and market access supply chain disruptions.
The government committed to spend $200,000 across two years to support the blueprint's recommendations on top of $100,000 already provided to develop the 10-year program.
SA primary industries minister, Clare Scriven, said growers and producers in the Riverland wine region had been through what could only be described as one of the industry's toughest periods.
"This investment will help support the region's grape growers and winemakers to get on the road to recovery," she said.
"We are committed to working in collaboration with the Riverland wine industry to help implement the recommendations identified in the blueprint as priorities."
The blueprint has been developed by Riverland Wine, Wine Australia and Wine Grape Council of SA.
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