Wine Australia has released its five year Strategic Plan for 2015-2020, addressing the need for Australian wine to become more competitive on the global market.

The plan will see the organisation invest approximately $35 million annually into developing Australia’s wine and grape business internationally.

Specifically, the money will go towards research and development, building markets, disseminating knowledge, encouraging adoption and ensuring compliance with the aim of creating a “united and prosperous Australian grape and wine community”, Wine Australia Chair, Brian Walsh said.

“Our investments will be guided by the strategic research priorities of the Australian grape and wine community and the Australian Government”, Mr. Walsh added.

“This five year Strategic Plan was developed after extensive consultation with grapegrowers, winemakers and the broader Australian grape and wine community about their priorities.”

In conjunction, Wine Australia also released its Annual Operational plan for the next 12 months.

The Annual Operational plan also identifies the need for Australia’s wine and grape industry to become more profitably competitive, and also says that the perception of the quality and provenance of Australian wine needs to improve globally.

“The Board has developed two measures to determine whether we are achieving these priorities – over and beyond the measures of success in the Strategic Plan”, Wine Australia states.

“In 2015–16, our target is for the average price per litre for Australian bottled wine exports to increase on a year-on-year basis and to undertake economic studies to benchmark the vineyard and winery costs of Australian growers and producers against those of our top 10 global competitors.”

To view Wine Australia’s full plan for the Australian wine and grape industry, visit: www.wineaustralia.com