South Australian wineries have been given approval to reopen their cellar doors following concerns over a cluster of coronavirus cases in the Barossa Valley.
More than 1000 wineries were banned from selling alcohol on their premises and forced to close their cellar doors under the Emergency Management Act.
A statement from SA Police commissioner Grant Stevens said: “This was not a decision taken lightly and I know this has had a significant impact on those businesses and their employees.
Last Friday, police added two Adelaide Hills breweries to the criteria – Lot 100 and Prancing Pony.
Prancing Pony was considering legal action over the decision.
“We will fight it,” co-owner Corinna Steeb told ABC Radio Adelaide. “Our business, as we understand it, was the only [brewery] that was singled out.”
“We plead with the police to reconsider it, to reverse this decision, but if they do not reverse this decision we find it [an] unfair and targeted approach.
“It is definitely not the right thing to close a business like ours down, which will then cause unemployment.”
Stevens said: “As a consequence of our assessment relative to wineries the restrictions placed on those two businesses have also been lifted.”
South Australians will now be allowed to visit wineries and breweries to buy alcohol, but no consumption of food or other produce will be allowed.
“The wine industry is to be commended for a great job in complying with the restrictions,” Stevens said. “The restrictions were combined with a number of other measures and it would appear that the spread of the disease in the Barossa has been mitigated.”
This change puts cellar doors on the same footing as hotels, restaurants and cafes across the state.
