Image: Naked Wines Australia managing director, Alicia Kennedy

Naked Wines has announced a $5 million Rescue Fund to help support Australian independent winemakers who are set to take the hardest hit from China’s wine tariff hikes.

The direct-to-consumer company called on winemakers, retailers and consumers to unite to ‘Stop the Squeeze’ on Australia’s independent winemaking community, and announced a new fund and commitments to support quality local independent winemakers and growers.

Managing director of Naked Wines Australia, Alicia Kennedy, said around 15 percent of Naked Wines’  local independent winemakers – plus a much larger ecosystem of growers, bottlers, employees and community – would be affected by China’s tariff hikes, with Australia’s independent winemakers likely to be the most impacted yet least resourced to endure the struggles ahead.

“With the China tariffs story quickly developing, we are hearing first-hand from Naked’s community – and other winemakers around Australia – about the potentially crippling challenges they are facing,” Kennedy said.

“Australia’s independent winemakers have been caught between a rock and a hard place with the sudden tariff hikes of up to 212% on top of an already tough year. The reality is that winemakers reliant on traditional channels are going to suffer the most over the next 12 to 18 months.

“For the smaller winemakers and grape growers, there’s a lot of fear and uncertainty around their future; they have committed to vintage and invested upfront, and they’re understandably very concerned they’ll be driven to the wall by retailers dropping or bartering down their contracts to take advantage of cheaper sources. Unfortunately for some, this is already happening.

“Unlike the bigger winemakers, many of Australia’s independent winemakers don’t have the balance sheets needed to pay the tariffs or to hold their wine in storage for future years when there will be less flow-back supply into the market.

“This will place deflationary pressure on the prices of their grapes and wine – taking advantage of their vulnerability and leaving them holding wine and fruit from dropped contracts and commitments,” she continued.

“There is a very real danger that many local winemakers will become collateral damage in this situation and be left without a leg to stand on. As an industry and as a nation, we need to band together now to ‘Stop the Squeeze’ on Australia’s wonderful community of independent winemakers – a large portion of whom exist in heartland regional Australia.”

In focus: ‘Stop the Squeeze’

Naked Wines Australia has launched a ‘Stop the Squeeze’ campaign with three key commitments designed to support quality Australian independent winemakers and positively influence Australia’s wine industry and market at large:

• Certainty for winemakers: A public pledge to honour commitments made to all of its independent Australian winemakers. Naked Wines Australia will not drop contracts with its winemakers and their growers to take advantage of cheaper sources.
• Fair prices for all – A public pledge to continue its commitment to delivering fair prices to winemakers and customers so that everybody wins. This principle has been central to Naked Wines’ unique business model since the company was founded.
• A $5 Million Rescue Fund – To support talented Australian independent winemakers feeling the grip of the recent tariff hike. This fund will offer its winemakers a new home to sell their best wines at a fair price, with direct connection to Naked Wines’ network of more than 100,000 local and over 750,000 global customers.

Kennedy said of the fund: “I encourage all independent winemakers looking for either long-term relationships or one-off support to apply and join a community that offers Australia’s best independent winemakers a direct connection to everyday wine drinkers – so they can spend time making their wines taste delicious, rather than worrying about selling them”.

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