South Australia’s wine sector faces a testing time as it continues its recovery from the combined impact of Chinese tariffs and COVID-19, a leading industry figure told The Advertiser.

Sixth-generation winemaker Corrina Wright, of Oliver’s Taranga Vineyard at McLaren Vale, described the past few years as being “the most challenging in living memory”.

“We’ve had some tough vintages – 2019 and 2020 were low-cropping vintages in drought years – so there was that to deal with,” she said. “We’ve also had China putting tariffs on Australian wine, leaving some growers exposed, and then COVID-19.”

However, Ms Wright, whose 100ha vineyard supplies grapes for its own labels along with other leading wineries, said South Australian winemakers were generally a “pretty resilient mob” and there were positive signs as new markets were sought to offset the “China factor”.

Read the full story in The Advertiser here (possible paywall).

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