Empowering the success of Australian wine

Be reassured that you need a lot of smoke to cause smoke taint. The level of risk depends on many factors including how fresh the smoke is, how close the fire is, how long the smoke hangs around for, weather, grape variety and timing during the season. You have three options to assess your risk:

1. Wine Industry Smoke Detectors (WISDs). Wine Australia is supporting the deployment of WISDs to monitor smoke exposure during the growing season in wine regions around Australia. A WISD located on your property or nearby will give you a real-time traffic light rating of smoke taint risk. 
2. Commercial grape testing. You can have your grapes analysed for the presence of smoke taint compounds by Affinity Labs two weeks from harvest. In a large smoke event, Affinity will work with affected regions to optimise sample collection and delivery to the lab.
3. Small-scale grape ferment. Conducting a small-scale ferment of potentially smoke-affected grapes, followed by sensory assessment by Affinity Labs or more informal inhouse assessment, may help determine the potential of smoky characters developing in wine. This can be a good method when combined with the other options.

Even if your grapes have been exposed to enough smoke that you suspect there’s a risk of smoke taint, there are a number of management techniques in both the vineyard and winery you can adopt to minimise the impact on wine. Reducing skin contact is a key strategy - whites are generally much more forgiving than reds. You can find out more.

Ensure you're connected with your local emergency services for alerts and information to keep yourself, family and team safe in case of a fire event. Wine Australia will continue to work closely with the AWRI to ensure your regional association will have the information you need if your region is impacted.

During business hours you can contact the AWRI helpdesk on helpdesk@awri.com.au or 08 8313 6600. An emergency number is provided during the holiday period.

For general information and advice on smoke management you can also access:

• Wine Australia smoke resources: Fire and smoke | Wine Australia
• AWRI smoke resources: Smoke taint - The Australian Wine Research Institute

The National Vineyard Register (NVR) is a planned register or database of all grapevine plantings in Australia. It is set to become an important resource for the Australian grape and wine sector that will assist in balancing supply and demand and supporting industry initiatives.

Wine Australia has released a Request for Proposal (RFP) to build the National Vineyard Register. The RFP will seek applications to deliver the system requirements and features, which are based on the specific user features and benefits that will deliver outcomes for the sector. 

More information on the National Vineyard Register

With comprehensive how-to-guides, Wine Australia's free Export Ready Hub explains everything you need to start, grow and diversify your wine exports. Learn how to develop an export plan, choose markets, find buyers, execute contract and more.

Find out if you're ready

Read Wine Australia's Licensing and Compliance Guide for everything you need to know about the regulatory requirements for the production, sale and export of Australian wine. It contains detailed information on the labelling requirements that apply to wine labels in Australia.

Information on labelling requirements of export markets are outlined in the Export Market Guides.

Wine Australia is working with partners to create alternative, low-emissions uses for end-of-life CCA posts.

CCA is a timber preservative containing copper, chromium and arsenic.

Our goal is to develop viable opportunities to divert CCA timber from landfill and create new, valuable products within regional communities.

See current disposal options

We make a wine for that is a new domestic campaign celebrating the role of Australian wine in occasions that define today’s culture. It’s built around lifestyle moments like BBQs, camping trips, Friday wind-downs or dinner with mates, and reminds consumers that no matter the occasion there’s an Australian wine that fits.

This campaign is for everyone in the Australian grape and wine sector and wine trade. From wineries and cellar doors to retailers, on-premise, bars and state and regional associations. The campaign is designed to work with your brand.

More information | See the campaign in action

The One Grape & Wine Sector Plan lays out a set of priorities and actions to help the sector reset the course for future resilience, getting us back on track towards Vision 2050.

Its objective is to help the sector take action to improve profitability and resilience by identifying the priorities areas where the sector has said it wants investment and collaboration to be made until 2030.

The One Grape & Wine Sector Plan is a collective effort. It aims to help align the plans across our organisations and find opportunities to collaborate across the sector.

Read more about the One Grape & Wine Sector Plan

The Market Insights section of the website provides a comprehensive range of statistics, data, analysis and insights on wine markets, grapegrowing and wine production, to assist business decision-making within the Australian wine sector.

Reports are grouped into categories under different menu headings, which can be found by sliding your mouse over the ‘Market Insights’ heading in the top menu bar.