TCT event pairs wine with sunrise

ATTENDEES at Torquay Commerce and Tourism’s (TCT) first Sunrise Series event for the year enjoyed a little wine with their breakfast.

Bellbrae Estate winemaker Dave Crawford was the guest speaker at the TCT breakfast, held at Mount Duneed Estate on Tuesday morning, and led the crowd through two tastings of both chardonnay and pinot noir that were six weeks and 12 months old, respectively.

Mr Crawford used the tastings to reinforce his point about the quality of Geelong wine and the potential of their appeal to tourists, especially those visiting from overseas.

He said Australians drank 29.7 litres of wine per capita annually, compared to France in first place with 49 litres annually per capital, but Australia’s real success story was wine in higher priced brackets.

“Currently, our exports into mainland China have experienced a 77 per cent growth in the past year alone and contributed $370 million in exports. If we continue to make inroads into these markets at that rate, the Australian wine industry will be in a very strong position to influence cultural drinking habits of many international markets, in particular China, and by association the drinking habits for the tourists when they arrive on our door.”

He said Geelong and the Yarra Valley were two wine regions where the international tourist trade was already strong, but more could and should be done here.

“The Geelong wine region, in its reborn guise, is perfectly placed to embrace the growing influx of visitors through excellent product, outstanding cellar door experiences and the natural tourism attractions.”

He noted Bellbrae Estate had seen double-digit growth at its cellar door over the past three years.