By Annette Shailer
The Federal Government has awarded a $500,000 grant to the fortified wine industry to come up with new names for port, sherry and tokay in Australia.
Australia relinquished the names after talks with the European Union (EU) in which the Federal Government committed to a 12-month fade out period to commence once the agreement is signed. Initialed but not signed at this stage, the agreement will lead to a complete relaunch of the fortified industry.
The grant includes research into consumer perceptions of fortified wines, project management, development of names, and strategies for implementation.
Chairman of the Project Steering Committee, Colin Campbell, whose group has been working on the name-change project for the last three years on behalf of the Winemakers Federation of Australia, said the grant was vital to Australia’s commitment to the EU.
“Due to the agreement with the EU we haven’t been able to keep the names, and without this grant from the government I don’t know how we would have implemented the needed changes,” Campbell said.
“It creates a lot of work, but at the end of the day will lead to a revitilisation of the fortified industry and hopefully increased sales,” he said.