By Andrew Starke
Next year marks a milestone for Australian wine with a national celebration set to take place from April in wine regions around the country.
The inaugural A+ Australian Wine Celebration, coordinated by Wine Australia, will include a collection of consumer and trade events, promotions and marketing activities.
Wine Australia is calling on all wine regions and wine brands to become involved in the celebrations, which will be held between April 13 and April 29, 2012, around Australia.
The A+ Australian Wine Celebration is being developed as an ‘open access’ initiative with a combination of events driven by Wine Australia and activities coordinated by external parties.
These will include wine brand owners and state and regional associations.
Wine Australia is calling on applications for events to be included in the celebration, with the wine community encouraged to register an event or develop an initiative for consideration for the Festival.
Wine Australia CEO, Andrew Cheesman, said the target was to bring together a range of Australian wine-related activity, such as cellar door promotions, regional experiences, consumer events and trade initiatives.
“The end result will be a dynamic mix of Australian wine experiences on offer to excite consumers and trade across the country, and encourage them explore and continue to discover the wonderful wine on offer in our own backyard,” he said.
“The aim is to develop a national calendar to promote a collection of engaging activity across Australia during the celebration.
“Events won’t be limited to capital cities or major wine regions – we are encouraging every wine region across the country to get involved.”
The initiative is a major component of a new domestic marketing program being developed by Wine Australia to engage consumers and reignite the excitement in Australian wine in our own market.
Initial registration of events need to be submitted to Wine Australia by Friday, November 4, 2011.