Tasmania’s wine sector and those who love a Tassie drop are set to benefit from lessons learnt in New Zealand and opportunities for greater collaboration with our trans-Tasman neighbours.
This opportunity for Tasmanian wine has been made possible following the signing of an important Memorandum of Understanding between New Zealand’s Lincoln University and the University of Tasmania yesterday.
The MoU paves the way to collaborative research, development, extension and education with the potential to support future development, improvements and productivity in Tasmania’s wine sector as well as support for practical viticultural education and training.
For many, one of the greatest things Tasmania and New Zealand has in common is our ability to produce some of the best cool-climate wines in the world and today the Tasmanian agribusiness delegation in New Zealand took the opportunity see what our neighbours have to offer.
This morning together with Wine Tasmania, TasTAFE and the Tasmanian of Agriculture I met with representatives from the Lincoln University’s Centre for Viticulture and Oenology.
This was an incredible chance to see first-hand how the university researches areas including; human aspects such as wine business and wine consumers; grapes and wine composition; and, soils and viticulture encompassing vineyard health and management.
Importantly, this was a long-awaited moment to strike opportunities for future collaborative research on common priorities and research training, and ongoing knowledge exchanges for teaching, learning and industry benefit.
We also visited the Vineyard and Winery at Lincoln, where TasTAFE focussed on ways to strengthen its engagement with our sector in order to support growth and develop expertise to meet the needs of the industry in Tasmania and allow it to grow and reach its potential.
In New Zealand it is clear that education and training providers have engaged and supported the viticulture sector to achieve success and integrate recognised educational pathways into the industry sector, and this is a great example of what we can achieve here in Tasmania.
Tomorrow, we will meet with Nautilus Wines, which has the same owners as Tasmania’s Jansz and Dalrymple vineyards, for discussions on common challenges and opportunities.
We want to support the industry to grow and we will achieve this by continuing to work with stakeholders like Wine Tasmania, TasTAFE and TIA, and with greater collaboration with New Zealand.
Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for Primary Industries and Water
