Tahbilk Wines boss says Prime Minister Scott Morrison has got it right on China trade

Australia’s sovereignty ‘worth much more than a few shipments of our finest red wine’, says Tahbilk Wines boss.

Alister Purbrick, CEO of Tahbilk Wines: “We are certainly grateful to our wine club members for them thinking of us and buying a lot of wine that they drank at home.” Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

Tahbilk Wines, a historic fifth-generation family-owned winery in central Victoria, presently has four shipping containers of its wine stalled in Chinese ports as customs officials find excuses not to release them, and for now no more Tahbilk will be shipped to China.

Chief executive Alister Purbrick told The Australian he firmly supported the stance taken by the federal government as it navigates a prickly political relationship with Beijing and that Australia’s sovereignty was worth much more than a few shipments of our finest red wine.

“We have got four containers locked up in various ports at the moment in China, theoretically in the process of going through, but no one with a shipment that has arrived after November 6 has had a shipment released apart from one other winery — that will remain anonymous. It was cleared but then two days later they were asked to return it to port,” Mr Purbrick told The Australian.

“Nothing is getting through. Customs agents were processing wine at least, I don’t know about other commodities, but a bit more slowly as they were checking for COVID-19 and so on. So what used to be a two, three or four-day turnaround through customs, even before they (Chinese government) made this announcement of a port lockdown for November 6, it was stretching out to 10 to 14 days to clear customs.  

 

“There is not much we can do; obviously shipments have stopped. We had four (containers) in the water when the announcement was made, shipments have stopped and I think that would be widespread. No one is going to take the chance until they see some of this wine being released at the port and this would give us confidence the crisis is over.”

There was widely reported speculation last month that China would impose a ban on certain Australian exports, including wine, from November 6, but there has been no official statement from Beijing.

In the meantime, Australian seafood has been stopped at key Chinese ports and there are fears the nation’s $1.3bn a year in wine exports to China could be next.

From his base at his Tahbilk winery more than an hour from Melbourne and near the fruit-growing region around Shepparton, Mr Purbrick has mitigated the collapse in sales at restaurants and bars during COVID-19 with a booming wine club business and higher bottle shop sales as consumers drink at home.

And he is eyeing off India as a new giant customer for the Australian wine market, hoping the next generation of Indians could break from the traditions of their parents and opt for red wine over a spirit.

But for the moment he won’t be waving off any more shipments of wine to China.

Analysts blame the export ban on frosty relations between Beijing and Canberra and recent policy decisions by Australian governments, ranging from investigations into the COVID-19 outbreak, Australia’s close alliance with the US, banning Huawei from building a 5G network here and blocking recent Chinese bids for large Australian businesses.

The wine sector is also sweating on a Chinese investigation into alleged dumping by some Australian winemakers.

“There is not much we can do; it is just wait and see now,” Mr Purbrick said.

But he isn’t calling for a backdown by Prime Minister Scott Morrison to placate China and bow to its recent lists of demands.

“I think from a sovereignty perspective the Prime Minister has got it right. We can’t be bullied — that is just not the Australian way — and there is no doubt that China is looking to exert more influence in the Asia and Pacific regions by a number of different methodologies. If anyone gets in their way, like Australia has, there are sanctions.

“I don’t know what their endgame is because in this current world we all need to get on together and abide by a set of international rules, which we are happy with. We should be opening up dialogue with emerging markets for our wine, like India.”

Latest accounts for Tahbilk lodged with the corporate regulator show revenue for 2020 rose to $13.8m from $12.74m, as profit almost doubled to $1.4m.

Mr Purbrick said sales through its subscription wine club were up 65 per cent between April and October, and this helped counter falling sales from its shuttered cellar door and the hospitality industry.

“We are certainly grateful to our wine club members for them thinking of us and buying a lot of wine that they drank at home.”