AFTER a three year freeze in trade, the Federal Government last month announced that China was lifting heavy tariffs on Australian wine, and wineries across the North East were thrilled with the news.

Beijing imposed trade sanctions on $20 billion worth of Australian export products during an unsettled trade period in 2020.

China's duties on Australian wine effectively made it unviable for Australian producers to export bottled wine to that market, which was worth $1.1 billion in 2019.

Gapsted chief executive officer Andrew Santarossa said the move was a positive one.

"There is an immediate sense of positivity and as an industry we needed this lift,” he said.

“As wine companies navigate a return to the Chinese market in some capacity, it will ease pressure on the Australian domestic sales market.

“This positivity and possible economic benefits are crucial to the many wine companies and growers that are experiencing some of the most challenging financial times.

“I am hopeful that government steps up and supports our industry.

“Reinstating the Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) would be timely and important assistance to get out there to better understand today's Chinese market and promote our wines."

The Brown Family Wine Group (BFWG) at Milawa was one of Australia’s biggest exporters of wine before the tariffs were imposed, having spent 20 years investing in the market.

BFWG winemaker and brand ambassador Katherine Brown said the winery was thrilled to have the opportunity to start the long-awaited re-entry into the popular market.

“We’ve got three staff members who are based in China and we’ve kept them on with the optimism the tariffs would be lifted at some stage so we could hit the ground running and get back into the market as soon as possible,” she said.

“Something we’re really excited about is in the past four years we haven’t been in the market, there’s a whole group, a few million in fact, of people who are now of legal drinking age so we’re looking to tap into these new consumers.

“There’s going to be a really big Moscato and Cienna focus as we look to move our way forward into these markets.”

While the market re-entry will provide a significant reprieve to the winery’s trade, Ms Brown said the group would need to be patient before they could return to pre-tariff figures in the market.