Toasting a new era of wine industry collaboration

Wine Industry Suppliers Australia (WISA) has introduced an innovative communications platform to enhance collaboration in the sector that includes 5,000 grape growers and around 2,000 wineries.

WISA has partnered with South Australian social learning start-up, Opentute, to launch WINE Portal, a national wine innovation networking and e-learning platform.

“We have grasped the opportunity to create an inclusive and accessible digital platform to unite and engage with all sectors of the industry,” said WISA Executive Officer Matthew Moate.

“It is designed to help the industry maintain its global competitiveness and underpin sustainable jobs.

“This digital solution is already helping to remove significant communication challenges that face our sector by providing a dedicated single gateway for industry professionals to grow their networks, skills and knowledge.”

Mr Moate said the Australian grape and wine industry had long held a globally enviable reputation as an innovative market leader and exporter.

In the 12 months to the end of September 2017, the industry reported a 13 per cent growth surpassing $2.4 billion in export value and just under 800 million litres in volume. Across the grape and wine production landscape and in tourism, the industry represents 173,000 full and part-time jobs, most of which are located in regional areas.

Mr Moate said WISA was excited about early feedback and engagement from the industry with over 500 users signing on to the WINE Portal platform in the first week since its launch.

“This innovative platform has been referred to as the LinkedIn or Facebook for the Australian wine sector for networking and to improve the collaborative nature of businesses along the whole value chain,” he explained.

“It is about creating a community to share research and development issues, support innovation and commercialisation in what is now one of the largest, value adding manufacturing industries in Australia.

“The WINE Portal platform features professional profiles, expert channels, company pages and discussion groups along with an embedded powerful learning management system that members use to create and share content.

“It is a pathfinding opportunity to break the traditional silo model by uniting industry bodies, all levels of government, grape and wine producers and the supply sector onto a single platform to improve wine quality and outcomes for consumers.”

The iconic Barossa Valley-based wine producer Chateau Yaldara & 1847 Wines is one of the early adopters of the WINE Portal.

“As a wine producer with a key export focus, remaining globally competitive is critical for the success of our business," said Chateau Yaldara & 1847 Wines General Manager Anthony Grundel. "The WINE Portal innovation is an exciting opportunity to improve our access to industry connections, news, information and training that will allow collaborative partnerships to flourish.

“WISA has always been a valuable resource to find the latest solutions that can add capability and competitiveness to our business, and the WINE Portal is making that even easier.”

To find our more, go to WINE Portal.