Censored by Wine Australia - Surprise Email from Wine Australia Creates Concerns

Wine Australia is threatening to have a South Australian winemaker/retailer sent to jail for two years if he continues to use words like these on his website:

'This Tasmanian sparkling wine represents far better value than most champagnes.'

The offending word is champagne even though it is not mentioned on the label. The wine bureaucrats argue that the very mention of the word on a website or in a printed description of a wine is illegal under legislation to ratify an agreement between Australia and the European Union.

By David Farmer

If I have learnt one thing after 41 years of selling wine it is that wine is easy to make but very hard to sell.

For over four decades I have gone about my business of copy writing which sets out reasons why the wine being described has appeal.

Since I have a vast fund of knowledge it is useful for customers to know what I think about each wine.

On the 17th August, 2016 an email from the legislative body Wine Australia and tagged 'high importance' was sent to myself and my wine making colleague Benjamin Parker.

This email is not about the wine in the bottle matching what is on the label or ‘label integrity’ but something else which says there are rules about what you can say in advertisements about a wine.

Not whether comments are misleading but that certain terms may not be used in advertising copy and that some of the place names I use are controlled or not allowed.

I sent a copy to my brother, Richard Farmer, a man with vast experience in so many areas.

Richard,

Is this to be taken seriously? eg at times I may mention in copy references to French DOC regions and Australian regions.

He replied thus:

I will have a look at the legislation that establishes Wine Australia and get back to you. In the meantime have a look at other websites - eg First Choice and Dan Murphy - and see if they are doing the same thing as you when it comes to comparisons and locations.

And a day later added.

I will have a look at some of Halliday's writing. This is a real free speech issue. We can have some fun about bureaucrats going mad.

It seems that after selling wine for 41 years, Wine Australia is telling me to change how I sell wine, when I thought their job would be to help in selling more.

This email from the Wine Australia is quite disturbing since it implies censorship and believing this will interest Glug customers I will keep you posted.