But one winery in the Ballarat region has already seen success selling their drop beyond Australian borders.

Eastern Peake Vineyard and Winery in Coghills Creek created a new label specifically for the export market. Family-business part-owner Owen Latta says the natural wine made without preservatives has generated interest from wine buyers overseas. 

The family’s new label, Latta, uses fruit sourced from Ballarat and the Macedon Ranges and is exported to Japan, Canada, Singapore and soon to the U.S. Meanwhile, the familiy’s original locally-focussed label Eastern Peake, continues to use grapes grown on site in Coghills Creek. 

Mr Latta said the exported wine had helped financially consolidate the local side of their business. 

“All the profit from our Latta range gets reinvested to Eastern Peak,” he said. 

“The new label is probably one of the best things I have ever done. It was all by chance to muck around with alternative grape varieties, have fun, and be more expressive and experimental in style.

“We didn’t go looking for the export, they came to us. Wine buyers from the other side of the globe read about our great reviews or tasted our wine when they were on a visit to Australia.” 

Eastern Peake is the only winery that has taken on an export market, out of a total of around 30 wine makers in the Ballarat region. 

Most other wineries nearby operate on a small scale and focus on a local market, says Captains Creek Organic Wines owner Doug May. 

Mr May said sales focus depended on the business’ wine marketing strategy, but when he looked into exporting, he was faced with a ‘minefield’ of rules and regulations. 

But Wine Australia CEO Andreas Clark said the Australia wine export market had grown substantially in recent years. 

“We’ve got some of the best wines in the world and they’re gaining more and more attention overseas. Exporters have seen this opportunity and are taking it on,” he said. 

Under the federal government wine export grants, small and medium sized wine businesses exporting to China, Hong Kong, Macau and the U.S. can apply for up to $25,000 in funding to support export promotion activities. 

The grants program is part of the federal government’s $50 million export and regional wine support package, which aims to drive demand for wine exports and showcase Australia’s wine tourism to the world.

Mr Latta said the Ballarat wine region offered the history and potential for the finest cool-climate drop. 

“The Ballarat wine region is very undiscovered. I have been telling people about it for as long as I can remember and so has my dad. It is only in the last couple of years that it has become more exposed,” he said. 

“The climate is cold but we have good summers for getting things right. The late season means we can grow some really interesting grapes. With wines resulting from all those climatic conditions, you can get a special wine down the track.”

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