THE state government is investing $6 million to grow the state’s premium wine industry through a new four-year Western Australian wine industry partnership with Wines of Western Australia.

Regional Development Minister Stephen Dawson said thanks to the state’s innovative wine makers, WA continued to produce some of the finest wines in the world.

“The Swan Valley is one of the jewels of the State’s wine industry, which is set to benefit from the new WA Wine Industry Partnership,” he said.

“This industry-led partnership takes a collective approach, rather than funding to individual wineries and producers, to grow businesses by driving export opportunities, industry sustainability and raising awareness.

“Under the previous partnership, several Swan Valley wineries participated in partnership-funded export activations, including Tokyo trade tasting, trade promotional support and Vinexpo Asia.

“I look forward to seeing how the Swan Valley engages with the new partnership and the benefits to flow to producers and local businesses.

“A thriving wine industry has flow on benefits for regional jobs and tourism opportunities, that’s why we made an election commitment to further bolster this industry.

“This partnership will leverage those gains to expand domestic and international export sales, while building industry resilience and capacity to adapt to the changing operating environment.”

The funding, will be bolstered with $3m from the state wine industry, builds on a long-standing collaboration between public and private sources to diversify export offerings and capture an increased share of the competitive global marketplace.

The industry-led partnership will work to expand local, national, and export market opportunities, while building long term industry sustainability for wine producers.

This includes supporting further inbound and outbound activations that promote WA wines to potential buyers, supporting and promoting supply chain relationships, expanding market access, and building business readiness.

The initiative takes a ground-up approach to building sustainability.

This includes research and development aimed at improving production, building business resilience and workforce capability, and reinforcing environmental, social, and governance credentials.

Wine tourism is key to the revitalised strategy, working with local and international connections to attract visitors and consumers to experience WA’s beautiful wine regions.

With Wines of WA and other industry stakeholders, the WA wine industry partnership will aim to drive the future success of this thriving $900m industry.