While the two month-old line drawn around Coonawarra by the Geographical Indications Committee (GIC) has already received around 30-40 objections, most established wine companies in the region are now simply hoping the matter of where Coonawarra begins and ends will finally go away. But it’s not about to. The GIC’s amended line did manage to sort out a number of major obstacles towards a lasting decision, such as the inclusion of Petaluma’s Sharefarmer’s property, one of the most antagonistic of issues in the way of a final settlement. Several Coonawarra growers have since commented to me that now that Sharefarmer’s has been admitted, it’s time to look ahead. ‘There’s no question of any lasting resentment over the issue’, one winery owner said to me. However the Sharefarmer’s inclusion appears to have raised the hopes of other vignerons and would-be vignerons presently outside the amended line. Well outside, it would appear. One grower said: ‘It’s like opening Pandora’s Box.’ And it looks like the Corporation of Naracoorte wants it (the line around Coonawarra) taken all the way to Padthaway. The owner of the Riddoch Estate vineyard near Wrattonbully has already publicly said that his vineyard, claimed by several Coonawarra growers to be the other side of the Naracoorte Ranges and which is already in the middle of another GIC, should be part of Coonawarra. Yet this vineyard is substantially to the north and east of the GIC’s amended line. I have also heard that owners of a vineyard planted near the Penola Tip want to be given the Coonawarra GI. Regrettably, unless a large number of people see some sense fairly quickly over this absurdly durable issue, it’s going to be decided in the courts. That would be a dangerous precedent, since the wine industry simply has to be able to sort of these problems itself. The alternative could well be a European-style authentication/appellation system, which we could certainly do without. However, while there’s a chance that owners of newly-acquired properties and newly-planted properties in the region have their financial eye on the benefits of inclusion within the Coonawarra line, the problems are sure to continue. Several Coonawarra growers now advise wine buyers that it’s no longer sufficient to take the term ‘Coonawarra”at face value on wine labels. ‘People need to learn more about Coonawarra and ask questions about where the vineyards are’, they say, using the example that there’s Bordeaux and there’s Bordeaux.
