Wine Australia has released its five-year Strategic Plan 2025–30, outlining how it will support Australian grapegrowers, winemakers and exporters in navigating current pressures while building a more resilient, profitable and sustainable future.
Shaped in direct response to the industry's most pressing priorities identified in the One Grape & Wine Sector Plan, it addresses supply and demand imbalance, changing consumer behaviours and environmental shifts. The strategy responds to the seriousness of these challenges and provides a path forward.
"The sector continues to face significant headwinds and for many, the pressures are immediate and personal. In the face of ongoing uncertainty, levy payers' expectations of Wine Australia are rightly high," said Dr Martin Cole, CEO of Wine Australia.
"This strategy acknowledges and responds to that reality. It is focused on delivering what matters most: practical support, relevant innovation to address shifting behaviours, better outcomes in market, and long-term value for grape and wine businesses across the country."
Delivering value where it's needed most
The Strategic Plan 2025–30 directly builds on the One Grape & Wine Sector Plan, a shared industry roadmap developed in partnership with Australian Grape & Wine and state and regional associations.
It aligns Wine Australia's investments with priorities identified by the sector, including balancing supply and demand, market transparency, supporting sustainability and attracting investment into the sector.
Set by the Wine Australia Board and approved by Senator the Hon Anthony Chisholm, Assistant Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the Strategic Plan outlines how Wine Australia will work with government and industry to enable resilience and growth.
The five-year plan focuses Wine Australia's activities on interconnected priorities:
- Delivering practical research and development, extension and adoption to improve vineyard performance, product innovation and development, and production efficiency.
- Growing domestic and international market share and value for Australian wine through targeted marketing activity and promotion, market diversification and brand building in key international and domestic channels.
- Protecting the integrity and reputation of Australian wine with strong regulatory systems and services, to support beneficial market access and make trade opportunities available to Australian wine exporters.
- Building resilience and sustainability through innovation, including investment in cost-effective climate response, meeting emissions reduction targets and identifying circular economy solutions.
- Strengthening capability throughout the sector, with a focus on knowledge-sharing, collaboration and partnerships, and extension and adoption.
"We're listening to those on the ground and we know the challenges producers are facing," said Dr Cole.
"We're not here to deliver a static plan. We're here to work with the sector to provide tangible support in-market and in-region, and to deliver what is needed, when it's needed."
What's next? Investment focus for FY2026
The release of Wine Australia's Annual Operational Plan 2025–26 outlines how resources and investments will be directed in the first year of the strategy.
Immediate focus areas include:
- Strengthening vineyard sustainability through new planting material trials, vineyard technologies, and the National Vineyard Register framework.
- Driving market-led growth, including consumer research and domestic sales data, and research and insights support for emerging categories including mid-strength wines.
- Continuing to build global brand equity and market share, with coordinated marketing activity across target markets in North America, UK, Europe and China, market diversification efforts in other emerging Asian markets and maintaining domestic market share.
- Supporting states and regions through targeted extension, capability building, and tailored responses to regional conditions and priorities.
- Delivering on ESG and sustainability goals, with tools and programs to reduce emissions, capture ESG-related data and better communicate ESG outputs.
- Improving transparency through stronger data sharing, a robust regulatory framework, and clear reporting against sector goals.
Unlocking new investment through the Australian Wine Future Fund
To support long-term competitiveness, Wine Australia will establish the Australian Wine Future Fund, a new mechanism designed to invest up to $50 million into the sector over five years through co-investment, Commonwealth matching and state and federal government grants.
The Australian Wine Future Fund will deliver innovative research and commercialisation projects and solutions identified by the sector, while building capability and avenues to adoption.
This new fund will tap into changes to the amount of Commonwealth Government matching available to Wine Australia, in addition to previously available matching on levy dollars. Effective from 1 July 2025, these changes will allow Wine Australia to attract additional matched funds from the government on cash investments from partners and service providers into Wine Australia-led projects and programs. The Australian Wine Future Fund will complement existing and future levy-funded research investments through two investment pathways.
The Research & Innovation Fund will build towards a $35 million target over five years, through external grants and co-investment. Procurement will be guided by principles focused on ensuring the sector benefits from the best solutions from multiple research and service providers, with co-designed projects and programs being central to the process.
The Venture Capital Fund will invest strategically to address critical gaps with a target of $15 million over five years, where targeted support for relevant innovations is needed. Where possible, Wine Australia will engage with the sector and private investors to leverage co-investment opportunities and partner with a venture fund manager to attract investment capital and help to manage the fund.
Wine Australia's commitment to Research & Innovation remains unchanged, with this model serving as an additional mechanism to translate research into real-world solutions for grape and wine businesses. Traditional levy-funded projects may be enhanced by top up investment from the Australian Wine Future Fund, with new opportunities an addition to existing levy funded Research & Innovation investments, not a replacement.
Listening, learning and evolving
The Strategic Plan 2025–30 signals the start of a new chapter for Wine Australia, one grounded in accountability, strengthened governance, and clearer alignment with sector priorities.
It brings to a close the Strategic Plan 2020–25, a period marked by significant disruption including the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters including bushfires, drought and floods, the imposition (and later removal) of tariffs by China, and persistent structural imbalances between supply and demand. These challenges placed unprecedented pressure on the Australian grape and wine sector and highlighted the need for Wine Australia to evolve.
A three-yearly independent performance review of Wine Australia's operations from July 2019 to December 2022 provided an opportunity to do so. The review identified critical areas for improvement, including the need for sharper strategic focus, stronger engagement with levy payers, and enhanced delivery capability.
Wine Australia acted on these findings, undertaking a comprehensive organisational reset in 2023. This included:
- A realignment of functions to improve delivery focus and transparency
- Enhanced capability across key portfolios, including ESG and extension and adoption
- Introduction of a nationally coordinated extension and adoption strategy, alongside enhanced regional engagement, and
- Clearer reporting on performance and impact.
These reforms are designed to ensure Wine Australia is more responsive, accountable, and better equipped to deliver value to the growers, producers and exporters who fund its work.
The release of the One Grape & Wine Sector Plan in August 2024 further reinforced Wine Australia's role in the sector's future direction and highlighted the need for strategic alignment around priority areas including market diversification, sustainability, capability development, and rebalancing supply and demand.
These recent shifts in response to feedback and consultation reflect a commitment to stronger oversight, deeper sector connection, and building renewed confidence in Wine Australia's role.
