Luring tourists to wine

By Karyn Scherer

He sounds like a cross between Sam Hunt and Bob Hawke. And his personality just happens to match his favourite wine: full-bodied and full of character.

Which is just as well, as Bob McLean sees himself as being in the entertainment industry.

Mr McLean, the managing director of one of the Barossa Valley's leading wineries, St Hallet, is passionate about wine but even more passionate about the wine industry. Which is why, at 11.30 on a cold winter's morning, he is sipping shiraz in the Polo Bar at Auckland's Stamford Plaza hotel.

Here on a promotional trip, "Big Bob," as he is known in the Barossa, shared his thoughts on how our wine industry could take a leaf out of the Barossa's book and jump on the tourism bandwagon.

It's a goal he is convinced is worth pursuing. Once almost negligible, wine tourism is now estimated to contribute more than $500 million a year to Australia's economy.

Last year, nearly a fifth of all domestic visitors and more than a third of international visitors to South Australia visited the Barossa.

A remark he made at a meeting in the early 1990s got Mr McLean involved in the tourism industry. "I said something along the lines of the wine industry did not need the Government, the Government needed the wine industry."

It was brave and only partly tongue-in-cheek talk, given that only a few years previously the Government had funded a vine-pull scheme to ensure the industry's survival.

While he frankly admits he is not hugely knowledgeable about local politics, he is sure we are just like Australia "in that governments and bureaucrats have a tendency to pay lip service, even if in their own heart they're trying to do the right thing."

His solution was to agree to become a member of the South Australian Tourism Commission - a role that has since seen him take on other appointments, such as chairman of the Wine Tourism Advisory Board and member of the Barossa Wine and Tourism Association.

Such representation is crucial for the industry if it wants to be taken seriously, he believes. But the relationship also needs to work both ways.

"We had to get the wine industry to embrace tourism. That's a hard call and it will be just as hard here."

In the Barossa, he has made sure winemakers get alongside tourist operators, educating them about the wine industry. In some cases, small things made all the difference "like the Barossa wine train that comes up, for example. We've asked them not to put on cheap wine."

It was also necessary for different regions to cooperate with each other, rather than competing, he says.

"The key thing to learn is the industry has got to start working together. You've got to learn to share, and have people come in one door, and out the other."

The region also worked hard to pitch itself to wine enthusiasts, rather than freeloaders, including a controversial move: it allowed wineries to charge for tastings.

"That's not an open-ended invitation for wineries to take money and stick it in their pockets. It's an encouragement for winemakers to give something back," he insists.

The other crucial factor in attracting tourists is for winemakers to make their presence felt.

"If you haven't got time to say gidday, forget it. It's not a hard call, actually. We are in the entertainment business. Even if you're a viticulturally led winemaker, or you're a laboratory-led winemaker, or a marketing-led winemaker, you're in the entertainment business. Wine really is only 26 ounces of fun, after all."