Australian winegrowers protest over plummeting returns

Many wine growers in Australia's largest wine region are in crisis mode due to plummeting prices for their grapes. Chris Archer works in the Australian and New Zealand wine industries and has been following developments.As New Zealand vintners prepare for their grape harvest, spare a thought for growers over the ditch.Crisis talks have been held in the Riverland region of South Australia. The problems growers face there are shared by the wider region which supplies almost 70 percent of the country's crush.The growers who mostly supply bulk wine producers have also staged protests about the rock-bottom prices they've been getting for their fruit, and reports say many are throwing in the towel, leaving grapes on the ground, moving into pumpkins or spraying their vines to stop them germinating.Our guest Chris Archer works in both the Australian and New Zealand wine industries as a winemaker and consultant and as co-owner of niche New Zealand-based wine company Joiy.Listen to the interview with Chris Archer Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details