King Valley/Whitlands Wine regions debate

For 12 long years the Australian wine industry has been drawing and redrawing its regional boundaries. It's taken longer than expected, cost millions of dollars in legal wrangling and still has a way to go before it's finished.

And when it is finished, our GIs can't be undone, revised or challenged - ever.

That's why wine growers such as Jim Hardie, of Henderson-Hardie vineyards, are determined to ensure that thorough consideration has been given before a GI is granted.

Since 1997, he and a small group of grower/producers in the Whitlands area have fought for the right to have equal status with that of their larger neighbour, the King Valley. Whitlands wants to be a region and the King Valley wants it to be a subregion.

So far, King Valley has ruled the day with the GIC coming down on its side. But the Whitlands growers aren't giving up and the matter is now set to go before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in mid-April.

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