Despite being fiercely Melbournean, I love Sydney.  The food and wine scene there has been going from strength to strength for a number of years and can legitimately lay claim to some of the most innovative, exciting and forward thinking restaurants and wine bars in the country right now.

This is being celebrated, cheered and revered loud and proud not only nationally, but internationally so you’d expect such accolades and reverence would be applauded by the NSW state government. Instead what we’re seeing is a cruel and misguided crackdown.

As with all in the hospitality industry, I’ve been shocked and appalled at the draconian lock out laws and insane regulation currently affecting Sydney venues. This article by Mike Barrie, that went viral, is a detailed summary of the current state of play and I recommend taking the time to read it. It questions the integrity of the reasoning behind the rules, and highlights how a small few benefit at the expense of the many.

Further to this, a few weeks ago Sydney’s beloved wine institution, 10 William Street, was questioned by NSW police and accused of promoting ‘unsavoury behaviour’ on their blackboard wine list.

10 William Street has one of the best wine lists in the country. And it is about as far from a high-risk venue promoting unsavoury behaviour as it is possible to get.

Wine, it seems, is now in NSW Liquor and Gaming’s sights and this is something we should all be concerned about.

The press release by NSW Police stated the venue was under a restaurant licence, not a bar, had no reference to food on the blackboard nor menus on the table. However the strangest line is ‘a bar area with a large amount of wine and spirits was observed’.

Just think about that last sentence for a minute and see if it makes any type of sense.

The bureaucracy surrounding state liquor licensing laws is confusing, contradictory and often out of touch with the vibrant food and beverage culture we have in this country.  This is never more so than in NSW.

Rules constantly change and when clarification is sought, it is far too often contradictory or, at worse, misleading.  Liquor licensing is managed at a state government level rather and as a result every state in Australia has different licensing regulations with different procedures and requirements. Some are indeed better than others but each have their own set of challenges.

We deal with 7 different licensing bodies, 7 different sets of rules and regulations, and many different councils.

COMPLIANCE

The cost of compliance, and subsequent frustrations with licensing, is something we at Bottle Shop Concepts know far too well.  As an example, to run 4 wine tasting events in Melbourne last year, approximately $13,000 of fees were paid to VCLGR for Temporary Limited Liquor licences (a cost of around $4.50 per attendee). Adding the time it takes to fill out the licences (over 1400 pages in total), chase up, compile and present these licences, the figure virtually triples. Time is indeed money.

Why so much money? Because each and every wine producer at any event in Victoria must have a temporary liquor licence, to show their wine, on top of their producer licence unless they are a Victorian producers holding an Event Promotion Authority.  Out of 60 producers for Pinot Palooza last year, 3 wineries had this authority.

These temporary licences are either $105.30 (for Victorian producers) or $56.80 for interstate and or international wine producers.

Only Victoria makes it mandatory for every wine producer to have their own licence, rather than a licence which covers the whole event.

Confused yet?

RESPONSIBLE SERVICE OF ALCOHOL CERTIFICATES

To further add to this, every person person who pours wine at any event must have an accredited RSA certificate for that state in which they present.

Currently, there is no RSA certificate to cover you for all states in Australia. Need I remind you it is 2016.

For example, to get a NSW RSA you must do it in person or online (only available since late 2015) however once done, you then need to get a ‘competency card’ by applying, in person, at a ‘Service NSW Centre’.  This all takes valuable time.

You can imagine the cost and frustration for Australian wine producers who promote their wares nationally but think for a minute about implications for international producers, including New Zealand, when visiting Australia. These are issues that affect all in the wine industry and any event which provides alcohol.

Technically speaking, if ‘my very dear friend’ Aubert de Villane (of Domaine de la Romanee Conti) visited Australia, poured his wine at an event where there was a ‘possibility of sale’, he would have to have a valid RSA certificate for the state in which he is in.

In 2015, we collected over 484 RSAs from the 225 wineries. So when you add up the fees of not only the course itself (on average around $125 per person for a national RSA), the time it takes to complete, compile and document, the costs of such compliance quickly rises into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

All this for a wine tasting.

WINE IS NOT THE PROBLEM, ITS THE SOLUTION

The last time I checked, that person kicked out of the MCG wasn’t because they’d had too much Pinot Noir. 

That fight you heard about in Kings Cross probably wasn’t because they’d had too much Chablis.

Wine by default is social; you share it, you celebrate it. So when you hear one of Australia’s best wine bars being accused of ‘unsavoury behaviour’ you can’t help but ask what the hell is going on.

That is not to say there are not issues surrounding the drinking culture of Australians. There are. But good operators promote good food AND responsible service of alcohol. Businesses WANT to the do the right thing but licensing and government bodies need to work ‘with’ the industry, not against it.

Accurate, fair and clear guidelines are a desperately needed start.

Never before has the food and wine culture been so vibrant and diverse in Australia. We have incredible wine & food producers, world class chefs, mind blowingly talented Sommeliers and a public desperate and motivated to know more about what they imbibe both so socially and responsibly.

Liquor licensing laws need to reflect the cultural vibrancy of our food and wine culture. 

How can Sydney (or Australia for that matter) claim to be an international destination without them?

TOOLS

To help you navigate the madness of RSAs in Australia, we’ve put together this step by step guide (with links) on how to gain a nationally accredited RSA.

We will update these as the rules continue change.

NOTE: There has been a number senate enquiry recommendations presented recently stating that there needs to be work done with states and territories to ‘establish mutual recognition arrangements for RSA qualifications’.

To Australia’s wine and drinks journalists, I challenge you to investigate and communicate this further.

In January we shared our 2015 End of Year Report which detailed many of the facts and stats that Bottle Shop Concepts accumulated throughout our 16 events last year.

We did so in the spirit of openness and collaboration to hopefully highlight just how interested people are about what they imbibe; especially wine. One of more fascinating parts of the report, as far as I was concerned, related to the demographic data of the people who engage with our events.

60% of our attendees were women and 55% were under the age of 35 – and in fact the percentage of women under 35 increases from event to event, peaking in Brisbane at 75% for Game of Rhones.

I highlight these statistics especially as they offer some pertinent insights. Plus, it reminded me of a twitter discussion I attempted to enter late last year about how young people, apparently, are disinterested in wine.

The discussion participants, of which I observed were of an older male demographic, were stating that young people aren’t interested in wine by quoting some stats and graphs.

I offered a contrary opinion and shared some of the data from our events hoping to positively contribute.
And their response?

Silence.

For me, it was this that highlighted the exact issue they were attempting to comprehend.
They failed to engage or acknowledge someone of contrary opinion and not of their wine critical world.

How can you complain about young people are not engaging with you if you ignore them or, at worst, berate them for their drinking choices?
Why are you not surprised if their attention is elsewhere?

I would argue that young people ARE interested in wine.

They’re just not interested in reading/hearing about it the same old way in which wine has been communicated, by the same people, nor sit in a class room to learn about it.

From where we sit, people want to learn about wine the same way in which they consume it; socially. And then share their experience.

Said people also complained about the shrinking of column inches in newspapers dedicated to wine.
Again, why are you surprised if you’ve been saying the same thing over and over again for 20 years?

I’m reminded of this today as yet another article questioning a certain wine style, and the sommeliers who pour it, is doing the internal wine rounds. I stress ‘internal’ as I very much doubt it will have any reach outside of the top 5% of wine drinkers.

The cold hard reality is that if people aren’t reading or listening to you, what you are saying is not relevant to them and this is obviously why column inches are shrinking.
Their attention is elsewhere and has been for years.

Stomping your foot at your next wine junket or free lunch will still not change the fact the market for wine commentary consumption, and influence, has shifted significantly.
It did years ago.

I don’t think for a moment the demographic data we’ve compiled is the be all and end all.
But what I do believe is we are seeing the ‘new’ wine drinker fill the gap between the top 5% and the lower, ‘high volume’ end the market.

What the data does show is not only increased interest and engagement, but perhaps more importantly, how people want to engage with wine brands and learn about wine. Again, socially.

This new middle wine ground is where the attention and excitement is and, sadly, many commentators (and wine producers for that matter) are missing it or, at worst, failing to acknowledge it.

In the words of Gary Vaynerchuk. Market in the year that we actually live in.