Visitors to the Canberra District’s popular cellar doors are now able to access ‘scratchies’ as part of a national DrinkWise campaign to help wine tasters track their intake.
The educational campaign partners – DrinkWise, Australian Grape & Wine, and the National Wine Foundation – aim to help cellar door visitors understand how many tastings add up to a standard drink to assist in tracking their consumption.
Launched at Four Winds Vineyard at Murrumbateman by Member for Eden-Monaro, Kristy McBain MP, the ‘Stay tasteful while tasting’ initiative includes ‘scratchie’ cards that help calculate how many standard drinks are being consumed.
As Federal Minister for Regional Development, Ms McBain says education is the key to ensuring vineyard visitors have a safe and enjoyable experience.
“This is a really clever initiative from DrinkWise and Australian Grape & Wine to help Australians better track their alcohol consumption when visiting cellar doors and wine festivals,” she says.
“With most of our beautiful Canberra District vineyards and cellar doors only accessible by car, it’s important people know how much they’re drinking in order to make safe driving choices.
“And we want people to do so in a safe and effective manner, to drink in moderation, to enjoy the fruits of the labour of our industry and do so safely because we love when tourists come to our region.
“We love when they sample our produce, we love when they go away and tell more people. But they have to get here safely and go home safely.
“So, a huge congratulations to Drinkwise, to the industry, to all the participating cellar doors and, most importantly, to the patrons who take this seriously enough to know that they can enjoy themselves, but do so in moderation, and ‘Stay tasteful while tasting’.”
DrinkWise CEO Simon Strahan says the campaign is aimed at educating consumers on how to make better choices when wine tasting.
“In order to promote a healthier drinking culture, we need to continually provide education campaigns about alcohol,” Mr Strahan says.
“DrinkWise works with the industry to deliver these important messages when people are purchasing or consuming alcohol, and this partnership with Australian Grape & Wine is a vital component in educating Australians who choose to consume alcohol to do so in a healthier and safer way.
“We want to remind everyone to choose to ‘drink wise’ if they are out visiting cellar doors and tasting wines.”
Australian Grape & Wine CEO, Tony Battaglene, says the industry has “been absolutely delighted to see so many people visit cellar doors and wine festivals again after the challenges of the last couple of years”.
“This new resource and education pack is the perfect way to display to consumers what they
need to know to help them make the responsible choice and track their tastings when visiting cellar doors and wine festivals around the country.”
NSW Wine Executive Officer, Angus Barnes, says he wants to encourage responsible consumption, so wine tasters are able to admire the region’s quality wines.
“These innovative scratchie cards and resources will assist our local wineries to educate our visitors and help them to make responsible choices. Consumer education and duty of care are really important to all of us, so we are encouraging all wine businesses across NSW and the ACT to use these resources in their cellar doors,” says Mr Barnes.
Distributed to over 1,800 cellar doors and tourism associations across Australia, vineyard visitors are encouraged to use the ‘scratchies’ to keep tabs on their tastings.
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