WINE INDUSTRY

Mr BIGNELL (Mawson) (15:16): I am glad the member for MacKillop raised the subject of overseas travel. We all get an allowance to travel, and I used mine earlier this year to go to Russia, a place in which I holidayed in 2006. I was very happy to see in March this year the amount of South Australian wine on the shelves in Russian supermarkets and wine shops and on wine lists in Moscow and St Petersburg—places that had no Australian wine, let alone South Australian wine, just two years ago.

They now have several different varieties of Wirra Wirra, Fox Creek and d'Arenberg wine, and other wines from the McLaren Vale region, as well as wines from the Barossa Valley and Clare. It is great to see that in an emerging market such as Russia, an economy that is now the ninth biggest in the world. It has the world's biggest gas reserves and the second biggest oil reserves in the world, and it is a $US1 trillion economy. It is an economy in which people are being paid more money, so we are seeing a growing middle class and a higher consumption of quality goods, such as wine.

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

Mr BIGNELL: The member for Finniss interrupts. I advise the member for Finniss to travel himself, instead of sitting there and throwing stones all the time at those who do travel. I know that there are people on Kangaroo Island who would like to see him spend some of his travel allowance to promote that fantastic part of South Australia. It is about getting overseas and promoting this state and promoting Kangaroo Island.

The value of South Australian premium wines exported to Russia has grown 130 per cent from 2006 to 2007. The value of the South Australian wine sold was $6.29 a litre, putting it well ahead of the average for Australian wine exports overall and making Russia the second highest average unit price in our top 20 wine markets. Also, we are seeing a lot of the individual wineries, such as d'Arenberg, Wirra Wirra, Chalk Hill and Fox Creek, establish greater ties with not just their Russian wine distributors but also the owners of restaurants and bottle shops in Russia.

Two weeks ago I had lunch at d'Arry's Verandah Restaurant with Chester and d'Arry Osborn when they hosted their distributor from Fort, a company in Russia. They brought with them four restaurant owners, very powerful people in the industry in Russia. One of them said that Vladimir Putin really liked the d'Arenberg Dead Arm Shiraz. I said, 'How do you know that?' and he said, 'He was at my restaurant one night and he had a bottle of it, really enjoyed it and asked to take a bottle with him.' He did that and he drank it, and then he sent the restaurateur a letter saying how much he enjoyed the d'Arenberg Dead Arm Shiraz from McLaren Vale in South Australia.

Over the weekend, Igor Larionov visited South Australian. We hosted him at McLaren Vale, and he also went to the Barossa Valley. Igor Larionov won two Olympic gold medals with the ice hockey team from the Soviet Union. He also won an Olympic bronze medal, as well as five world titles with the Soviets. He did not get to go to the National Hockey League (NHL) in the United States and Canada until he was 29 because the communists would not let him out until 1989. Even after joining the NHL at such a late age, he is recognised as probably one of the best two or three ice hockey players of all time. We were very privileged to have him in this place last Thursday night. He now distributes wine under his Triple Overtime label, which he sells into the United States and Russia.

Mr Larionov intended to show off some of his ice hockey skills at the IceArena to students from 10 high schools who were taking part in the Ice Factor Program, which is run by a group of volunteers and the management of the IceArena. Judge Marie Shaw is one of the driving forces behind that program. Unfortunately, on Monday morning we had breakfast and we were about to go to the IceArena when we learnt that Mr Larionov's mother had died in Moscow. We had to get him to the airport, change his flights and get him back home for his mother's funeral. Igor did send me an email this morning thanking us for the hospitality he received in South Australia.

He promised that the first place he will visit when he is next back in South Australia looking to buy more South Australian wine will be the IceArena to show off his skills to the high school students who were taking part in the Ice Factor Program. That program is doing such a wonderful job getting kids back on the straight and narrow, helping them with their school work and wider community life.

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