Last September, the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Amendment Bill, proposed by National’s viticulture spokesman Stuart Smith, was drawn from a member ballot.
In Queenstown on Friday, Mr Smith said he was not sure when the Bill would have its first reading, but was hopeful it had the support of the majority of MPs.
He believed the Bill was about "supporting tourism that’s recovering from Covid".
"It’s actually about supporting the part of the market that has discretionary income where we can improve our productivity, if you like, from our tourists.
"This isn’t just going to benefit Central Otago, it’s going to benefit every wine region [in NZ]."
At present, due to what Central Otago Winegrowers’ Association general manager Jake Tipler called a "quirk" in the law, cellar doors cannot charge for wine tastings — New Zealand was the only country in the world where wine was given away, he said.
To charge for tastings, cellar doors must have an on-licence, for which they must provide food.
On Friday, Mr Smith and Southland MP Joseph Mooney met some of the area’s winegrowers at Peregrine, where Mr Tipler said the importance of the Act’s change to the wine industry, particularly in Central Otago, could not be overstated.
He said the wine tourism culture had changed significantly, to the point people saw wine tasting as "an activity" driven, in part, by the rise of bike tourism.
Peregrine sales manager Oliver Maud said it appeared many bike tour companies "promote that we’re free tastings to their clients", meaning cyclists turned up, drank for free and carried on, without spending a dollar.
Bannockburn’s Domain Road Vineyard owner Graeme Crosbie said hens’ parties were also an issue for them.
"Some people do call us [to ask] and we just say ‘no’, because we know they just want to turn up, drink — sometimes they turn up drunk, so that becomes a problem for our staff to deal with ... "
Peregrine manager Fraser McLachlan estimated up to $25,000 of wine went, literally, down the drain every year through wine tastings, while about 40% of cellar door customers did not buy any wine.
"There’s a significant cost to our business."
When asked why they did not apply for an on-licence, Mr McLachlan said they were "winemakers, not restaurateurs".
"We know that we can get a licence and we could offer three different types of food — QLDC have said, helpfully, that we could offer hot chips and a pie ... but that doesn’t fit with our brand.
"If we were going to do food, we’d want to do it really, really well ... because everyone’s got to drive past Amisfield, Gibbston Valley, [Mora] to come here. So it’s got to be bloody compelling for them to want to come this far to have a feed from us."
While Wanaka’s Maude Wines had an on-licence, sales and tastings host Ben Towner said given the ongoing staff shortages, the proposed legislative change would mean they could still open and use the off-licence, and make revenue.
Mr Tipler, who described the change as a "no-brainer", said both the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago district councils had written letters of support for the Bill to Mr Mooney, as had the Central Otago Winegrowers’ Association and individual members.
"It’s part of the local tourism organisation’s core strategy — so here they are promoting their wineries, but the wineries are wearing the cost of the increase in tourism.
"It’s a weird anomaly in the law that needs to be corrected."
