Wine maker Wolf Blass calls for SA to be known exclusively as the Wine State Jessica McMahon, 28, and best friend Vivian Campbell, 27, at D'Arenberg Winery. LEGENDARY wine maker Wolf Blass has called on South Australia to forge a new identity in the world and become known exclusively as the "Wine State." "Gourmet wine and food is what we do best and what we should be offering to the world,"" the man who arrived in Australia in 1961 with little money and a diploma in winemaking, said. We need to stop talking about mining booms and car manufacturing, and festivals of art in this state. We just need to settle once and for all that we are the Wine State and get on with selling ourselves."" Blass, whose Wolf Blass label is owned by Australia's largest wine producer Treasury Wine Estates, says South Australia supplies over 55 per cent of Australian wine exports. "This state is selling about 500 million bottles for export,"" he said. When you think that on average a bottle of wine is consumed by four people, that's around two billion people a year in the world enjoying a glass of our product. TELL US: Do you think SA should be called the "Wine State"? "That's a massive opportunity that we're wasting."" Mr Blass says he was very disappointed with several aspects of the recent Savour Festival, held in Adelaide. Wolf Blass, legendary SA wine maker, says the state should capitalise on its wine much more than it does. The three-day business event, a joint initiative between Tourism Australia and Wine Australia, was the biggest Australian wine forum ever undertaken. More: SA, you could be the coolest state in Australia thanks to your wine The conference was tipped to attract 750 overseas visitors and have an economic benefit to the state of $2.8 million, but The Advertiser understands it will fall well short of its benchmarks. "Orlando and Treasury Wine Estates both supported the Festival very strongly financially because we wanted to keep it in South Australia,"" Mr Blass said. Unfortunately we had to restructure after a major sponsor (Qantas) didn't respond with the expected support to ensure enough overseas people came to town. We only entertained 70 people at Saltrams (restaurant at Tanunda) the other day, but that situation is behind us now and hopefully next year we can do it in a bigger way. The industry will seek help from Senator Nick Xenophon, to bring changes to wine tax policy, and in particular the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET), it claims is being rorted. The WET grants small wine producers tax breaks through rebates, while medium to large sized wine producers are exempt. "I think we are relying pretty heavily on Nick and a couple of other Senators to get involved and get this situation changed," Mr Blass said. We desperately need to restructure and get extra money coming in for the promotion of Australian wine overseas. Local tourist Jessica McMahon, 28, agrees that South Australia should be the wine state. "McLaren Vale is right at our back door (we are) half an hour drive from world class food and wine," she said of the popular southern wine region. We're so fortunate to be able to have something like this.