Drama Over Winery Show

A country music winery show in Australia headlined by Alan Jackson and beamed to 60 million TV viewers in the U.S. has neighboring wineries upset.

“CMC Rocks The Hunter” is staged March 5-6 at the Hope Estate in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley by Chugg Entertainment, Rob Potts Entertainment Edge and cable channel XYZnetworks’ Country Music Channel.

About 15,000 fans are expected to attend. The bill also includes Australians Kasey Chambers and Jasmine Rae, U.S. acts Miranda Lambert, Joe Nichols, Jack Ingram, Buxton Hughes and O’Shea, and Canada’s Emerson Drive and Dean Brody.

The local wineries association complained to the local Cessnock City Council of concerns about traffic jams, access blocked to other wineries, and that the 1,050 camp sites at Hope Estate would take away business from local hotels.

But Michael Hope of Hope Estate argued that traffic problems are being coordinated with police and council, and that the camping site would be alcohol-free.