W I N E A U ST R A L I A
Shifting the perception of Australian wine By Andrew Cheesman, Chief Executive, Wine Australia
Interest in Australian wine is re-igniting in the US, and Wine Australia is poised to capitalise on every opportunity.
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ustralia’s inaugural global wine forum, Savour Australia 2013, will be held in Adelaide from 15-18 September. Wine Australia will bring together some of the world’s most influential wine trade partners for the event including sommeliers, distributors and retailers; leading wine and lifestyle media; top Australian winemakers and captains of industry. Savour Australia will be the most comprehensive exploration of Australian wine ever undertaken. It will challenge the commonly held perceptions of Australian wine, uncover the business case for Australian wine, and showcase Australia’s role as a significant player in the global market through Landmark tastings, themed lunches and dinners, and discussions that will highlight wines rarely shown and themes seldom explored. The aim of the forum, and regional visits that will run before and after the event, is to deliver an unprecedented immersion into Australia’s food, wine, lifestyle and landscape and, in turn, invigorate interest in and drives sales of Australian wine in the major international markets of the US, UK and China. The forum will be an important step in the delivery of the sector’s marketing strategy, providing an opportunity to further dispel myths about the Australian wine category and raise greater awareness about the quality and diversity of our wine offer, which has largely been obscured by the rapid growth in our commercial wine offer and actions taken through a period of chronic oversupply. The forum will also be the launch pad for the joint Tourism Australia and Wine Australia global consumer campaign to build a higher premium perception of Australian wine and develop our food and wine offering to be more relevant to the decision-making process for travel to and within Australia. Together with our wine community, Wine Australia has been implementing a marketing strategy to build a stronger perception of the quality and diversity of our wine offer in international markets. Many of our activities with trade and other key influencers focus on leading with our best and raising awareness of the quality of our wine through our educational platforms such as the A+ Australian Wine School
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www.w i n eb i z .c om.au
and Sommelier Immersion Program, Landmark and other themed tastings and masterclasses, trade fairs, consumer events, our Visitor Program, relationship building and communication strategies. Wine Australia recently launched its Market Programs Prospectus User-Pays Activities 2013-14, which provides a range of partnership opportunities for Australian wine producers and brands and state and regional bodies to jointly invest in the promotion of Australian wine locally and in our global markets. The prospectus can be viewed at www.wineaustralia.com under ‘market programs’. Australia’s strategy to build a stronger perception of the quality of Australian wine is achieving cut-through in the emerging market of China. China’s demand for premium wine continues with strong growth across higher price segments, and the above A$10 per litre segment delivering double digit growth. China is the biggest destination for Australian bottled exports above A$7.50 per litre, ahead of Canada and the US, while the average value of Australian bottled wine exports to China is above that of France. For producers that continue to support the UK and US markets, the premium wine message is starting to achieve cut-through, although there is still significant work to be done. In the UK off-trade, sales of Australian wine at entry price points are in decline, however, there is strong growth at higher price points, with the above £7 per bottle segment and the above £10 per bottle segments both achieving double digit growth. In the UK on-trade, Australian wine is under-represented compared with our key competitors, thus offering an opportunity to gain share in this market segment. In the US, the conversation about Australian wine is changing for the better. On the back of Wine Australia activities, including the recent Next Chapter trade tasting in San Francisco and New York, there have been numerous articles written by key influencers with extremely positive messages about the category. For example, leading sommelier Paul Greico recently stated: “Australia is the most exciting New World wine country on the planet”. W i n e & V i t i cultur e Jo ur n a l MAY/JUNe 2013
High profile commentator Harvey Steinman wrote: “The range of (wine) styles in Australia is a lot wider than most casual observers know. Having been exposed on repeated visits to Australia to the extensive selection available there, I can attest that, even at the peak of Australia’s popularity here, we mainly saw a relatively narrow slice of this range." Chuck Hayward, from JJ Buckley Fine Wine, stated in a recent article: “We never saw a decline in sales because we had a diverse selection, we knew the category and we never stopped promoting Australian wines”. Kristen Wolfe Bieler, of the Beverage Media Group, wrote: “Today, the dark cloud hovering over Australian wine appears to be lifting and a growing number of retailers are reporting renewed Hayward-like enthusiasm for the category. Australia’s bottled US imports halted decline in 2011, posting 18% growth in the $20-30 category. Sales were up 33% in the $16-20 range in the first quarter of 2012." Leading sommelier Rick Bakas was quoted as saying: “Don’t call it a comeback. Australia has been producing world-class wine for decades, thank you.... To list all of Australia’s hidden gems would actually take hours”. Furthermore, Wine Spectator’s Matt Kramer said: “Australia has got the goods. Their job is to get them to us”. In recent years, Australian producers have reallocated supply to the more profitable markets and channels within Asia and, as a result, Australian wine representation in markets such as the US has reduced significantly. Kramer’s comments are correct: the interest in Australia wine is re-igniting in the US. It remains the biggest premium import wine market in the world and it is important that we take to market the diverse range of wines available. The emerging Asian markets, given their proximity, emerging middle class, population and growing cultural interest in wine, is an exciting prospect. The sector needs to continue to explore the opportunity in these markets with caution. Supplying one-off opportunities is currently prevalent, however, brand building in long-term sustainable markets, and channels within markets is the priority. V28N3