Australians consumed 13.3% more imported wine by volume last year than the year before, at a staggering 25.3% increase in value. Australian producers might be interested to learn that this equates to an increase in value per litre from $7.20 to $7.98 in just twelve months. Seems to me that there are plenty of Australian wine drinkers making the switch to mid-market imports. Local wine producers should be asking why. Meantime, the world wine glut has led to the grubbing out of 15,000 acres of vines in each of 2001 and 2002 in the San Joaquin Valley, California.
