You might have lived a century ago, but you can still have an image problem today. Anyone with any knowledge of Coonawarra’s history could well imagine the bestowal of John Riddoch’s heavenly approval when Wynns decided to name their flagship cabernet after his lordly self. Whether or not he would have found recent events quite so palatable is another matter entirely. The demise of an ‘icon’ brand? Farewell to a policy of excellence? Was Australia’s largest wine maker no longer serious about trying to make its best wine? These were the reactions that swept through the wine trade following the recent decision by Southcorp’s senior management to dramatically reduce the prices of the Wynns’ flagship duo, the John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon and Michael Shiraz from $90 retail to $45. For a short time, buyers could snap up both these wines from Melbourne wine stores for around $35 each, a mere fraction of their original asking price. While Southcorp is now under entirely different ownership and management, for many in the trade it brought back memories of the dramatic reduction in Lindemans prices of the late 1980s, which cost the brand about ten years to claw back its reputation in the marketplace. Wine buyers, investors and collectors reacted strongly to the recent price reductions, as the immediate value of their investment took a dive. Could they no longer trust Southcorp as guardians of their own heritage? Would Penfolds be next? After all, the wines involved were two of the company’s top labels from 1998, the season recorded by many (excluding this critic) as the Vintage of the Century. ‘When we adjusted the prices we did under-price the wines’, explains a thoughtful Keith Lambert, Southcorp’s chief executive. ‘Instead of initiating a flow of sales, the wines disappeared off the shelves. In retrospect a point between $50 and $70 was the right figure.’ ‘Southcorp had made the mistake of putting up the prices of these wines too fast. Retailers were telling us they’d stopped moving, and that we had to come in and help. Compared to what was out there, the wines were over-priced. They were also too far removed from our concept of value, so we wanted to make an adjustment. ‘Had we known with 20:20 hindsight what would happen, we would have started selling some of those wines internationally, but we were caught in between with a large production of the 1998 vintage and a smaller supply of the 1999 wine and other ongoing vintages. We were in the uncomfortable position of having too much for Australia, but not enough to take the wines overseas. It was a unique situation for us, since these were the only two from the entire Wynns Estate we’ve ever had the problem with.’ Lambert says that he intends to bring into Southcorp the concept the Rosemount team applied so well: even at the top end, its wines have to be good value. Citing Rosemount’s premium Mountain Blue red as an example, he argues that they could have capped its production at 1,000 cases each year and continued to watch its price rise to around $90. Instead, he says, the vineyard’s production has been allowed to increase while its price has remained relatively stable at $55. ‘It’s now a great value wine’, he says, ‘and that’s what I think it’s all about’. My own ratings of the wine, allocated independently of price or volume of make, suggest that I firmly agree. Keen to reassure that there are no plans afoot to duplicate this strategy with the Penfolds icons of Grange and Bin 707, Lambert says they’re a different thing altogether. ‘I’m still getting my head around what that is – that Mouton Rothschild type of thing’, he says. ‘This issue deals only with two wines whose production is not that big. There’s absolutely no suggestion of an implosion of prices of our top end wines. That will not happen.’ Lambert and his team are about to take Wynns international. In brief, the company is looking to increase the production of the Wynns brand beyond its current 250,000 cases, but given the size of its vineyard holdings in Coonawarra, is actually prepared to halve its yields there to do so and to improve quality. A major vineyard overhaul and a ‘Philip Shaw special’ job on the historic winery are both under way, and Lambert expects to see the first positive results in 2002 and 2003. It’s no secret that much of Southcorp’s Coonawarra production would previously fail to make the grade for its Coonawarra-based brands of Wynns, Lindemans and Penfolds Bin 128 Shiraz, despite the fact that many of its vineyards are fully mature. Lambert wants to improve the company’s entire approach to husbandry in Coonawarra with a view to capture 100% of its crop in either its Coonawarra appellation labels or else in Penfolds red wines. Along with many others, for years I have been concerned that the principal viticultural objective in Coonawarra has been to grow the cheapest, and not the best fruit the region is capable of, which Lambert now recognises as a waste of ‘such a valuable resource’. It will be fascinating to see which other companies with large vineyard areas in Coonawarra are prepared to follow this lead. As for the retail price of the forthcoming 1999 John Riddoch and Michael labels? ‘Back more in line,’ says Lambert, ‘around $50-$65. And then, as the wines are sold more widely than before, they will find their natural level.’
