Australian wine is still the flavour of the moment in the UK. Overall, Australian sales to the UK have risen by more than 40.7% by value in the twelve months to September 1996 and with 68.4 million litres exported, now account for 8% of the entire UK wine market. News from Australia’s two largest wine exporters, Southcorp Wines and Orlando Wyndham, confirms that Australian wine still has the edge over its competitors in the fighting branded varietal sector. Within a week of Orlando reaching one million case sales inside a year in the UK, news arrived that Southcorp had reached the two million case milestone within the same timeframe. Orlando Wyndham’s Jacob’s Creek retains its place as the UK’s no. 1 brand and is on target to reach more than 1.2 million cases this year, following what the company describes as a record first seven months of the year in which sales leapt by more than 140%. The sales breakdown for the four wines in the Jacobs Creek folio confirms moving annual total increases of more than 350% for the Riesling, 120% for the Shiraz Cabernet, 40% for Chardonnay and over 200% for the Semillon Chardonnay. The latter wine has only just been released in Australia, but already sells around 500,000 cases in the UK. Chief executive Jean-Louis Lepeltier says that low vintages have prevented the company from reaching one million UK case sales of Jacobs Creek, but with sales from January to the end of July this year of more than 700,000 cases, the company is well back on track. Orlando Wyndham’s latest promotional vehicle in London is exactly that – six taxi cabs covered in paintings of large bottles of Jacob’s Creek and the slogan ‘Australia’s Top Drop’. Would Londoners be as enthusiastic if they knew the brand, with the company itself, was French-owned? Given that it was just over three years ago that Southcorp reached a million case sales in the UK, its sale of two million cases in a year is a remarkable achievement, equivalent to more than 1800 semi-trailers a year, or about 9 containers leaving for the UK each day. The UK now accounts for almost 50% of Southcorp’s total overseas sales and are worth $68 million for the year to date ending September 30, 1996. The company’s total wine exports amount to around four million cases, equivalent of more than half the exports of the entire US wine industry. Southcorp chief executive Bruce Kemp suggests that his company could today possibly be the largest exporter of wine in the world. ‘Our net sales to overseas markets have risen from $44 million in the year to August 1991 to $165.5 million in the twelve months ending September 30, 1996 – a growth of 260%’, he says. The countries where Southcorp is looking for greatest growth are the important and pre-existing wine markets of Germany, Holland, Denmark and Switzerland, where the Australian presence is still minimal. Export Overview The moving annual total for Australian exports for the year October 1995 to September 1996 were 139.4 million litres, valued at $515.4 million. Gains are strongest in non-EU Europe (+54.7%), followed by South East Asia (+50.8%), a sign of times ahead. Norway is a booming market, with increases in exports of 70% to 2.5 million litres. Switzerland is not far behind, with increases of 62% 1.4 million litres. Switzerland is clearly the country prepared to pay most per litre for bottled Australian table wine, averaging $7.97 per litre for red and $7.27 for white. By comparison, the figures for the UK and the USA are $3.91 plus $3.57 and $5.25 plus $4.59 respectively. Exports to Thailand are increasing at 80% to 1.3 million litres, value $5.2 million, while exports to Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines grew from relatively small bases by 99%, 128% and 54% respectively. The EU is especially strong, with significant increases to the UK as previously detailed, where bottled red wines have increased in volume sales by 33% and bottled white exports have increased by 24% since the record 1996 vintage. Exports to Ireland are still increasing by 25% pa, while growth in Germany remains strong at 18% by volume and an incredible 59% by value as German wine drinkers discover premium Australian wine.
