Last night I spoke at a dinner held by VISY for some of its leading customers, amongst whom was John Casella, head of the family-owned winery responsible for the [yellow tail] export phenomenon. The sales of this brand to the US this year might reach five million cases. Sifting through Rabobank International’s report entitled ‘Wine is business’ (published last January), I have just stumbled across a comment of profound insight and truth: ‘In order to develop a strong and premium brand a critical mass of several million cases is required. Few European companies are able to realise such volumes in this segment.’ All of which explains in an instant why Australia has been able to take such significant slices of the US and UK wine markets, all the while awaiting some expected retaliation from the Old World, especially France. It may never arrive, given the bottleneck of distribution and the astonishing ability of Australian makers to increase production levels in very short periods of time. Europe has but a single dedicated wine brand in the UK’s top ten: France’s Piat d’Or. Australia, on the other hand has five: Hardy’s (lumping together Stamp, Banrock Station and Nottage Hill), Jacob’s Creek, Lindemans, Rosemount and Penfolds. The US has two: Gallo and Blossom Hill. South Africa’s Kumala and Stowells (a multi-national range) complete the group. If ever you needed evidence that the power is shifting!
