In its annual ‘Insight Report’ into liquor trends across its 439 stores and five hotels, Australia’s largest liquor retailer, the Liquorland Group (owned by Coles Myer Ltd) reports that the new Millennium had ‘minimal’ effect on sparkling wine sales and that merlot has become the third most popular Australian red variety. Sales of chardonnay continued to increase by 12.4% despite a ‘stirring’ of interest in riesling, but despite a growth of 8.4% ‘there is no riesling renaissance’, with riesling accounting for sales of just 7% of all bottled wines. The study also notes a decline in the ‘lighter’ wines from grenache and pinot noir of 2.2% and 3.3%, against an overall increase in red wine sales of 13%.
