My Australian ‘Ah Ha’ moment…
Today marks my tenth day here in Australia with another week to go. I’ve truly enjoyed my time here – the people are kind and open to visitors (tourists), and of course the wine regions are amazing. The Aussies are spoiled with the choice of so many high quality wine regions.
To date, I’ve visited wineries (cellar doors) in the Adelaide Hills and Barossa Valley with a trip to Yarra Valley planned for Friday and Saturday. I’ve also visited multiple wine shops and wine bars… and I’ve noticed two predominant themes… First, the obvious one – wine is a natural extension of life for Australians. Wine bars are packed, as are local wine shops and every restaurant that I’ve been too included a bottle of wine on every table (only equaled by the French).
The second theme I’ve noticed – my ‘ah-ha’ moment – is the fact that wine from America is virtually non-existent here!!! Yes, you read that correctly… virtually no wine from the US available here. I’ve been to numerous wine shops, the big super shops like Dan Murphy’s to the local boutique wine shops… I’ve visited wine bars and wineries and restaurants with deep wine lists… but NO American wine. Not even the obligatory bottle of Mondavi Cabernet, or the Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling, or the Sutter Home White Zin. WTF! (Update – I did find one bottle of Cristom Willamette Valley Pinot Noir at a local wine shop here in Melbourne)
Since my trip has been limited to Adelaide, Barossa, Hahndorf and Melbourne, I thought I might be missing the secret stash of American wine so I contacted fellow wine blogger, Edward at Winosapien from Perth, to inquire about the availability of American wine here in Australia.
Edward’s response… “odd and infuriating” regarding the lack American wine availability didn’t surprise me. I agree – how odd is it that American wine can be found virtually everywhere around the world… except in a few small villages in the Baltics and here in Australia.
I’ve pulsed others in the wine industry here and the answers I’ve received have ranged from a shoulder shrug at a large wine store, to babbling about the Australian palate not liking American wine to answers having to do with the Australian tax rate on wine (then why are there so many French and Italian wines here?). I’m not sure what the answer is, but I truly believe there is a market here for American wine!
Other than filling in white space and increasing my likelihood of developing carpel tunnel syndrome from all of this typing, what does all this mean? The absence of American wines here in Australia translates in to a HUGE opportunity for an enterprising entrepreneur with a working knowledge of the wine industry to focus his/her efforts on importing quality wines from the US.
Just one commoner’s observation…
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Drink What YOU Like 
There used to be a greater variety of American wine available in Australia however it just didn’t sell.
Number of reasons for this, an unfavourable exchange rate, ambitious pricing to quality (especially vs alternatives e.g. Burgundy for Pinot Noir and more recently NZ). Bonny Doon didn’t even raise a lot of interest.
As with South Africa there is also a perceived lack of USP – the Australian consumer is more likely to seek out an Cabernet or Pinot Noir from the Old World if they are going to seek out a recognisable alternative. NZ set itself apart with ‘marlborough sauvignon blanc’ and this is now the number one selling white wine in Australia (above Australian wine).
Most wine producing countries where production is equitable to consumption including Australia (not the case in the USA yet even though the industry is sizeable and well established)are fairly perochial – there isn’t for example a huge amount of US wine available in France, Spain, Italy, NZ or Argentina.
Despite the current and historical state of the market,recent efforts by wholsalers like http://www.pinotnow.com.au in raising awareness of benchmark USA pinot styles and success by USA Shiraz in Winewise (australia’s most balanced wine publication) annual Shiraz challenge http://www.winewise.net.au may start to grow the market at the premium end.
However when 95% of wine sold in a market of only 25m people is below $20AU which is highly competitive with wines from the less expensive parts of the old world such as Spain and Languedoc Roussillon (rapidly modernizing making new world-esque wines at laughable prices) along with increasingly competitive new world producers such as Argentina, Chile and NZ, the likelihood of USA wines capturing significant market share against the current exchange rate are minimal.
On a personal level, as an Australian I have tried some excellent wines from the USA including Shiraz and Riesling from Washington.
A long-winded response, but there you have it.
Greetings Peter:
Thank you for stopping by and posting such a thorough response. You certainly make valid points, especially about having so many wines under $20AUD – very competitive indeed. I do agree that emerging world class producer countries like Argentina and Chile may diminish the likelihood of US wines capturing a significant market share, but I do feel there is definitely a place in this market for American wines. Since I would like to end this reply by blaming someone/something I’ll opt for the importers and distributors – it’s clear that importers, distributors and American producers have done a poor job educating Australian consumers – enough to gain a critical mass of consumption here. I do still believe there is a great opportunity here for our wines.
Best.
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Nice post. You might like to talk to Ian Lindsay, from USA Wines direct.
We just launched Ian’s new site http://www.usawinesdirect.com.au and he has the same sentiments as you. He loves American Wine and saw an opportunity to introduce Aussies to the taste after he spent many years in the Australian Wine industry then lived in Californian Wine Country.
He told me that imports of US wines to Australia are tiny, compared to how much we export to the US.
As you can imagine, Ian gave us a few free samples 🙂 I had never tried it before and I have to say the wine is bloody good!
Congrats on your post, encouraging more people to try it.
Cheers,
Stefan
Hello Stefan: Thanks for stopping by to comment – much appreciated. During my visit to Australia I was indeed surprised to find so few (if any) US wines on the store shelves. Im glad to see progress being made. 🙂
Please keep in touch.
All the best!
Great Post! I actually found your blog when doing a search for US wines in Australia, as I also struggle to find anything beyond the odd bottle of Oregon Pinot here.
I was in the USA last year and tried nothing but American wines while there and spent a few days in Napa and kept think that both US wineries and Australian consumers are missing out on experiencing what the US has to offer Australian wine lovers.
I’m looking to host a USA wines dinner here in Oz in the next month or two and just hope I can get access to enough quality US wines over here to do the event justice.
After that event I am also heading back to the US for the majority of 2011 (based in LA) and look forward to experiencing more US wines and using my largely Australian based audience of my blog and social media accounts to further promote US wines. At the same time I look forward to showing the US that Australia is more than just Yellow Tail and Penfolds Grange 🙂
If you are in California we should meet up for a glass or two!
Regards,
Stewart
Hello Stewart: Thanks for stopping by and for commenting. I do believe indeed that there is a place for more US wines in Oz… hope to see more imports there on my next trip later this year. I’m in California quite a bit so I’ll drop you an email on next trip.
One of my fondest wine memories from my trips to Australia has been the Pinot Noirs from Adelaide area – I had no clue Pinot was made there. Most excellent. Still have 2 more from Ashton Hills… all my others are gone. 😦
All the best, and safe travels!
Hi Stewart,
Since meeting Ian and trying his imports, I have become a bit of a convert myself – as have a few friends when we held a USA Wine tasting.
You definitely ought to contact him about your party, as he has imported a whole range of wines. If it was a big event,he would probably even come along and talk about the wines. He is a walking encyclopedia about Californian wines, and he knows some of the top winery owners personally. Ian has made contact with the US Embassy in Canberra and hosted USA wine tastings for delegates – he is pretty well connected as an Aussie importer.
He has spoken of even arranging for people to make contact and hang out with the wine makes, if they ever go to California…
Please get in touch with him Ian Lindsay http://www.usawinesdirect.com.au – he would love to hear from you and to help you out…
Cheers,
Stefan
Background: I’m a dual American/Aussie citizen, and have worked in the wine industry for about 5 years.
I was randomly looking at a Dan Murphy’s website, and searched their American wine selection out of pure curiosity. American results were dismal – Chateau St Jean, Opus One, Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay, and Erath Pinot Noir (not saying that ANY of those wines are bad, just that they represent such a small section of the variety that is American wine). I was kind of shocked, especially considering the many other world regions that had their own sections on the website – while American wines were, interestingly enough, classified under ‘Rest of World’ rather than their own country-specific section, further illustrating the point.
Cue googling “why is there no American wine in Australia”, and I stumbled across this link. 2 years of no activity, but still it was one of the top hits! Great entry, and very informative comments. I think I may have just found a niche career to look into.
Hi Vanessa – Thanks for stopping by to comment. Somehow this comment slipped by me and I’ve just approved. I’ve only been to Australia a few times, and work in the same cities each time so I’m not sure this piece provides a definitive look at what wines are/are not available in Australia. However, from my small sample, it’s clear there is an opportunity for a savvy wine entrepreneur. Cheers!