Australian wine industry's message to B.C.: Sell experiences

(VS) - New South Wales (NSW) Wine Industry Association president David Lowe shared some interesting thoughts at the Innovative Directions for the Australian Wine Industry conference held last week at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga. In a report that appeared in The Daily Advertiser Lowe is quoted as saying, “Get used to buying your wine direct from the winery” or what the Australians like to call the cellar door. Lowe suggested that future customers would be buying direct from the vineyard, rather than from their local bottle shops. It is all about a greater focus on wine tourism. In essence the message was grow, make and sell your own wine.

Lowe could have given that speech in the Okanagan Valley and had a lot of vintners nodding their heads in agreement although to be fair many British Columbia producers are already well-positioned to grow, make and sell their wine.

To get back to Oz for moment, the big city trend is all about boutique wine bars. Unlike the restricted experiences we are allowed to enjoy in the highly-regulated Vancouver wine scene, Australians enjoy the freedom of hanging out in wine bars, meeting friends and enjoying a glass of wine with or without food at a modest price. It is a setting that seems idyllic to Oz wine sippers and surreal to Vancouverites yet it turns out there is no money in selling your wines for less money under duress to local wine bars. Add to that a growing monopoly of powerful bottle shops and selling your wine in any channel other than direct is, well, not very profitable.