Fosters story

[Sean]

deleted

[TORB]

One thing that they will need to think about carefully is brand overlap. For exmple, you have low end Pennies, high end Rosemount and even higher end Wolf Blass wines.

[KMP]

................I also wondered about the reference to their competition in the USA as "critter" wines??

From the Wine Press Club of NSW "After the Casella presentation, guests participated in a tasting of the Casella range and other Australian export brands dubbed 'critter' wines - a whole new category in the US market - after their Australian wildlife branding concepts".

Mike

[Hypnotoad]

One thing that they will need to think about carefully is brand overlap. For exmple, you have low end Pennies, high end Rosemount and even higher end Wolf Blass wines.

Interesting - I wonder how they'll manage this? Will it mean the deletion/redistribution of certain wines within the range? I.E. could we see a Lindemans Rawson's Retreat in the future?

Craig

[marsalla]

I cant see how they will manage to maintain the number of brands, southcorp had too many before they merged with rosemount.

The more interesting point is how many of these labels compete on a regional basis, ie wynns V rouge homme V jamiesons run, coldstream V st huberts V yarra ridge. How are they going to differentiate these wines.

The other interesting one is how much of the coonawarra is controlled by one company, and how it will gradually drive down the percieved quality through discounting

cheers

[Sean]

deleted

[Guest]

I bought my shares at $4.38 so who cares,Im happy!!

[707]

Foster's has laid out a major restructuring of its wine marketing effort, under which Lindeman's will be pitched as an everyday "enjoyer"; Rosemount as a social occasion "aspirational" wine; Wolf Blass as a dining-out wine for "appreciators"; and Penfolds as a premium label aimed at connoisseurs."[/i]

This is almost a "who cares" situation amongst my associates. Wine to these corporate guys is just a commodity, it's not about making the best wine they can, it's about snaring as much of the market as they can as cheaply as possible and how that can be done.

There are some very nice and very talented winemakers working for the corporates but they must be frustrated to be there.

Yes it will be interesting to see what happens with all the Fosters brands. I hope they don't stuff it up too much. Seppelt has been a great success of late, Mt. Ida has hit form again and Wynns is climbing back off the canvas. It is a worry however when the marketing arm drives your decision making.

What a world of difference when you visit guys like Wayne Dutschke, Troy Kalleske, Damien Tscharke (Glaymond), Reid Bosward (Kaesler) and see the passion with which they make their wines. Sure they have to watch markets but they start at the opposite end. They make the best wines they can then let the wines find their mark, which they do in large numbers in cellars like mine and yours too I suspect. More power to the small makers, they make the most interesting wines.

[smithy]

707 sasid[/its a worry whe the marketing arm runs the business] and also [what a difference....to the little top enders]

Boy oh boy do I agree with that sentiment!
personally I think when the big boys do a good job everybody benifits, so I have my fingers crossed for Fosters.

Cheers
Smithy[/quote]

[Brucer]

I think its a good time to buy Fosters shares.
Everybody is down on wine companies, too many grapes, oversupply, etc etc.
Fosters has all most of the major Australian wine brands now, and give it a few years, and we will look back at now being a great buying opportunity.
My 2 cents worth!
Bruce

[Guest]

Couldnt agree more Brucer. The beer side will keep them going strong in the mean time and in the next five years when the wine side finds its feet they will be a force to be reckoned with. Its the (one) article that Torb wrote that i disagreed with. Dont forget their beer and other areas of the business Rick.

[Guest]

The negative side of the Fosters control of certain wineries is how they have destroyed certain labels which used to be known for quality and were priced at a reasonable level.I am talking about the likes of Maglieri,Andrew Garret,Balgownie,Yellowglen,Ingoldby.Will some of the Southcorp labels suffer the same fate eg Rouge Homme,Leo Buring,Tollana,Seppelts etc