Aussie producer bemoans bulk wine "dealers"

[drunkenbum]

I was just reading this article;
http://www.harpers.co.uk/news/news-head ... lersq.html
The basic crux of the story is, and I quote ..."Phil Laffer, Jacob’s Creek chief winemaker, said : “Bulk wine dealers have been trading in wine rather than being winemakers, they have been our downfall and we now have to get rid them. We need to get rid of 25-30% of capacity to get things back into balance."

I was wondering what peoples thoughts on this topic were?
Can we blame brands like the one mentioned above for adding to the "glut" and detriment of the industry at present as well?
There is to a degree, a solid argument that such "Cheap and Cheerful" brands promoting the proverbial "Sunshine in a bottle" atypical multi regional aussie blends etc could be held just as accountable as bulk sales, and have also contributed to the downturn in the industry in recent years.

[Charles Emilio]

Interesting question...

The thing about bulk wine is a lot of overseas importers, particularly in the US, will bottle the wine themselves anyway and put a cheap and cheerful Aussie label on it anyway...think "Down Under Chardonnay" less than $3.

Either way the same end product is going to result.

You can't win either way.

[Rawshack]

Interesting question...

The thing about bulk wine is a lot of overseas importers, particularly in the US, will bottle the wine themselves anyway and put a cheap and cheerful Aussie label on it anyway...think "Down Under Chardonnay" less than $3.

Either way the same end product is going to result.

You can't win either way.

As Gothe said 'the rich want good wine, the poor lots of it'

Never do away with bulk wine producers in any country. The unfortunate thing perhaps is that there's a perception in the UK that Australian wine = cheap. A bit of a sweeping generalisation but it's Friday and I'm too lazy to elaborate

[Charles Emilio]

The unfortunate thing perhaps is that there's a perception in the UK that Australian wine = cheap.

Very True. Moreso in the US as well.

One saving grace could be the price of wines from Argentina and Chile entering the US market.
With Malbec taking off in the US, here's hoping that some of those bulk wine importers create some form of $4 Tango Malbec

[kirragc]

This is really the ultimate problem fo rthe publicly owned wine producers

The business head wants increased volumes, increased margins, broader price points, marketable brands.

The wine makers want to produce bloody good wine.

The winemakers build a reputation the business gradually gut that reputation for financial KPIs