Australian wine icon Wolf Blass had not much nice to say yesterday about fellow smaller Australian winemakers calling them parasites who don’t market their own product and said they should be obliged to contribute marketing funds instead of enjoying a free ride from bigger producers such as, you know, Treasury Wine Estates who have done such a good marketing job that they recently destroyed millions of dollars worth of wine that they couldn’t sell in the US and discounted more.
He also believes Australian wine has lost its reputation for quality overseas due to lack of marketing as opposed to, um, lack of quality like the kind found in the Wolf Blass Yellow Label line.
I tried to post a comment on Drinks Business, but I wasn’t able to for some reason. I kept getting an error message. Anyway, here’s what I have to say about Blass’ comments:
What a ridiculously hipocrytical thing to say. Treasury Wine Estates pulled out of funding Wine Australia (generic marketing body) in 2011, around the time Wine Australia decided to start marketing based on sense of place rather than big-brand value, because Treasury thought the new strategy didn’t suit their needs. So, the big players’ marketing strategies begin to fail, they stop funding generic marketing at all when wise changes are enacted, and then they complain that it’s all the fault of the smaller producers. This guy has his foot so far in his mouth it will need to be surgically removed. It would seem that his head isn’t seeing the light of day either.
Treasury Wine Estates pulled out of funding Wine Australia (generic marketing body) in 2011, around the time Wine Australia decided to start marketing based on sense of place rather than big-brand value, because Treasury thought the new strategy didn’t suit their needs. So, the big players’ marketing strategies begin to fail, they stop funding generic marketing at all when wise changes are enacted, and then they complain that it’s all the fault of the smaller producers
Not sure I agree with that, although I agree with your sentiment.
There was never any idea to market on “sense of place”, whatever that might mean. Wine Australia decided to associate some grapes with certain places - Barossa = Shiraz, Coonawara = Cab, etc.
I asked them several times about it and pointed out that it seemed pretty random, because for example, a grape could be associated with many places where it produced good wine. “Yes”, I was told, but they needed to start somewhere because the market liked associating a grape with a region.
“WTF,” I thought, but nobody cared.
It was the dumbest, lamest, biggest marketing gimmick that IMO completely deserved to fail.
Can’t really argue w the rest of your comments though.
I’m not saying the strategy has been perfect, but at least “look at how distinctive Coonawara Cabernet is” (for example) is, I think, a lot better than “look at all of our technology and varietal correctness … oh, and did we mention how cheap our wines are?”. I agree that they had to start somewhere and that it makes sense to point out that they already have certain unique styles of wine coming from certain regions and grapes. I do think Coonawara Cab, Margaret River Cab and Chardonnay, Hunter Valley Semillon, Clare Valley Riesling, etc. all display specific indicators of the places where they’re grown. Of course, they’ve had a huge hole to try to dig themselves out of, with even most members of the trade I encounter still making broad generalizations about Australian wine despite the incredible diversity within that huge category. I hear things like “this isn’t big/jammy/alcoholic enough to be Australian” repeatedly in my tasting group. I think more recent efforts have continued to fail more because of the mistakes of the past than anything. I would be interested to know what you think they could be doing better, though, Greg.
Anyway, agree with that part or not, I think Yellowtail and the stupidity of previous marketing strategies enacted by the big companies (including Wolf Blass) are far more to blame than the small producers who have been trying to make distinctive, quality wines and find an audience for them all along.
Marketing is just one part of the problem selling Australian wines. That and the fact of “overall” quality declining while raising prices has doomed the Australian market segment. My customers just found something else in their price point that was better. I think they can recover but it is going to take some time.