I’m reading Josh Raynold’s reviews in IWC of Australian wines and it strikes me, based on the Aussie suffering thread, and just guessing, but the first 40 wines that have received 94+ are all well north of $100, more than a couple topping out in the $650 range down to $225. Many 93 pt wines were $75+ and go down to the bottom of the page.
I realize that this is of course just a sample size, and a large amount of upper tier wines but isn’t the Aussies problem Price?
Is HOG really a $650 wine? Grange?
I’m not hating as I own 7cs of Aussie wine and I actually like them with age but are these wines really going to survive these price points?
The Australian dollars strength over the past number of years is the main issue in prices being so high, as the Aussie dollar comes back down towards historical parity, especially if our new conservative government goes on an austerity kick like the UK and depresses the economy, this should even out a bit.
The biggest issue for Australia is the bottom end of the market, the Yellow Tail and bulk wine one, where we are now being squeezed by Argentina/Chile and in not too long to come, the Chinese. I personally welcome this as the regions where these grapes are grown are in highly irrigated, water poor areas like the Murray Darling, so in fact we are not exporting wine but exporting water that we can’t afford for cents on the dollar.
The long term issue at the premium end is because so many have had their first introduction to Australian wine at the bottom end of the market that they are not mentally/emotionally prepared to see Australian wine as a premium product, so outside of the HOG/Grange/Clarendon Hills bracket, the $50+ wines from non RP/WS rated wineries, are going to struggle to get traction.
Hill of Grace is from one 8 ha vineyard. Grange is made from any grapes that meet the quality standard and is of potentially unlimited production. As a collector I know which one I think is good value.
I totally agree with Andrew here. Although, if you know where to look, the the AU $40-80 wines from non RP/WS rated wineries are where some of the best value can be found.
Treasury wines have significantly increased prices on the Penfolds wines in recent years, and i think they are starting to take the same approach with Wynns as well, but if you look at the top Australian wines, there really aren’t very many that push much past $100 on release, at least in $AU. It would be a small % of wineries that even have a wine anywhere near that $100 mark.
Are HOG and Grange worth it? I guess if they managing to sell them at those sort of prices, then that settles the argument. The one thing those wines have that most other Australian wines don’t is 50+ years of track record. Am I likely to buy either? Nope, but nor am I going to shell out for top level Bordeaux, Burgundy or Barolo either.
That also happens to be pre-phylloxera and over 150 years old. I was chatting with Stephen Henschke at the Langton’s Classification Event here in Perth a few weeks ago and he mentioned that by the time they made the first vintage of HoG the vines were already 100 years old. It’s definitely the more interesting wine from a production perspective when compared to Grange. It also helps that it’s more suitable to my palette!
In regards to the price point for Australia’s super premium segment, I suspect domestic consumption has contributed to support the pricing. I also think WET’s 29% on top of all imported wine helps to artificially prop up the domestic market from a price point perspective.