Accolade’s Chardonnay results good news for Australia

Accolade Wines’ “All About Chardonnay” survey results show the trade believes Aussie Chardonnay has improved stylistically, that it represents the best value above £8 and that it has room for growth.

Accolade surveyed leading wine journalists and writers for the questionnaire the topics spanning the stylistic changes of Australian Chardonnay, the price point where they represented the best value, whether there was still room for growth for Aussie Chardonnay and whether its appeal was increasing.

One hundred percent of respondents said that the style had changed in recent years and 66.67% said that the style of Australian Chardonnay in the UK had got a lot better, while the remaining 33.33% thought it had only improved a little.

As to where Australian Chardonnay represented the best value, no one thought that the £5-£7.99 category was best, 25% thought £8-£9.99, 50% thought the £10-£14.99 bracket and 25% even thought as high as £15+.

Over 90% said that the best Australian Chardonnays were a match for Burgundian and other European regions.

When compared to other regions of the world, between £5-£10, 88% of those surveyed thought Australian Chardonnay was better value than Californian examples, 66% said it was better than Burgundy, and 50% thought it superior to Argentine Chardonnay.

Fewer respondents saw Australian Chardonnay outperforming Chile (22%), South Africa (27%), New Zealand (27%) and the South of France (27%) at that price bracket.

Nonetheless, of all those countries and regions, Australia still came out top when asked which country overall had the greatest potential for growth sales in its Chardonnay.

A further 83% said that they thought Australian Chardonnay had the potential for growth in the UK – 8% said no – and 79% said they believed Chardonnay’s appeal for UK consumers was increasing compared to five years ago.