Aussie wine drinker goes for extremes

The UK consumer is increasingly looking for stylistic extremes when it comes to Australia’s white wines, according to information released by Accolade Wines yesterday.

Sales growth for Aussie white wine is occurring at opposite ends of the stylistic spectrum

During a press conference in London on Australian and New Zealand wine sales in the UK, Accolade Wines category development director Jane Robertson produced data to show that the British shopper is going after either Australia’s lightest styles, or its heaviest.

“The Australian wine shopper is looking for a bit of diversity,” she said. “While sales of medium-bodied white are flat at -0.2%, crisp and light wines are up 30.3% and creamy and full-bodied whites are up 20.3%.”

Continuing, she stated, “So there is a pulling apart, and if you look at crisp and light wines, Sauvignon Blanc from Australia is up 32%, while Riesling from Australia is actually growing – and how long have I been waiting to say this?”

Speaking to the drinks business after the announcement, Robertson admitted that the majority of Australia’s white wine sales were still within the “medium-bodied” style category, which primarily consists of Chardonnay.

“Medium body is 73% of Australian white wine sales, and there’s been no huge sea change,” she said.

However, she observed a backlash among UK wine drinkers to a feeling that it is unfashionable to drink rich, oaked Chardonnay.

“I think our generation has been trained to be anti-oak, it’s a fall out from the ABC [Anything But Chardonnay] generation, but people are starting to discover that there are beautiful, full, creamy Chardonnays,” she said.

At the other end of the white wine style spectrum, she added, “There are also some lovely leaner styles from Australia, and the consumer is starting to experiment, and try something new.”

Nevertheless, she pointed out that both these developments were coming from “small bases”.

The figures quoted in the seminar were off-trade Nielsen numbers for 2014.