Wine Australia confirmed that there are some pockets of hope.
WSJ: Can Australian Shiraz Come Leaping Back? | On Wine by Lettie Teague
"We thought it was going to take us 10 to 15 years to recover from the wine glut, " says Francine Bryan Brown, spokeswoman for Wine Australia, a trade association.
Wine from Australia, Chile and Argentina was mostly bottom-of-the-barrel, cut-rate stuff you'd be embarrassed to order on a first date.
But top wine producers say it will take more than one year of reduced output to drain Australia's wine lake.
Another sign that Australian wines are receiving more attention from connoisseurs came in London last month when Christie's staged its first ever wine auction focused on Australia.
Whether he succeeds may well determine if Southcorp will be a junior or senior partner in the Australia-California wine dance.
These days, Mr. Botham's cellar is filled with the sort of award-winning bottles that have put Australia on the wine map: Penfolds, Hill of Grace by Henschke, Merrill's Henley Shiraz and Moss Wood.
Australia had a wine glut on its hands.
WSJ: Can Australian Shiraz Come Leaping Back? | On Wine by Lettie Teague
Southcorp, Australia's largest wine producer and exporter, naturally figures that it will be an acquirer in the consolidation wave.
However, he brings wide experience of the global wine trade, particularly marketing, having taught wine marketing at a university in Australia.
"It's an appeal that goes to the heart and stomach, rather than to the mind, " contends James Halliday, Australia's leading wine writer.
Partly for this reason, some of the next generation of Australian wine icons may come from Western Australia, in particular the Margaret River area.
In the Hunter Valley 150 km (93 miles) north of Sydney, mid-January is harvest time in what has long been recognized as one of Australia's premium wine growing areas.
That's fine, because on the opposite side of the shop, there is a wall of Australia's most famous wine, Penfolds, which is flanked by a wall of one of Spain's most expensive wines, Pingus.
It has teamed up with an industry group, the Winemakers Federation of Australia, to rewrite the national wine strategy.
In particular, the wines of the Leeuwin Estate in Western Australia have drawn raves from the Wine Spectator, and nods of approval from Mr Parker.
This tiny South American country that lies within the golden 30 to 35 parallels along with viticulture giants Argentina and Chile -- as well as South Africa, New Zealand and Australia -- is an emerging wine country that as well as producing exciting new blends is home to a budding wine route comprised of 15 small wineries.
Rather than marketing under a "Brand Australia" umbrella, the country's better wine outfits want to create a range of regional brands with quality--and higher price points--as the focus.
Hughes now gets about 75% of his wine in California and the rest overseas, from Chile to Australia, where the bidding tends to be less intense but the regulatory hurdles higher.
French wine exports have suffered badly, as those of countries such as Australia, South Africa and the United States have risen.
At Two Hands, Mintz doesn't blame the overall production push in Australia as much as he does the country's biggest wine companies, especially the two giant beer brewers, Fosters and Lion Nathan, which got into wine in an equally big way.
In 1999 total wine imports into the U.S. were flat, but shipments from Australia surged 31%.
When I think Australia and alcohol in the same sentence, I instantly think of wine.
This is my challenge in McLaren Vale, a coastal valley of South Australia that has gained, or regained, cachet for its red wine in recent years.
In Australia, De Bortoli produces Noble One, a botrytis-infected sweet wine, and Brown Brothers has a fresh, citrus-dominant wine made from Orange Muscat and Flora.
South Australia is synonymous with good vino so why not sample the local drops at a hospitable wine region like McLaren Vale, 37 km from Adelaide, and the gateway to the easy-on-the-eye Fleurieu Peninsula.
But the vine's very hardiness and adaptability explain why it has spread across areas like North Africa, California's Central Valley and parts of Australia that have not always been, shall we say, dedicated heart and soul to wine quality.
While we've sold or put up for sale a small number of wineries in Australia and the U.S. over the last year, we continue to invest strongly in our wine brands.
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