The right A+ step forward?

We just drink beer in Queensland, obviously. And maybe some rum. So no need for an A+ even here.

Seriously though, there are more New Zealanders living in Brisbane and the Gold Coast than any other part of Australia – by a long way. Having departed their own countries economic woes, they continue to support the New Zealand wine industry by buying imports from the motherland in Australian retail outlets. Perhaps Wine Australia deems them an unaddressable market?

I often wonder why Queensland falls into the 'too hard' basket for many distributors, wineries, marketing associations etc.

One reason cited to me is that the lack of much independent liquor retail makes selling a harder proposition, but otherwise it seems an odd state of affairs. Thoughts Keira?

Bias towards what I wonder? If Wine Australia's general mission is to promote and encourage the Australian wine scene, and funded (in part I assume) by the winemakers themselves, then surely commercial events like these are doing just that?

Here's a link to some events happening in the forgotten state:

http://www.apluswines.com/en/a-australian-wine-celebration/queensland-events.aspx

Thanks Stu, there was no mention of QLD in the press release so good news if there is some events after all.

Hey and what do you think Stu? Why does QLD get neglected on the events front? Or is that just a perception? The Swirl Sniff Spit series is successful, why aren't there more?

Oh and Tim, on the bias front – I was more thinking about the potential bias of Wine Australia in working with selected wineries and selected hotel groups etc. I'm with you, in that it's exactly what should take place – eg marketing of Australian wines any way possible, but I just wanted to ask the question. Important to ask such questions too methinks.

There are 3 events in Queensland compared to around 25 in NSW….only 1 in Brisbane is the Yalumba museum tasting.

So far as the independent retail argument, I can't see that as particularly valid either. There are a number of very committed indie retailers in Brisbane who do a good job and have loyal customers.

One of the reasons we started SwirlSniffSpit was do address his imbalance and make a point that Brisbane has interested wine drinkers just like other capital cities. Strange that it takes three people who don't work in the industry to make it happen, but we like how our grassroots movement is gathering steam and the support we've had from winemakers and distributors has been gratifying.

Some good questions you pose Andrew. In reality, the Qld public need more education with wine. They are very easily persuaded to buying cheap, mass produced wines and lack the want to discover "the little guys" and what they have to offer.
Wine events like the one mentioned regularly draw the same audience, and while this is great for the converted, doesn't solve the problem of getting more exposure to the people who need it.

Cheers,
Steve

Hi Andrew,

Firstly, great work on the blog above – a very well balanced overview.

I wonder about the 'stickability' of these events. There is obviously a contingent who will go along and get to sample some great wine for a bargain $25 …. but what happens the next day, or the next week, or the next month. A little like Steve above, I wonder if we are really changing the hearts and minds of the general public.

That said, I will admit I dont have a better idea right now.

Simon Kriss

I think this is a great initiative if a little selective in nature (but you can't possibly have ALL wineries in Australia involved at once obviously due to space etc). On the subject of promoting Australian wine I do have a concern with the constant mention on Social Media of prominent wine identities and wine makers who apparently only drink imported wine at WIne Show dinners and constantly tweet about these with little to no mention of Australian producers. Wouldn't the Aust. wine industry be better served by these people drinking previous winners (could be from 1-10 years old for arguments sake) and using this as both promotion and showing that Aust. wines are as good as any other wines on the market. As a wine drinker who drinks predominately Australian wines seeing these many foreign wines only encourages me to want to save my pennies so I can try what the people with more educated palates than myself are drinking. My other concern with that is that I assume these wines are paid for with the entry fees that many Australian wineries pay to wine shows to help promote their brands. I understand the need and desire to drink wide and varied to ensure we are producing a world standard product but surely some form of happy medium needs to be found. What are your thoughts on this Andrew?

Cheers
Matt

Why do I think Queensland gets missed out? It doesn't help for a start when the events own PR machine fails to mention events under its own umbrella that take place here.

What the real answer is…I don't know. You only have to take a look at Brisbane to see that in some respects it's food/ wine scene is thriving. My (perception) view is that Queensland isn't as parochial about it's own state based wine industry – controversial perhaps – as I perceive other states to be. Maybe it's own wine industry is till emerging and finding its own feet, voice and style before it gets together as a region (I certainly feel that it is rather more loose-knit than other regions).

I don't think that independent retail (or stated lack thereof) is the issue, there are some great independent retailers here in Brisbane and the on-sales community seems to me tight-knit and very professional (view might be skewed here by counting some of them as mates and good people to go to for good booze).

As Keira mentioned, three of us non-industry types saw that Queensland 'seems' to miss out on things and so formed SSS. It is largely preaching to the converted – but you know, we're doing something, rather than just sitting having a grumble about it. But it is a labour of love for each of us, would we like to do more? For sure.

Steve mentions that we need events for those who need the exposure – I am not sure who they are and we always need to recognise that there isn't one wine industry, but it's a many-layered beast.

So, how do we get Australians drinking Australian? Well that is largely down to the industry itself is it not? Sommeliers need to be encouraged/ supported in order for them to support Australian wine. think along the lines of Shaw+Smith's Masterclass series. The industry itself needs to help itself, stop automatically offering ladies of a certain demographic SB

I see something like Kim Bickley's 100% BTG list as a good initiative – but I am never going to apologise for hankering after a glass of N.Rhone Syrah if I see that BTG too.

Feel I've gone off on a bit of a rant here, but if cheap homogonised NZ Sav Bland is the scourge of the wine industry then so be it…let them drink uniformity. I'm not sure that those drinking this style blithely are necessarily the target market of the A+ initiative. Dunno, also see above "stop automatically offering ladies of a certain demographic SB".

Not sure if I answered your question, or any questions. I just might have let the passion flow a little too much there 🙂

Loving these QLD responses! Intrigued to know more. Would love to hear some winery responses?

As for your question Matt, you're right that that whilst we do see tweets about what is drunk at wine show dinners, there is more than just imported wines. I can tell – from first hand experience – that what is drunk is very often old Australian wines that are dug out of senior judges cellars (I had a mid 50s Tulloch Red at the NSW Wine Awards judges dinner last year). I guess those dinners are more about benchmarking that just tasting previous winners, about drinking the best wines in the world for perspective and to help establish what it is we should be aiming for.

Interested to hear other judges experiences though…

This has been good reading and food for thought.
Stu and Keira raise some great points. Thinking about this a little more, the exposure people get to wines at restaraunts is in many cases limited. The portfolio of the big companies is often on these lists with much of the same wines being pushed. The punters drink sauv blanc so the restaraunt load up the lists with sauv blanc. Then there are the usual shiraz and cabernets. The buying power of the duopoly adds to the issue with the bundle deals thrown at customers which usually include a carton of sauv blanc.
Interesting how there was a massive uproar when the government relaxed import laws with New Zealand welcoming the sales of NZ apples in Australia. Farmers had every right to be annoyed as our fruit is as good if not better. So…why if we produce wine as good and better (including Sauv Blanc), why the government doesn't step in? You lead a horse to water and it will drink, so exposing Aussies to more Australian wines will encourage more sales here.
How to put an end to the duopoly is anyone's guess but all their need is massive sales rather than promoting the quality wines so many smaller wineries in the industry produce.
I've been at wine shows and the number of people who waltz up ONLY wanting to taste Sauv Blanc is incredible. They are not interested in tasting Verdelho or Pinot Gris – so perhaps their mind set is never going to change. But when it is changes, it will be a victory for mankind 🙂

Think I've just rambled on a little…

Cheers,
Steve

tasting was far too overpowering for general public to get a grasp. In the words of some well noted wine peoples, the line up was "intimidating." That's from people in the know.
Hopefully most of them found something new, tried something different…

The hearts and the minds of the Australian public will not be changed until Wine Australia delivers a Domestic Marketing strategy. For quite some time now Wine Australia has seriously neglected the domestic market with all marketing endeavours – and one might say it is all a little too late. Until Wine Australia seriously develops a domestic strategy which is more than once again asking the industry to dip into their own pockets and databases, we are being seriously let down. I for one was extremely dissapointed after waiting, waiting, waiting when this came across my desk last year. Events like this are not a strategy – and I for one am still a little lost as to what the strategy is – if I am missing the point of the A+ Australia festival – how much of the message is making its way to the general public?
Cheers Sally

Not just Qld missing out…. Agree 1000% with last comment. Also if linked to GT WINE, that cuts out other media. How much online was there?

As a born and bred Queenslander, yet a wine wanker of sorts, if not definitely so, but without any connection to the industry, I confess to not having all that much interest in these events. Is the true Queenslander just to lazy to get truly organized to go to these sorts of things? I don't know. Perhaps that's why Queensland misses out on such things? I don't mix in circles where people care much for wine other than drinking it (despite my very best efforts to encourage them to try new things), and I'm not really sure where those circles are, but I suspect there are more in the southern states.

I wonder if, deep down, blokes like me, especially of a working class background and the first generation of a family to care about wine in any way, see the whole thing as a bit unmanly and not sufficiently blokey. Just too wanky, and not Queenslandery enough. We're secretly wondering what Big Mal would think he he saw us talking about residual sugar in Riesling, or what Gorden Tallis would say if we debated the ideal level of malolactic fermentation in Australian Chardonnay. And what would women think if we got too involved in this sort of stuff instead of spending time in the gym, getting a new tattoo and then glassing someone in the pub after drinking too much XXXX Bitter (okay, I don't really glass people nor "shudder" drink XXXX of any description, and I don't have a tattoo)? Vinophobia perhaps? Perhaps we just need to come out of our closets … But we're not quite ready yet.

As a the philosopher R. Hunter once said, "it won't happen overnight, but it will happen". The next few generations will change things perhaps, just as Nathan (N.M.) Rothschild was still a no-fuss no-nonsense banker from the Frankfurt Judengasse, eschewing outward displays of opulence and speaking with a German accent, while his sons were true English gentleman desirous of country estates, breeding horses, sipping claret, etc. (spurred by the Rothschild interest in wine, and having bottles with that name on them cellared, but more Clerc Milon and d'Armailhac than Mouton or Lafite!, I've been reading about the family's very interesting history).

Bullshit and historical musings aside, I think alot of Queenslanders view wine wankery, if I may call it thus, as a kind of cultural imperialism – if they knew what that meant.

I just want Andrew to go and report for me on what he finds! 🙂

I'll now go back to changing the oil of my Monaro and checking whether the fishing gear's ready for the weekend.

MichaelC

PS. On the Australian vs. imported thing and "women of a certain demographic" drinking Kiwi SB. Worry what happens when Australian men starting switching from their Shiraz and Cabernet to Rioja. Some of the $30 stuff in Dan's at the moment (Marqués de Riscal and Marqués de Murrieta) is of startling quality. I'm slowly being converted back to Europe after a few years in the wilderness.

I have proved that I'm a Queenslander by writing "to lazy" and "alot".

Andrew needs an edit function 🙂

MichaelC

MichaelC you have outdone yourself with that (2nd) last little meandering comment. Clearly QLD needs people like you to start going to wine events…

From my complete wine novice perspective, I am surprised that all the above posters have failed to note a very distinctive fact about the Australian Wine industry. The complete lack of a "local" growing region in QLD.

I understand that this is a climate based fact that grapes do not grow well in the high heat, high moisture content soil that occurs in QLD and this cannot be helped, but I do feel that it goes a long way in broadening ones horizons.

It is very easy for a person living in all of the Capital cities of Australia bar Brisbane, to access a growing region within a couple of hours. Surely this has the effect of closing ones mind to the options available to them. They have not got the ability to duck up to the Hunter/Barossa/Swan etc for a weekend of wine tasting and rely heavily on what is promoted to them.

In this comes the crux again, how do you market boutique wineries without bringing the drinkers to you. An expedition to QLD requires more money and, for many smaller wineries, this would place it in the "too hard" basket. The reseller duopoly that exists in QLD then wins by sheer buying power, insofar as promoting the wine that they make the most profit from, not what is best for the industry.

Great post AG, and brilliant comments to follow.
Re. the question of success long term, I'm with Sally. I find it hard to see events like this as a 'strategy'. How was the outcome of this event different to NSW Cellar Door, Good Food & Wine Show etc? There's plenty of fun boozy tastings to get along to, I wonder where the point of difference was for this one. Saying that, as I clearly had my head buried in the sand, I wasn't even aware of this tasting until 2 days before when it was already sold out. And I wonder how that happened as I'm not shy of a tasting and work in the booze trade to boot!
Which is an obvious lead in to your next question AG about bias. As I have no connection to Merivale, GTWine or Wine Australia, is this why I didn't know this was happening? I’m not angry, just disappointed. Independent retailers are consumers too!
I have more questions than answers but as somebody who has previously worked both sides of the counter, could I be so bold as to share some opinion on this style of event.
The hectic nature of these things means it's hard to get clear messages about your brand/vision/wine across. The taster's attention span is short and only gets shorter during the course of the evening. Pulling in the big names like Grosset, Castagna etc is, to my mind, where it’s at. People want to be engaged, to feel like they've had a personal experience, to leave with an emotional connection. This is where cellar door visits result in loyalty and on-going sales in other channels. To my mind the people and the stories are much more powerful than the price.
So how do you create this engagement for the wine of an entire country? Where are the emotional touch points? It's an epic challenge for Wine Australia and certainly creating a louder conversation is a good start. So engage me Wine Australia!! Please tell me clearly what you want me to say about Australian wine and I’ll tell everyone I know. I already love it, but just saying “drink it” doesn’t really tug at the heart strings.
Enough of my ramblings. Again, great post AG. I enjoyed reading how it all came together.
DK (winesup)

Was interested to see this article as after having attended this event I was interested to see what others view on it was.

I had mixed feelings, as from a personal perspective as a "wine lover" (which I consider myself to be) I actually found it to be an awful event from the perspective of gaining any true "wine appreciation" (even though the quality of wines on tasting was high). The event was just so massively overcrowded that even getting access to tasting a wine was highly difficult and any meaningful discussion with winemakers/presenters was almost impossible (getting access to spitoons was also often a significant challenge). I also felt a little bit odd (for example) to ask somebody like Mac Forbes to poor me a glass of the Tarrawarra Chardonnay.

I just felt the event was mainly about style with the only substance being the quality of wines (the existence of winemakers etc. would have also been if they were not packed in like sardines and were really just pourers more than anything else). It felt a little like a high quality Good Food and Wine Show from a wine tasting perspective.

All the above said, it occurred to me that maybe these kind of events don't need to exist for somebody like me (i.e. someone who already likes wine and buys plenty of Australian wine, attends cellar doors and has other events they can attend).

What the event did seem to have is a sense of excitement and a relative party atmosphere (ironically, for me, created partly by the level of overcrowdedness) and may have given people a taste of some wines of a quality that they may not experience day to day (I often suspect that even people who will mainly drink $10ish wine never really become wine lovers unless they drink something they find memorable). This environment seemed to draw in a lot of people attending who seemed to be (what I would assume) is the desired age brackets (i.e. long term future drinkers). Therefore if the strategy was to achieve the above – i.e. create some energy/excitement and give people some access to wines they may not normally drink (and that alone – being one small step) then I could see it being viewed as a success.

Despite the above positive point, one thing that concerned me though is that whether this "positive energy" would really be converted into anything meaningful. It just seemed that the event could have taken much larger advantage of the access to winemakers etc. and given people a chance (if they wanted it) to talk to the winemakers about the wine they may have loved on the night. I just fear that people may have had a great night, got smashed on some nice wine and will just move onto the next party rather than actually have any memorable experience of a wine (potentially enhanced by a discussion with a winemaker). My perception (maybe incorrect) is that the people who actually become more appreciative of wine largely become that way from some emotional or intellectual attachment created to it (in addition to happening to like the flavours) – I just fear that for many this may have been nothing more than an enjoyable chance to get drunk on some nice wine (which in itself may be a small step in the right direction but not sure it is anything more).

In news just to hand (a rumour perhaps but an interesting one) AWBM have suggested that Wine Australia might move to a user-pays model from now on. What that means for the future I don't know yet (or even if it's more than just a rumour) but it does beg the question about what the role of Wine Australia will be moving forward.

Anyone from Wine Australia care to comment? Any wineries care to go on record about it?

Looks like I was right about the user-pays model: http://www.harpers.co.uk/news/news-headlines/12041