Chardonnay kicks the bouquet

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This was published 15 years ago

Chardonnay kicks the bouquet

By Jeni Port

SAUVIGNON BLANC has toppled chardonnay as Australia's top selling white wine.

Chardonnay's dethroning comes after 20 years ruling the market, undermined by a huge discounting push by New Zealand sauvignon blanc producers.

Sales soared in the second half of last year, with sauvignon blanc making up 30 per cent of all bottled white wine sales in Australia, compared with chardonnay's 27 per cent.

The Kiwi dominance is set to be cemented this year, with consumers to benefit from more discounting, fuelled by a grape glut across the Tasman. Quality whites that once cost nearly $20 will sell for less than $10.

AC Nielsen data due out this week is expected to show that by value, sauvignon blanc sales soared above $300 million, pipping chardonnay. Retail sales figures reveal that 23.5 million litres of sauvignon blanc and sauvignon blanc mixes were sold to September last year, compared with chardonnay's 22.5 million.

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The sauvignon blanc surge is part of a 40 per cent increase in demand for the wine last year, and a 10 per cent decrease for chardonnay.

New Zealand's Marlborough sauvignon blanc dominates sales of the variety in this country, leaving local producers in the shade.

Three of the top five selling white wines in this country (of any grape variety) hail from the region. The biggest selling white wine in Australia is Oyster Bay Marlborough sauvignon blanc, which has come from nowhere six years ago to about $40 million in retail sales, with 1.7 million litres of the wine poured down Australian throats last year.

Winemaker Phillip Casella, of Casella Wines, the maker of yellow tail, believe it is a case of generational change.

"People today don't want to drink what their parents drank, and their parents drank chardonnay," he said.

Others believe chardonnay has dropped its guard - and its quality - and let sauvignon blanc pinch its turf. All that oaky flavour, that richness, that tropical peachy-ness has become so boring, it is said.

"Sauvignon blanc is such a refreshing drink and a lot of standard-price chardonnay doesn't deliver that fresh and zing," said wine buyer Grant Ramage.

Mr Ramage, national business manager of wine for the Coles group of wine retailers, including Liquorland, Vintage Cellars and 1st Choice, has seen sales of sauvignon blanc skyrocket in the past four years and sees no reason why a $5 cleanskin could not be far away.

Expect Marlborough sauvignon blanc to also start popping up in litre bottles and even in casks.

"Last year the average price was around $13 a bottle; this year it will be $8 to $9 a bottle on average," MrRamage said.

It's not tokay, OK?

AUSTRALIAN sherry and tokay are about to go the way of champagne and chablis on Australian wine labels as part of the Australia-European Community Trade in Wine Agreement .

Out goes sherry and in comes apera. Australian-made tokay will be known as topaque.

"The majority of fortified wine producers see this change as an opportunity to reinvigorate Australia's fortified wine sector," said Colin Campbell, chairman of the Winemakers' Federation of Australia, who is steering the committee overseeing the project.

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