WORDS ON WINE by Robert Black

Back in 1996, during my early years of winemaking study, Wine Australia released their blueprint for the industry looking forward to 2025. What happened in the ensuing five years was extraordinary. The planned 40 000 Ha of vineyard planting and the $4.5 billion dollars in annual sales were all eclipsed. All except for the bold vision to pioneer wine as the “universal first choice lifestyle beverage”. We couldn’t be further away from that. But why? If I was to crudely refer to wine as an “alcohol delivery device” and compare it against the alternatives like beer, spirits, RTD’s etc it offers a very economical option on a $/standard drink basis. You can buy a 4L cask for $9.99 and given that it has 30 standard drinks it works out at $0.33/std drink.

The schooner of full strength beer I buy at the pub for $10 hits at $5.73 per std. drink. A 10 pack of Vodka Cruisers at Liquorland is $49.00 for 10 standard drinks. I know that the figures for wine are a little nuanced given that wine can have a large price range from $10 to $1000 a bottle.

But even at $25 for a bottle of 14% Alc red wine you’re looking at $3.00/std drink. So, in an era of cost-of-living pressures it should be an attractive choice for those that can’t do without a drink. But for younger consumers (who are sensitive to price), wine ranks last in the drinks categories that they consume both on and off premise.

Is it because they have had one too many bad experiences? Or do they just not like the taste? Too acidic? Too dry? Too tannic? Boring? Or just one dud bottle too many to regain trust? The great Rick Kinzbrunner of Giaconda said simply “that we need to make better wine at reasonable prices”. That may be the simple truth. Per capita wine consumption is now a quarter less than it was 20 years ago. So, in the commercial wine segment (<$US10/bottle) that makes up 84% of the volume and 60% of the value of wine consumed globally there is an image problem that sees it in steady decline.

So, it’s more important now than ever that winemakers include consumers/drinkers/public as their guiding compass and replace the narrow band of “wannabe” wine critics and influencers that fail to grasp what wine quality really looks like. When winemakers start relying on their own instincts again and focus on enhancing wine quality for the mass market by fixing the niggly palate details, we will begin to move toward achieving that universal appeal. Here are two selections that will hopefully do just that.

Winemaker Robert Black has been making wines under the BLACK label since 2013, and he continues to make wine from fruit grown in both the Mudgee and Orange regions.
BLACK wines are available online and at Lawson Park Hotel, Oriental Hotel, Paragon Hotel, Woolpack Hotel, Kelly’s, Federal Hotel, Court House Hotel, Post Office Hotel Gulgong, Globe Hotel Rylstone, Kandos IGA and The Small Winemakers Centre