Oct 25: Jacob’s Creek may be the biggest selling Australian brand in India but it is Hardys which is recognised as the biggest brand globally, according to the Brands Report 2013 which lists E J Gallo as the biggest global brand with an annual sales of 16 million cases with Lindeman’s at a steady 9th position declaring a global promotion of the digital platform to catapult it to the top Australian brand .
Hardys at 14 million cases is the biggest Australian brand, ahead of Yellow Tail of Casella Wines at about 13 million cases around 8.5-9 million of which are consumed in the USA alone. Lindeman’s at 9th position and Jacob’s Creek at 10th are neck to neck with JC, 100,000 cases behind Lindeman’s 7 million cases. Between the three of them and the other biggie, Australian Vintage Ltd.,( McGuigan etc) they control over 80% of the Australian market, says Vanya Cullen who was the VIP judge at the recently held HKIWSC in Hong Kong and is the owner winemaker of Cullen Winery in Margaret River and with 20,000 case-production certainly belongs to the balance category with premium to super-premium wines crafted bio-dynamically.
Hardys is imported in India by Sula and sells under 5000 cases while Yellow Tail has been in Berkmann India’s portfolio for around 3 years now. Lindeman’s is being imported by Rohit Mehra of Mohan Bros., along with Penfolds and Rosemount. Treasury Wine Estate, owner of all three brands, has been in the news recently with the ousting of its CEO David Dearie over the issue of a write-down of $160 m worth of wines in the USA a couple of months ago. Jacob’s Creek, of course, is not only the biggest selling Australian brand but the number one brand in India with estimated sales of around 35,000 cases a year (the company does not like to release its actual sales figure for India).
Now Lindeman’s has announced a multi-pronged publicity campaign using the digital platform globally, spending over £1 million in order to catapult itself to the number one power brand of Australia. Using the tagline “It’s the sunshine that makes it”, the initiative focuses on “great moments with friends and family,” while highlighting Lindeman’s entrepreneurial roots in the Hunter Valley. The company is known to have started sourcing wines from countries like Chile a few years ago, based on the perceived power of its global brand. That strategy apparently didn’t work well because the consumers were not excited about the idea and today the company sells non-Australian wines only in UK, according to company sources.
It is not surprising to find the latest list of top 10 wine brands, include Chinese state-owned COFCO at the number 2 spot. It makes The Great Wall largely from imported grapes and wines are still allowed according to the law to be called Chinese wines. Hardys is owned by Accolade Wines, the new entity that was earlier known as Constellation Wines Australia and Europe. |
