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The 12 members of the alliance, called Australia's First Families of Wine, are Brown Brothers, Campbells, Taylors, De Bortoli, Howard Park, McWilliam's, Tahbilk, Tyrrell's, Yalumba, D'Arenberg, Jim Barry and Henschke, all household names in Australia and incidentally a majority being already present in India.
First Families’ founder Chairman and CEO of the 150-year old Tahbilk Winery in the Nagambie Lakes region of Central Victoria, Alister Purbrick reportedly said: "We desperately need to change the global perception of Australian wine. We don't believe as individual companies we can stem the avalanche of news stories about Australia producing nothing but cheap industrial wines. But together we can present a powerful showcase of terrific regional wines of great diversity. And if we do a good job of that, it could have a fairy dust effect on the rest of the industry, and hopefully turn around the Queen Mary of negative opinion."
Of late Australia has been increasingly known as the nation producing a glut of cheap wines that don’t find buyers. According to an article in the previous issue of delWine, Chardonnay had been exported in bulk at as low as 40-60 US cents a liter and is being sold as [Down Under].
Some industry experts lay the blame for this negative opinion on the giant, publicly listed multinational corporations, such as Constellation Wines and Foster's, which have dominated the industry for years and concentrated on the cheap commodity end of the market.
However, the members of the First Families alliance are careful not to link explicitly Australia's wine woes with the publicly owned multinationals.
"The wine industry requires long-term thinking," Purbrick said. "And we believe that family wine companies are particularly well placed to weather the storm."
Stephen Henschke, whose family has been making wine in South Australia's Eden Valley for 140 years, agrees. "Everyone in the group shares the same philosophy," Henschke said. "We're not about chasing the quick buck, we're not thinking about the bottom line. We are in this industry because we have a passion for what we're doing. We care about what we do. We're in it for the long term."
The alliance, to be launched later this month plans to travel the world conducting tasting events. The campaign will begin in the UK early next year targeting key 'influencers,' including gastro-pub operators and journalists. It will then come back for campaigning within Australia before going to the US and other North American countries. It will also go to China which has seen increasing consumption of Australian wines.
Strict criteria has been set for membership, including ownership for at least two or more generations, icon brands which can support 20-year vertical tastings, and ownership of vineyards more than 50 years old. Between the 12 of them, these wineries command 20% of the total Australian sales.
The group is similar in its structure and objectives to the European based PFV- Primum Familiae Vini- Leading Wine Families which includes wine families like Antinori, Torres, Egon Mueller, Vega Sicilia, Pol Roger Champagne and Joseph Drouhin. Originally made of a group of 12 that included Robert Mondavi, the group has only 11 members as they are very selective in finding replacements. They travel together every year in different parts of the world promoting the quality wines. Of late, the group has not been very active, perhaps fighting the woes of recession.
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