Australian government invests $3 million to improve no/low wines

The Australian federal government has awarded a grant of almost A$3m (£1.6m) designed to boost quality and innovation within the burgeoning low-alcohol and alcohol-free wine market.

This grant from the Australian government’s Cooperative Research Centres Projects funding scheme will be used to drive further innovation and improve standards within the no/low category. The project is called ‘Advancement of Australian Lifestyle Wines’.

Australian Vintage, whose portfolio includes McGuigan and Tempus Two, will serve as the project lead for the research. The chief winemaker Jamie Saint said: ‘The grant allows us to conduct research with a key objective of optimizing the flavor and mouthfeel of no and low products, as well as drilling down into consumer and market insights of the category.’

The company will team up with 10 industry partners to conduct the research: Treasury Wine Estates, whose brands include Penfolds and Wolf Blass, along with the University of Adelaide, the Australian Wine Research Institute, Flavourtech, DrinkWise, Tarac Technologies, S. Smith and Son, Danstar Ferment, Mauri Yeast and CHR Hansen.

‘The opportunity to work with a group of leading industry partners to take the growing no/low category to the next level is something we are enormously excited by, improving the competitiveness, productivity and sustainability of the Australian wine industry,’ added Saint.

‘We want to position the Australian wine sector as the largest global producer of no/low wines.’

In 2022, the market value for no/low-alcohol drinks surpassed $11bn among 10 focus markets across the world, according to IWSR analyst data.

IWSR expects consumption to grow by 33% to $14.67bn by 2026, spearheaded by health-conscious adults in Germany, Spain, the USA, Japan and the UK.

Penfolds’ “Wine of the World” Label

Penfolds has just launched its most radical project to date, the inaugural, four-bottle “California Collection” which are blends from both South Australia and California wine together – a concept that is certainly revolutionary in the fine wine world.

Penfolds, South Australia’s premier winemaker, has again pushed the envelope by releasing the inaugural “Wine of the World” label.

The four wines in this new series are from the 2018 vintage. The top two wines in the collection, ‘Quantum Bin 98 Cabernet Sauvignon’ and ‘Bin 149 Cabernet Sauvignon are both blends of Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley, with the Quantum Bin 98 mixed with 13% South Australian Shiraz and the Bin 149 blended with 14% South Australian Cabernet Sauvignon.

The other two wines in the collection are Californian. ‘Bin 600 Cabernet Shiraz’ is a blend of fruit from Napa Valley, Sonoma, and Paso Robles, and ‘Bin 704 Cabernet Sauvignon’ is from Napa Valley. 

The wines were released globally a few weeks ago and are priced at $50 US – $700 US.  

It was also hinted that more wines under Penfolds label will be coming from Bordeaux and Champagne in the future.

 While the idea of doing a cross-continental blend does not seem like a possibility for most winemakers, Penfolds can now say that they have certainly pioneered this concept.

https://www.penfolds.com/

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