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Australian wine took centre stage in Shanghai this week with a record-breaking presence at ProWine China 2018, the leading international trade fair for wine and spirits, at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre.

The Wine Australia China Awards last night honoured wine trade professionals who have made outstanding contributions to promoting and raising awareness of Australian wine in China.

Wine Australia is gearing-up for two of the wine sector’s major China events for 2018 – the 6^th annual Wine Australia China Awards and ProWine China – both supported by the Australian Government’s $50 million Export and Regional Wine Support Package (the $50m Package).

Australia has cemented its position as a highly popular country precinct at the 10^th Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival (25–28 October), Hong Kong’s largest consumer-facing event that attracts more than 144,000 attendees.

Alibaba Group is partnering with Wine Australia to drive sales of Australian wine at the third annual 9.9 Global Wine and Spirits Festival (9.9天貓全球酒水節) on 9 September 2018.

It’s difficult to understate the importance of Shiraz to Australian wine. Shiraz is Australia’s most planted winegrape variety and is grown in most Australian wine regions

A large global wine harvest in 2018, economic uncertainty and static consumption are putting downward pressure on world bulk wine prices as Australia heads into harvest 2019. 

Consolidation within the United States of America’s three-tier distribution system has increased the barriers to entry for small- to medium-sized producers wishing to successfully sell their wine in the world’s largest wine market. However, with the growth of online wine sales, new opportunities are becoming available for producers who are willing to explore and invest in new routes to market.

In the year ended September 2018, there were 2401 active Australian wine exporters. The majority of these (87 per cent) are companies that export fewer than 10,000 cases per year, as illustrated in Figure 1. Another 9 per cent export between 10,000 and 50,000 cases per year, and only 4 per cent of exporters ship more than 50,000 cases each year.

China is undoubtedly the most progressive nation when it comes to embracing e-commerce, not only providing alternative distribution avenues for Australian wine sales, but also more direct ways of promoting Australian wine