Australia's wine surplus is disappearing quickly and the bargains disappear with it

When that excellent and very successful wine site Vinomofo is listing more imported red wines than Australian ones it is sure sign that changes are afoot in our wine market. Yet that is what's happening this week with only 41% of that company's red offerings being local ones.

VINOMOFO RED WINES LISTED BY COUNTRY AND PRICE
Country	Under $15	$15 to 25	$25 to 35	$35 to 50	>$50	TOTAL
Australia	20	16	8	3	7	54
France	3	2	4	4	6	19
Spain	1	3	2	4	3	13
Italy	1	7	9	9	8	34
NZ		2	2	2	2	8
Argentina	1	2	1			4
TOTAL	26	32	26	22	26	132

Now the Owl is not privy to Vinomofo's marketing strategy (but I do wish I could be as successful at the caper as them!) but I cannot imagine that giving preference to imports is really part of it. Much more likely it seems to me that they are reacting to the ever growing impact of China on the availability of good quality wine.

I touched on this development in a piece I published early last month when on a visit to the Barossa Valley: "I fear we consumers will be facing some price rises across the board in the very near future. The wine industry people I have been speaking to and drinking with in the valley are in a happier mood than I have known for years. Australian wine exports are going gang-busters with the Chinese market becoming something of a bonanza as it soaks up surplus stock. For we drinkers it's probably a good time to restock the cellar."
In the month since then the Chinese demand for our wine has received another fillip from the penalty tariff imposed on Californian produce. Surplus stocks are disappearing quickly and the bargains disappear with them.