Faced with sluggish sales to top export markets, virtually no foreign tourists, and decreasing restaurant sales due to COVID-19, Australian wineries are increasingly looking to locals to secure their livelihoods as coronavirus curbs ease.
With overseas holidays out of bounds, locals are hitting cellar doors - or the part of the winery where visitors can sample drinks - like never before, said vintners in the Hunter Valley wine region, 160 km north of Sydney."As far as our average sale is concerned, that has doubled ," said Bruce Tyrrell, managing director of Tyrrell's Wines, adding they adapted their wine tasting service to comply with social distancing rules.
Meanwhile, top Australian winemakers have reported profit slumps in the United States as they have had to heavily discount products to compete in a market where supply is outstripping coronavirus-hit demand.. Local appetite for wine meanwhile has risen sharply, with domestic sales up 7.1per cent to AUS$4.9 billion for the year to August, according to market researcher IRI.