WINE DRINKING IN AUSTRALIA

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28051, 20 August 1956, Page 15

WINE DRINKING IN AUSTRALIA

BIG INCREASE SINCE WAR “The Press" Special Service WELLINGTON, August 19. Australians are drinking three times the quantity of wine that they consumed in pre-war days, says Mr J. R. Seppelt, of a well-known South Australian firm of winemakers, who is visiting Wellington to investigate the New Zealand market. “Australians are not only drinking more wine, but are showing more respect and understanding for it,” said Mr Seppelt. Australia had experienced a great influx of foreign migrants since the war, and one result of their presence was felt immediately— not so much an increase in wine consumption, but sales of cherry brandy increased sharply. “At first they drank cherry brandy with a beer ’chaser,’ but now I think, they are more in line with other Australians in their drinking,” Mr Seppelt said. One reason for increased interest in wines, he continued, was the establishment of wine and food societies throughout Australia. In South Australia alone there were 125 such organisations. Australian winemakers found it difficult to compete in the British market with French and Spanish wines, for their product was almost as expensive as that of foreigners. New Zealand was described by Mr Seppelt as a “fluctuating market” because of controls, though the demand for wine had increased considerably in recent years. What he would like to see, said the visitor, was an increase to New Zealand of the better quality of Australian wines, or quality rather than quantity.