While larger competitors such as $10 billion Penfolds maker Treasury Wine were hit hard, Australian Vintage Limited escaped the brunt of the tariffs, with only 3 per cent of its earnings coming from the Chinese market at the time.
Garvin said he was excited by positive signs of China lifting its tariffs, which he expected to happen in the next 6-12 months, but said Australia’s overall had become over-reliant on the Asian superpower. “Maybe China needed to happen,” he said. “I think the shock of China was a good thing because it’s forced us to all open up.”
He praised the Albanese government and Foreign Minister Penny Wong for repairing diplomatic trade relations. “I think [former prime minister Scott Morrison] just became belligerent with foreign policy,” Garvin said.
Australian Vintage is taking a long-term approach to cracking the Indian market and will only need to target specific customers in certain cities, Garvin pointed out, with Mumbai and Delhi’s populations – 21.3 million and 43.3 million respectively – nearing or dwarfing that of Australia’s entire population of 25.7 million.
“You don’t need to conquer the whole of China or the whole of India … in Mumbai, in Delhi, there’s a million millionaires,” he said. “It’s a decade play, not a five-year play.”
McGuigan Wines’ zero-alcohol range has been popular.
Other than its four main wine brands McGuigan, Tempus Two, Nepenethe and Barossa Valley Wine Company, Australian Vintage Limited also produces ready-made cocktail mixes under its Mr Stubbs brand, a range of gins under its Tempus Two brand, and a juice concentrate called Austflavour.
Australia and the UK are its largest markets, making up 40 per cent of revenue each. The company is seeking a consumer- and innovation-led approach, with a specific focus on capturing the younger market. Its McGuigan Zero product is the top non-alcoholic wine in Australia and the UK.
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