The image of a country seems to make a big difference to sales. Many producers have carefully devised names and packaging that emphasise the wines Australian character. The labels feature colourful paintings of sunny Australian scenes. For many consumer products, this kind of marketing would be considered standard. For wine, it is little short of revolutionary.
Different countries appeal to different nationalities.
The Australians are not finding it nearly so easy to promote brand Australia in Germany, which traditionally looks to neighbours such as France and Italy. South African wines are doing particularly well in the Netherlands, because of the two countries historical links and because the names sound familiar to the Dutch. Italian wines have always sold well in the United States because of the large number of Italian-Americans. Sales of French wines all over the world, and particularly in Asia, have basked in the reflected glory of Bordeaux s and Burgundy s greatest, even if the actual wine being sold was something much more modest. Conversely, if a country is politically unpopular, its wines can become unsellable.