Australian Wine Prices

[sharkman]

Can someone please tell me why the price of a bottle of australian wine is about 25% more than a similar bottle bought in the UK

[sunflower68]

sharkman are you saying it costs more to buy oz wine over there than here.? V. hard to believe, tho enjoying a lovely Morrison's Australian Shiraz tonight, a snip at just �2.99.  Is that what you mean? (hic)

[sharkman]

I am saying that Australian wine in Australia costs more per bottle than Aus wine in the UK. Why ?

[billywhizz]

I was in St Thomas in the Virgin Islands, which is a US Territory.  They were selling Californian Sparkiling Wine at 16 dollars a bottle (about 9 UK pounds) when I could buy it in Sainsbury's here for less than four quid.  St Thomas is a duty free island which gets cruise ship passengers buying Rolexes and Diamonds. Similarly, in Hawaii, I saw ordinary crisps at two quid a packet but Pringles and half that price. There is no rhyme nor reasons to it.  I guess its all down to how much they think the local market can stand or subsidies to interst an emerging market.  After all, without the hype the French use, would you pay the sort of prices French wines attract if you did not think it was "the thing to be seen doing".  Australia, California and Georgia in the former USSR make great wines, they have the weather for it.  The French don't, so their rubbish is conned over here for people to pretend they are cool by buying it.