Wine prices going North

A report in the local papers, The Straits Time, reported on 25th march '08. That the cost of Australia Wines is expected to go up.

This is not something new though but long expected by many in the industry, during my visit in Apr 2007, Australia has been facing drought for a long time. In the 25 march report states, ' The cost of 1megaliter of water in Australia cost $AUD300 has increased to $AUD1000 per megaliter, that is more then 3 times in increment.


The cost of water is one issue, the other issue is the of currency exchange rate, at one time $SGD1.35 will get you $AUD$1.oo. Good thing is that it has come down to $SGD1.25 to $AUD1.00.


Many has thought that wine is a very lucrative business which in fact is not true.

See below on the breakdown:

Take for example an bottle of yellowtail; the selling price is at $19.50 during promotion. At $19.50, $7.65 goes to duties(provided alcohol content is below 13.5%, duties will be higher if alcohol content is above 13.5%).
With that you are left with $11.85, don't forget about the cost of land freight from vineyard to port and the sea freight that follows..

Upon reach the shore of destination, other hidden cost like, eg. Trucking cost to warehouse and warehousing cost. Oh.. don't forget we need to pay a $SGD40.00 for permit, the permit is a piece of paper that indicates what are the wines you are retrieving out from the warehouse.

Alternatively, if you find Australian costly, you may want to venture out to try Chilean wine, wines are good and price competitive then their Australian counterpart.

This increment is inevitable, I believed the Australians are reluctant to increase the prices but due to the cost of production and the yield, has given them no other alternative.

I am, also quite reluctant to increase the price too. My opinion is, Australia is not the only wine producing country, unlike crude oil, the prices are fixed. In wine, if you feel the prices is not right, venture out, be adventurous! there are up and coming wine producing countries like; Chile, Argentina, South Africa..they are worth giving a try.

Pinot Noir Grapes from Rochford Estate




Sales Manager, Rochford: Rob O'Connell and myself (2007)




Wine from Rochford Estate

Vino~!