By Amy Looker
Retail sales of NSW wine within its home state have skyrocketed by 14.6 per cent over the last year to reach a total of $69.2 million, resulting in a $10.2 million increase on sales from the previous year.
The Nielsen figures were released by the NSW Wine Strategy on its second anniversary to highlight the success of the initiative, which is the first collective marketing strategy put into place to raise the profile of the NSW wine industry.
Chair of the NSW Wine Strategy, Tiffany Nugan, said that while the NSW wine industry still has a fair way to go compared to the sales of other wine-producing states, the results achieved so far are staggering.
“Sales of NSW wine within our home state have grown a further 14.6 percent on the last 12 months, bringing an additional $10.2 million retained income into the state on the previous year to reach a new total of $69.2 million. NSW wine’s growth has outstripped the state’s growth, with NSW’s total bottled wine sales in the same period only growing a meagre 0.8 per cent. This is a phenomenal result showing the positive impact of the NSW Wine Strategy and wine drinker’s growing interest in our state’s 450 wineries,” said Nugan.
“The people of NSW are interested in learning about NSW wine. As at December 2008 MAT sales in NSW were only $59 million. Now 12 months later they are $69.2 million, having grown $10.2 million or 14.6 per cent on the previous year! This is a great result for the families that make up the NSW Wine industry, which we should all celebrate.”
NSW Wine Strategy has embarked on a massive public relations drive over the past two years, including the launch of NSW Wine Week, an annual consumer event taking place in March that draws a crowd of over 20,000 wine lovers to Sydney’s Hyde Park for the Sydney Cellar Door event.