http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/s...3-2682,00.html



Bargain prices as wine sales slow


SARAH MARTIN, CAMERON ENGLAND

January 10, 2009 12:30am

WINEMAKERS are starting to put premium-quality grapes into cheaper wines
as global demand for our fine wines plummets.

A severe drop in Australian wine exports caused by the global financial
crisis has caused winemakers to resort to the measure, wine industry
leaders said yesterday.

Australia's wine exports dropped a massive 26.3 per cent in November,
as drinkers in the recession-hit U.S. and Britain – by far our biggest
wine markets – closed their wallets.

But Jim Barry Wines proprietor Peter Barry said consumers would be the
winners from the downturn.

"I think people will see prices drop in Australia, or they will end up
drinking better-quality wine for the same price," he said.

Mr Barry said that this year as much as 80 per cent of his McRae Wood
shiraz, which retails for $50, would be used in The Lodge Hill shiraz –
which can be snapped up for less than $20.




--
Peter Lucas
Brisbane
Australia

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do
nothing.

Edmund Burke.