Oddbins silent bid auction of May 24, one of our largest ever - had a record number of bidders and a high clearance rate.
Demand was very much in the upper and premium section of the market with bidding dominated by auction favourites - Penfolds Grange, Henschke Hill of Grace, Wendouree Shiraz and Clarendon Hills.
These wines, along with other icon wines such as Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon, Mount Mary Yarra Valley Quintets Cabernets and Moss Wood Margaret River Cabernets have formed an elite "first division" of the Australian wine auction market and face high demand from local, national and international buyers.
Interestingly, there is a "second division" being formed comprising wines that have not been priced out of the reach of the average bidder. These wines are generally made by small to medium producers with aspirations to high quality and an emphasise on regionality. Such producers can now be seen to include Bowen Estate, Mitchell Pepper Tree, Grenock Creek, Turkey Flat and Charles Melton, to name but a few.
The rise of regionalism and the importance placed on it by overseas purchasers may see the beginning of the long term impact that this will have on the Australian wine industry. The distinguished site theory as proposed by Brian Croser is gaining momentum with some small but high quality producers with aspirations on the national market. This combined with an emphasis on an interpretation of the French word of terroir, to have the best possible planting of grape varieties to site, vilification and "hand rearing" these wines is beginning to have impact in the secondary market.
These makers can be seen to be following an appellation controlee route with vineyard and or sub district labelling as emphasised by makers such Clarendon Hills and Grenock Creek.
This emphasise can be seen by such a large producer like Penfolds, normally a champion of multi area blending releasing the RWT Shiraz, a purely Barossa based wine. This is a departure from the normal Penfolds portfolio where the only real regional wines have been the Clare Estate red blend and the single vineyard Magill Estate shiraz.
The market showed further signs of sophistication with there being a definite price delineation between perceived great, good and poor vintages. Again, the track record of a producer is taken into account.
The sale confirmed strong demand for shiraz, particularly from the Barossa, McLaren Vale and central Victoria, along with Yarra Valley and Margaret River cabernets. There was a resurgence in price of vintage ports, for long dragging their feet in the secondary market. A range of wines from highly reputed makers as Chateau Reynella, Hardy's and Lindemans all attracted strong bidding and well over the upper estimates. It will be interesting to see whether this is just a reflection on the cold snap that has hit southern Australia or is a firming in the market place.
There was strong demand for imported wines, with a selection of Guigal single vineyard super Cote Rotie attracting strong and competitive bidding, and again achieving above the estimates.