First WBM cover boy reflects on 20 years in wine

In April 2005 then-CEO of the Winemakers’ Federation, Stephen Strachan appeared on the cover of the inaugural issue of WBM – Australia’s Wine Business Magazine. He reflects on what has changed – and what hasn’t.

I was at dinner last week and started getting messages from people about the cover of WBM.

I can’t believe it has been 20 years.

It gave me cause to reflect on how much the industry has changed over that 20 years and in some ways, how much it has not changed.

Back then we were having robust discussions about the form of tax on wine, tax exemptions for small wineries (now the WET rebate), the power of the retail duopoly in Australia, oversupply, the role of the statutory corporations (now Wine Australia), the EU Australia wine agreement and other trade initiatives, identifying industry’s future leaders and so it goes on.

In today’s world we have oversupply, the retail duopoly is more entrenched, trade reforms are being turned on their head in real time and, interestingly, the tax debate seems to be very quiet.

The industry is less unified (though there have always been tensions), but maybe it is just focused on survival from a succession of challenges like Covid, Chinese tariffs, chronic oversupply and a dramatically changing consumer cohort.

In the article of 20 years ago I nominated my favourite wine as Best’s Bin 0 Shiraz from memory.

I still drink that wine and think it is a great example of what the Australian wine industry is doing so well.

Not everyone can claim the vineyard heritage that Best’s have, but there are others that are redefining what Australia can do with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on great sites, for example.

It is understandable to focus on the challenges, but there’s also a hell of a lot that we are getting right and doing better today than we were 20 years ago.

Congratulations WBM on shining a light on our people and wines, holding us accountable for 20 years and giving us a good laugh every Friday.

Photographs: John Kruger.

• First published in The Week That Was on Friday 18 April.