All for One Wine - Australia

Whilst listening to ABC Melbourne, just after the New Year, I heard an interview with Steve Pannell who appealed to Australian Winemakers and drinkers to drink only local wines from January 1st until Australia Day January 26th. He claims on his AllforOne website (http://allforonewine.com/about) that Australians import 18.9 % of their wines. This is a considerable proportion for a major wine making country.
I agree with him, I have made many trips to the major wine producing countries of Europe and in most of them no-one would dream of buying a wine from a neighbouring country let alone Australia or the USA.
For instance, Wine merchants in France only make token efforts to stock wines from Italy or Spain so you are lucky to find much wine from Australia or the USA. Most wine merchants, however, stock a considerable number of wines from the local region. Thus my wine merchant in Troyes stocks a fair selection of Champagnes and an even greater selection of wines from Bourgogne which is the neighbouring region. Even the Supermarkets stock the local wines whilst paying lip service to wines from Spain, Italy and North Africa.
The same applies to Spain excepting holiday destinations, such as Tenerife, where there are considerable numbers of British and German tourists – the local supermarket stocks plenty of Blossom Hill and Jacobs Greek for the British and Mosel for the Germans. Heaven only knows why anyone would want to travel to Spain to drink Blossom Hill perhaps it is the power of marketing and the conservative nature of most British and German wine drinkers.
Whenever I travel to Spain, Greece or Italy I only ever drink the wines from that country and if possible wines from the local region. As Steve Pannell points out, the wines are meant to be drunk with the local food. The same applies to Australia, some fantastic wines are produced from all the wine growing regions and the range of styles suits most Australian food. Unfortunately, the Australians keep the best wine for themselves and we rarely see the best Australian wines in the UK at a reasonable price.
I can only see two reasons for drinking a foreign wine in Australia: to make a comparison or if you are visiting a top French or Italian restaurant etc.
Exchange rate differences are making Australian wines much more expensive in the UK and European markets and this is probably one of the reasons why Australian wine sales are falling. Has the favourable rate made foreign wines more popular in Australia?
One month of exclusively drinking local wine seems to be a small price to pay to protect the local wine industry and encourage everyone to appreciate the range and style of the regional and national wines. I agree wholeheartedly with Steve’s point of view as long as it does not encourage isolationism – look what happened to European wine. Some healthy competition from Australia, New Zealand, the US and Chile helped to improve standards right across the spectrum.
We are lucky in the UK our wine industry is so small that we can enjoy wines from all over the world with a clear conscience. However, I encourage all wine drinkers to support the England and Wales wine industry even though it cannot compete strongly when the price versus quality calculation is made. But, try some Nyetimber, Tenterden or Ridgeview sparkling wines as these can give all their competitors a good run for their money.