The South Australian Wine Exporters Group program is an initiative of the South Australian Wine and Brandy Industry Association and it will establish a collaborative approach to international marketing, sales, systems development and promotional activities in targeted overseas markets.

The program has received State Government support of $490,000 over a five-year period. This will be matched by a wine industry contribution of more than $1.5 million over the same period, bringing total funding to around $2 million.

Mr van der Lee is the former chief executive of a medium size wine company and has an impressive record of brand, margin and profit performance. He has significant practical management experience in brand development, distribution, trade relationships, pricing and promotion.

“We are excited to have the expertise of Mr van der Lee on this project,” said SA Wine & Brandy Chief Executive Linda Bowes. “His global perspective and experience in international markets will be a boon for smaller wineries looking to build their businesses and develop export markets.”

“Mr van der Lee is recognised for the landmark contribution that his Strategy 2025 and Marketing Decade reports have made to the development of the Australian wine industry and he fully understands the strategies and tactics required for the success of individual wine businesses,” she said.

Mr van der Lee said that small and medium sized wineries were finding domestic trading conditions very tough in the face of distribution constraints, heavy discounting, high tax on wine, and a plethora of new labels. However, they were unable to take advantage of export markets that continue to show strong demand for Australian wine, because of the extensive market knowledge, export experience and dedicated export servicing resources that are required.

“While many smaller wineries have been successful in obtaining initial orders in the well developed Australian wine export markets such as the UK, often these have been one off; have delivered unacceptable profit margins; have compromised the brand or have not developed into a sustainable growth opportunity” said Mr van der Lee.

“There is strong evidence that a long term investment of management time and scarce funding is essential in order to make export a strong and growing contributor to the brand reputation and profitability of smaller Australian wineries.

Even then it is difficult for a small producer to establish their relevance and get the attention of the trade and consumers.