Oz wine – dangerously anorexic?

Phil Laffer, chief winemaker of Jacob’s Creek et al, is a bit gloomy. Not only does he put his heart and soul into making the best wine he possibly can, only to see it being discounted like crazy in the mass market, but he feels the reputation of Australian wine is being tarnished by bulk wine operators shipping sub-standard stuff around the globe. ‘Trouble is, you can’t police the importers. Lots of wine leaves Australia with a declaration that it won’t be sold as Australian wine and the AWBC has allowed lower standards for that sort of wine, but...