It’s a big occasion when six Australian brands make the Power 100 List of leading wine brands for 2010, compiled by Intangible Business (UK & USA).

But that said, there is little glitter left on the Brand Australia model which showed double digit export growth a few years ago.

Save for Yellowtail I am wondering if this recognition is the knock-on effect from these big company brands made of “refinery” wine that has now led to Australian wines coming back to the field.

Sitting in tank around the country there is more of it, equivalent to a year or more export supply, irrespective of the outcome of the 2010 harvest (1.53 million tonnes).

According to Power Drinks “The biggest wine climber in the Top 20 is Chilean wine brand Concha Y Toro, which climbs five places to number 17. Other big climbers in The Power 100 are the American wine brand Robert Mondavi, which jumps six places to number 31 on this year’s table and Australian wine brand Lindemans, which climbs eight places to number 55.

Established brands to drop out of The Power 100 include Banrock Station, Dom Perignon, Kumala, Lanson and Taittinger. Banrock of course comes from the same camp as Hardys, so is captured there anyway, although its owners would beg to differ.

Clearly the GFC has hosed down the popularity of Champagne but that will re-appear in future assessments, in particular Dom Perignon which is everywhere.

When pulling out the wine brands from the list of 100 which includes spirit brands (they dominate the Top 10) the list in order of wine brand rating goes 1. Gallo (US), 2. Concha Y Toro (Chile), 3. Robert Mondavi (US), 4. Yellowtail (Aust), 5. Hardys (Aust), 6. Beringer (US), 7. Jacob’s Creek (Aust), 8. Sutter Home (US), 9. Lindemans (Aust), 10. Blossom Hill (US).
By a country mile the largest US maker Gallo is number one, and has been five years running, and Yellowtail has correctly assumed the number one (Place 4) both as the big Australian brand and a reliable drink at the value level.

Of the Power 100, the New World prevailed – seven US and six Australian wine brands dominate the scene, and as reported Champagne dropped off. Of all the European table wine makers only the Spanish winemaker Torres made number 79.

Nearly 10,000 brands in the spirits and wine sectors were researched to derive a list of the 100 most powerful spirits and wine brands in the world. Power is defined by a brand’s ability to generate value for its owner. Value is classified by a series of measures. The population for the research is all current and potential users of alcoholic drinks.

For full details www.drinkspowerbrands.com