Europe becoming Althaus domain

All men may be created equal but wines, quite clearly, are not. How else could one explain the difference between a Chateau Latour and a 'Chateau Cardboard'?

For wine lovers like Peter Althaus – of the Coal River Valley's Stoney Vineyard – differences in price fundamentally reflect inherent differences in quality.

He says that's the reason his Domaine A Cabernet Sauvignon wines – retailed here at more than $30 a bottle – are among Tasmania's most expensive wines. They also happen to rate among the State's best.

Taste them and you'll find that is self-evident. 

If you need further proof, you'd better jump aboard the next plane to Switzerland and follow his path through Europe over the coming month. His high-quality, estate-grown wines have already established a small but captive market overseas, especially in the country that was his homeland until 1989.

With the experiences of six Tasmanian vintages now behind him, Althaus is looking to consolidate the advantages of his last European trip a year ago with his wife Ruth. It was a trip highlighted by the sale of more than 300 cases of his distinctive European-style wines.

As a measure of his success as a winemaker – and not merely a wine marketer – Althaus tells of one Swiss retailer last year who exhausted his 25-case allocation of Domaine A wines in just three weeks. The sticker price? An eye-catching $42 a bottle.

"They could have sold it at the same price as it sells here, but they marked it up," he says.

"It was a rare wine and they thought it was very good." 

Such words might provide sobering news to critics of local wines who regard them as being over-priced. By way of comparison, the famous red Bordeaux wine of Chateau Pichon Lalande was selling for $32 in the same shop.

"The so-called European wine lake is never a problem for producers of top quality wine," Althaus notes.

"There are established price ranges within European wines which clearly show the differences between hot-climate, mass-produced wines and elegant, cool-climate wines.

"They pay more for premium products from marginal, cool areas and much less for the mass-produced wines of warm areas."

Cultivating international markets is but one part of the Althaus plan for achieving success. He says nurturing growing home markets is equally important.

"We have to build up markets overseas – we can't rely only on home markets, it's too risky – but if we can sell our wine down here for the same price as we can sell it overseas, why shouldn't we sell most of it to our local markets?" he adds.

"For the time being, we're selling our wine overseas at the same wholesale price as we sell it here.

"I could have sent my whole production to Switzerland and sold it. Instead, I also wanted to establish a strong home market in Tasmania and on the mainland." 

As a cautionary note, Althaus also outlines the traps that may befall the unscrupulous or unwitting entrepreneur who looks to overseas markets without keeping an eye on quality.

"There will always be outstanding wine for which people will be prepared to pay more if the quality is right, but you have to be careful," he adds.

"You may be able to develop a favourable image for a certain while, but when the wine quality isn't there the people who normally buy at this price bracket will feel cheated and will refuse to continue to buy

"It's very hard to regain a reputation. Business enterprises here need to be committed to quality and not only money-making.

"Short-term money-making will kill the very beginnings of what we have now – an emerging wine industry."

First published 19 October 1995: The Advocate

Last page update: 26 May 2026