For Australia’s food and beverage exporters, India is fast becoming a strategic alternative to China. Scotchman’s Hill winery has teamed up with cricketing legend, Dennis Lillee, to launch a new wine label in India and Sri Lanka. This article first appeared in the January/February 2021 issue of Food & Drink Business.
Since 1982, the cool, maritime climate wines of Scotchman’s Hill in Victoria have captured the attention of connoisseurs and critics, with the label included in James Halliday’s Top100.
Today, the vineyard produces a full range of red, white, rosé, and sparkling wines across multiple labels from its base on the Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria.
When wine industry veteran Peter Yeoman joined Scotchman’s Hill as CEO in April 2018, the board asked for a 100-day plan.
“Scotchman’s Hill built brand equity in Australia by slow and steady growth, and I wanted to replicate that steady growth pattern in overseas markets,” Yeoman says. “To date we had only made a few moves overseas, but we faced a challenge common to many small companies: we wanted to explore overseas markets, but we had limited resources.”
India’s growing middle class
Yeoman begun to formulate an export strategy and while China was the obvious first step, he also wanted to explore alternatives. India’s fast-growing middle-class appeared to be a perfect target market despite duties and excise of up to 155 per cent. A colleague suggested he contact Austrade to explore options.
A meeting with Austrade advisor Chris Morley gave Yeoman initial information and data on China and India. Morley then worked with trade experts in India to develop a 15-page market analysis brief for the winery.
“The document explained how the wine market was developing in India, how current exports were faring, which customers segments were receptive to imported wines, and who was consuming which wines – with respective price points.
“The analysis was hugely valuable to us. It meant we could envisage India as a supplementary export market to China. Working with Austrade enabled us to move along the export path a lot quicker than if we had tried to research and analyse new markets from scratch,” Yeoman says.
During the following months, Yeoman attended Austrade briefings and seminars on India with the Austrade South Asia team based in New Delhi.
As Yeoman’s strategy crystallised, Austrade’s India based advisors prepared a detailed introduction.
“The Australian Trade Commissioner in New Delhi, Dr Mark Morley – alongside his team – gave me a two-hour briefing on how to enter the Indian market,” he says.
A cricketing legend
At this point, sporting fame intervened. One of Yeoman’s personal friends was the ’70s and ’80s fast-bowler legend, Dennis Lillee. After touring in India, Lillee had developed an affinity for the country and in 1987, helped establish a cricketing school in Chennai to train aspiring fast bowlers.
In 2019, the two hatched a plan to blend Australian wine with India’s passion for cricket.
“We decided to launch in India with a Dennis Lillee brand,” says Yeoman. “We devised the DK Lillee wine label as a 50:50 joint venture, with two chardonnays and two shiraz. Dennis loved the idea and so did I.”
To launch, however, Scotchman’s Hill needed a local distributor. This required a visit. In late 2019, one of Austrade’s New Delhi-based trade advisors, Yaser Siddiqui, assembled a list of likely distributors and arranged a four-day itinerary for Yeoman.
“I had two days in New Delhi and two in Mumbai, and all the organisation on the ground was done by Yaser,” says Yeoman. “During that time, I met 30 people in India’s wine business who were all aligned with our strategy. The visit was a great achievement, thanks to Austrade.”
Sri Lanka’s US$3.6bn tourism market
During one of the initial briefings in Victoria, Yeoman met Austrade’s Sri Lanka-based advisor, Shameel Javadh. Javadh pointed out that with a tourism industry worth US$3.6 billion – and almost two million visitors per year – Sri Lanka was also a strong potential market for Australian wine.
“At that stage we were focussed on India, but Shameel explained the market in Sri Lanka and the value of tourism,” says Yeoman. “He kept me regularly updated in the following months, and to me it was a ‘no-brainer’.”
Javadh had contacts with the Sri Lankan food services industry and arranged a meeting in Melbourne with the managing director of a Sri Lankan-based hospitality company, Favourite International. Again, the concept of a cricketing wine label was a hit. Scotchman’s Hill registered the DK Lillee label, signed up with Favourite International, and gained its first indicative order.
Building foundations in the age of COVID
By February 2020, Scotchman’s Hill had signed a contract with a distributor in India and was all set to launch DK Lillee in India and Sri Lanka. Then COVID-19 ended international travel.
“We are holding off the launch until the COVID-19-related lockdowns are over, but we are now ready to go.” says Yeoman. “To me this is a great story. Our distributors have confidence in us, and we have total confidence in the future of the wine market in India and Sri Lanka – and in the future of Sri Lanka’s tourism industry.
“If you are a small business and new to exporting, then Austrade are a fantastic help because they will tell you what you need to know.
They know their markets: it’s as if you have people who are working for you – who will help you grow to the point where you can create a full-time export role.
“When Dennis and I finally make it to India and Sri Lanka, I know Austrade will support a fantastic launch.”
