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Over the past decade, the Queensland wine industry has experienced a greater percentage growth than the Australian national average. The aim of the research undertaken for this article is to identify specific national and international strategies that have allowed the industry to achieve this level of growth.

The study involved a quantitative survey of all Queensland wineries at the time (n=101), using a five‐point Likert‐scaled questionnaire with questions developed from the literature, together with a small‐scale qualitative survey involving in‐depth interviews of winery managers and industry leaders.

The findings indicated that key strategies in the domestic sector included a focus on cellar door sales combined with establishing links with the tourism industry, together with an incremental expansion of domestic markets. For the international sector, additional strategies included targeting familiar, psychically‐close and niche markets in the initial stages of exporting, as well as taking advantage of firm‐specific strengths and managerial competencies.

Not previously regarded as a major wine producing region of Australia, the Queensland wine industry has received limited attention in the literature, particularly the reasons for its rapid growth in recent years. The article helps to identify the strategies used by wineries in growing the industry.

This study proposes investigating the branding of small to medium‐sized enterprise (SME) wineries in an Australian context. By taking a qualitative approach, the theory building research seeks further to understand branding from the perspective of the SME winery, and in doing so, go some way in addressing the current deficit in the literature.

Bhat and Reddy's conceptualisation of brand functionality and symbolism is used as a branding framework to underlie the research. A multiple case study design was adopted as a research method to provide case data on eight SME wineries. Data were collected through in‐depth interviews with the owner/manager of each winery, direct observation and document analysis.

The findings are presented in the form a model of SME winery branding, which, in addition to distinguishing two approaches to branding, highlights the functional and symbolic values inherent in the brand. The findings endorse the notion that brands can simultaneously have both functional and symbolic appeal. More radically, the emergent model suggests interdependence between the functional and symbolic properties of branding.

Practically, the findings highlight the importance of developing the symbolic values associated with the brand, which represent a more sustainable competitive advantage.

By establishing a tentative theory on SME winery branding, this study has begun to address the current deficit in wine marketing literature and has set a foundation for further research.

The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of atmosphere on consumer emotions and wine purchasing behaviours to assist winery management in the development and communication of a strong positioning strategy. Studies in retail have indicated the importance of atmosphere in relation to consumer emotions and behaviours. Until now, limited evidence has existed on how the three dimensions of atmosphere may influence consumers visiting wineries.

The study consisted of surveys conducted in two stages. The first survey (n = 170) explored the factors applied in this study, and the second survey (n = 377) analysed the relationship between the atmosphere, emotions and consumer purchasing behaviours at wineries.

Findings indicated that atmosphere at a winery has the potential to positively influence consumer emotions and wine purchasing behaviours. Live music and the natural environment were particularly formative of atmosphere and consumer emotions and their subsequent wine purchasing while visiting the winery. The distinction allowed this study to analyse factors important for consumers to increase the time they spent at the winery.

The geographical location of the study is limited to one state in Australia.

In distinguishing between different consumer wine purchasing behaviours, drinking wine and buying wine, this paper contributed to three important intersectoral fields: wine tourism, atmosphere and consumer behaviour. Additional factors that contributed to consumer emotions and wine purchasing behaviours included live music and the natural environment at wineries.

The purpose of this paper is to trace the dispersed yet influential presence of the French in the Australian wine industry from the beginning of the industry until the present day. It looks at the physical presence of the French on Australian soil (e.g. winemakers, companies, vines) and the French cultural influence (e.g. publications, stereotypes, promotion). It aims to provide an historical context in which to place questions concerning contemporary Australian attitudes to French wine and to wine in general.

Historical review of French presence and influence on the Australian wine industry using historical and contemporary documents and records.

While the French presence in Australia has always been minimal, it exerts a powerful influence on the Australian wine industry. Throughout the history of the industry, French individuals and culture have maintained the image of “French expertise”, thus French wine is still the point of reference for the Australian wine industry and consumer. The high status enjoyed by French wine can be attributed in part to the historical influence of the French on Australian wine.

Further research into attitudes to French wine in Australia is needed to understand consumer preferences.

The paper represents one of the first attempts to investigate the presence and influence of French wines and winemaking in the Australian wine industry. It presents an historical account of the French in the Australian wine industry and the influence of French culture on Australian wine.

Many thousands of business related pages have been established on the World Wide Web (The Web) in the last five years. Some of the organisations that have published such pages have seen the Web as a medium of massive potential in the future. Despite this, actual direct sales from the web are still fairly low, especially amongst wine producers. A worldwide survey of vineyards with Web sites showed that there are many reasons for these low sales, including legal problems and transport of goods. However, the Vineyards appear confident that their investment will pay off, if not in direct sales then in terms of marketing benefit and cheap advertising. To date, the majority of vineyards questioned seem to be content. This paper discusses the main findings of the survey that produced these results.

The products that small wineries offer are examined and the product intangibility of wine is discussed. Marketing implications of the problem of defining what the customer wants from wine are examined and some solutions offered.

This article reports on research that examined internet adoption by 225 Australian wineries. Findings indicate that this new technology has been widely embraced by the industry and that numerous perceived benefits, especially associated with e‐mail marketing, are being achieved. The study found that many wineries collected e‐mail addresses for marketing purposes, whilst many engage in a high degree of direct marketing using the e‐mail medium to distribute newsletters. Smaller wineries appear to be the main proponents in using the Internet, the study concluding that this group achieved the highest proportion of Web sales. A link was established between small wineries that had a high use of e‐mail permission marketing and increased web sales.

This paper aims to discuss a study that investigated the relationship between grape growers and wineries in Australia. The results of the study led to the formulation of market segments which provided a better understanding of the relationship.

Quantitative data were collected through an online survey, distributed to grape growers in all states of Australia. A total of 396 valid responses were obtained.

Cluster analysis highlighted three segments based on relational variables such as relationship quality and power and details of the grape growers' business and trading relationships. The paper showed that grape growers attained higher levels of relationship quality and power if they resided in cool climate wine regions, had short-term relationships with wineries and were in relationships with small and medium enterprise (SME) wineries. The paper also highlighted the interaction of relational variables and the price that a grower received for their grapes.

The research was limited in terms of its geographic context. Future research could involve a wider geographic study based on the constructs used in this research and also focus on the winery perspective of the relationship in order to gain a dyadic perspective.

The Australian wine industry is experiencing difficult economic conditions. The paper has highlighted relationships that may not be sustainable and certain growers that may require assistance from government and wine industry peak bodies.

This paper presents a quantitative exposition of Australian grape grower and winery relationships that takes into account relational variables and trading and business details.

For many wineries and wine regions the annual wine festival is a strategic tool for encouraging cellar door visitation. Wine festivals offer the opportunity to socialise, possibly with friends and family, whilst learning about and enjoying a natural, agricultural setting and product. Revenue and recognition is generated for the participating wineries, awareness of the area and its resources is enhanced, and the community at large and outside providers find a new source of customers. Whilst this is a worthy list of benefits for all stakeholders, is there a longer‐term direct benefit to wineries? This study of wine festival participants looks at the propensity of wine festival attendees to be persuaded to revisit the participating wineries as a consequence of their attendance at a wine festival. The paper concludes that there are positive future visitation benefits not just for the wineries staging the festival but also the influence extends and benefits the wider industry.