New World regions join forces to head off European threat

New World wine-producing countries - and California - have teamed up to form the New World Alliance, a marketing strategy which will be unveiled at next year's Prowein event in Germany.

New Zealand, California, Chile, South Africa and Argentina but not UK market leader Australia have joined forces to launch the Alliance, which hopes to fight off competition from its EU rivals.

There has been talk of a New World faction for some time. As reported on decanter.com in May 2008, Vinexpo boss Robert Beynat considered legal action over a questionnaire emailed to key wine trade members to gauge opinion on whether a New World-focused wine fair held at a similar time of year to Vinexpo would be a success.

A spokesman for the Alliance said, 'Although we remain competitors, we believe the potential exists to further advance the New World's share of the global wine market by sharing best practice.

'We have already benefited from each other enormously by exchanging viticultural and cellar research as well as innovations in packaging, marketing and logistics.'

Prowein, which takes place in Düsseldorf, will be held from 21?3 March 2010.