Typical Australian – that’s [yellow tail]®, Australia’s No.1 wine export phenomenon. The wine range characterised by a kangaroo on its label offers a clear positioning and strong associations with its country of origin!
The overall growth of Casella Wines’ [yellow tail]® has been one of the greatest successes of the wine industry and of branding. Launched in 2001, the new product was firstly introduced to the US market and became, almost overnight, a best buy. Surfing on that success, the producer Casella Wines has outgrown its small family operation to become one of the largest wineries in Australia.
[yellow tail]®’s phenomenal success can be attributed to meticulously planned and executed marketing strategies coupled with a strong emphasis on uncomplicated wine enjoyment. “People can’t be bothered by all the hype and nonsense of wine. They just want to drink it,” says John Casella. A strategy that is already expressed by the atypical name [yellow tail]® and its eye-catching wine label. The [yellow tail]® label is loosely meant to depict the brand’s namesake, a yellow-footed rock wallaby, a smaller cousin to the kangaroo. And whether it is on cases, on marketing material or in press releases, [yellow tail]® is always put within brackets. As for those brackets, the story is that the Casellas were looking up “kangaroo” in a textbook when they came upon a technical description of a wallaby. In the margin, alongside the Latin derivation of the name, was the Australian version, in brackets. According to John Casella, it was decided to keep the brackets “to set the wine apart” and to underscore the wine’s “lack of pretension.”
A further characteristic of the [yellow tail]® wines are their intense bouquet of fruit and their harmonious blend of aromas. Almost a third of the grapes used are grown right in the Casella family’s own vineyards, almost 540 acres of vines in the Riverina region of Australia. Following the great Australian wine-making tradition, Casella also sources fruit from other superb growing areas throughout South Eastern Australia. This allows Casella to create wines with incredible freshness and character year after year. In numerous blind tastings, experts often judge [yellow tail]® as wine with premium characteristics. And even renowned wine writers have been consistently enthusiastic about the - according to Robert Parker “…surprisingly well-made offering.” This excellent price/quality ratio has been and still is a decisive factor for [yellow tail]®’s fast success: 2 million glasses of [yellow tail]® are consumed around the world everyday.
Dominating the overseas export market, [yellow tail]® is the fastest growing imported wine in US market history. It is the highest selling Australian wine, and the number one imported wine in the USA. It is also the number one Australian wine in Italy, Japan and Canada’s British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Manitoba. And [yellow tail]® is on its way to becoming a best seller also in the UK, in Germany, in the Netherlands as well as in other influential European import markets.
Germany is Australia’s fifth largest export market and the second largest in the European Union after the UK. Both countries show steady growth in size and importance for Australian wines. Australian exports to Germany have increased by 278% in volume since 2000, and Germans are recognising the excellent price/quality ratio provided by the [yellow tail]® wines. Dr. Jörg Hacker, Managing Director Europe states, “[yellow tail]® represents the world’s most impressive Australian wine brand. My aim is to make [yellow tail]® the number one Australian wine within Europe and to pursue its international success story.”
In Europe the [yellow tail]® range comprises a Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Merlot and Chardonnay.
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