Seeing Ghosts: Who Really Controls Australian Wine?

This episode welcomes back Ed Cavanagh — wine writer, historian, policy researcher, and author of the forthcoming book Crushed: The Hand of Government on the Australian Wine Industry.

Ed has spent the last several years digging into the policies, regulations, and market forces that have shaped Australian wine, and his latest paper examines the controversial topic of : ghost labels.

Ghost labels are wine brands created and owned by major retailers rather than independent wineries. On their own, they're not necessarily a problem. The wine may be well made and fairly priced. But Ed argues that ghost labels are a symptom of a much bigger issue — the growing concentration of power within Australia's wine retail sector.

In this conversation, we explore how Coles and Woolworths came to dominate so much of the liquor market, why Ed distinguishes between a duopoly and a duopsony, and what that concentration of buying and selling power means for wineries trying to compete.

Drawing on decades of industry history, Senate inquiries, ACCC investigations, and competition policy, Ed asks a challenging question: have we become so focused on issues like oversupply, exports, and changing consumer tastes that we've overlooked the role market concentration plays in shaping the fortunes of Australian wine?

It's a fascinating discussion about economics, competition, public policy, and ultimately the future of the Australian wine industry.

Here's my conversation with Ed Cavanagh. A massive thanks for joining me on the CDP.