The Big Brands 1: Jacob’s Creek

The original vineyard, from which the name was taken, was planted in 1847 by Bavarian immigrant Johann Gramp, but the first “Jacob’s Creek” wine brand was launched onto the market in 1977. In 1989 the owners, Orlando Wyndham, were bought by the French based, worldwide conglomerate Pernod Ricard, who also swallowed up Seagram and Allied Domecq.

They now boast that: “Around 2 million glasses of Jacob's Creek are enjoyed every day around the globe!” Well, drunk anyway if not enjoyed.

Have you ever stopped to think what it takes to produce that much wine? 2 Million glasses a day; that’s 730 million glasses a year, over 120 million bottles or 10 million cases. That’s an awful lot of wine for the little vineyard in the creek as advertised. ...and all that growth in just over 30 years?

Of course the original Jacob’s Creek vineyard has nothing to do with this brand other than providing a false heritage and a visitors’ centre.

To produce this much wine takes a high degree of mechanisation and vast prairie-like vineyards all across Australia; and Australia is a big place.

In 2002 they comissioned a new bottling line hailed as the fastest in the world.  It can knock out 30,000 bottles an hour and, "In theory, can fill an order from the vat to the ship in under three hours",

By contrast, Mount Horrocks from Australia’s Clare Valley produces 4,500 cases of Shiraz a year from their own vineyards. That's equivalent to the amount of Jacob's Creek bottled in 1 hour 48 minutes.