After snatching more than a third of the Australian category in the lucrative US wine market with its "lifestyle" wine brand Yellow Tail, upstart Casella Wines is trying to go up-market with plans to release a high-margin premium wine on the domestic market.
The cabernet sauvignon, to be sold under the Yellow Tail label next year, will retail for about $45. Yellow Tail usually sells here for about $10.
It is a shift for the label, which has always focused on consumers who do not worry about matching food and wine or reading wine writers' columns.
Announcing the change after Yellow Tail Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 shocked some in the industry by picking up the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy, Casella Wines chief John Casella said the company planned to release just 1700 cases of the premium wine.
"It's not going to be a major part of our business but it's a broadening of our strategy and it gives us a broader spectrum of customers," Mr Casella said.