Maybe New Zealand is alcohol's only hope

So, Hardy's, Australia's second-largest wine company, has been taken over by an American outfit with the ringing name of Constellation Brands.

Take a wild guess which of these names will appear on the bottles plucked from supermarket shelves with such avidity by British wine drinkers. The sensible money will predict we'll continue to reach for Hardy's Stamp series.

Like most of the big Australian wine producers, Hardy's values tradition. Its cabernet merlot, which offers terrific clout with 14 per cent alcohol, is adorned with an antique emu postage stamp, while the shiraz cabinet sauvignon, scarcely less formidable at 13.5 per cent, has a nice old kangaroo stamp.

Even in 1894, Hardy's was Australia's biggest wine producer. At that time, the company's production focused on two wines, both named in the great Australian tradition of plain speaking: "claret" and "chablis".

Any disillusioned lovers of Australian wine considering switching brands from the new vast, international combine to another maker with a long tradition should realise Lindemans ("crafting wine of quality since 1843"), with Penfolds, Wynns Coonawarra Estate, Hungerford Hill and a dozen other well-known names form part of Southcorp, a glorious moniker that stretches all the way back to 1993.

For those of us that view Australian wines with a degree of reserve, this consolidation is only to be expected. Big is better and biggest is best appears to be the guiding philosophy of many winemakers. Some of the chardonnays are only a little less woody than Steve Waugh's bat.

Consolidated Brands will probably make Hardy's as well known as Paul Masson in the US and elsewhere, but one can only hope that the quality does not plummet to the same dire level. Australian wine fans might consider trying a smaller wine producer from the region whose output does not bludgeon the tastebuds: New Zealand.