"Not French?!? I can't drink it then"

French wines still account for 23% of off-licence sales, as compared to Australia's 19% share of the market. However, if the current growth rates continue, this New World producer will soon relegate its European rival to second place.

British consumers may not be surprised, accustomed as they now are to seeing shelves and restaurant wine lists bristling with Australian produce.

However, the penetration of Australian brands is perhaps more astonishing given that the nation boasts just 2.3% of global wine production. Tiny regions of France fill more bottles than this vast country.

It is also worth remembering the disdain with which British wine buffs once regarded southern hemisphere vintages.

Downunder looking up

Today, Australia's Grange label is ranked alongside, or above such French greats as Bordeaux's Petrus, according to wine critic Robert Parker.

Ian Brown, owner of Kent-based Vin du Van - Australian Wine Merchant of the Year - remembers when a bottle of Grange in the UK was pearls before swine.

"Good on ya, mate!"

"Eight years ago, I couldn't give it away at �20 a bottle. Now they retail for �110 when they're released - if you can get any, that is."

Mr Brown says Australian wines have revolutionised British drinking habits.

"They've dramatically altered the way people think about wine - it is no longer the preserve of the rich, educated classes."

Australians, seldom criticised for pretension, have approached viticulture in a suitably no-nonsense way, says Mr Brown.

Sharing a common language has helped endear Aussie vintages to largely monoglot British drinkers.

House calls

"Language is an element. Many people would far rather ask for an Australian wine than reel off a complicated chateau name."

"Jacob's Creek" or "Rosemount" rolls off the tongue with greater ease (and less fear of an embarrassing mispronunciation) than say Chateau Neuf du Pape.

The wines also appeal to those who not only can't tell a "grand cru" from a "premier cru", but don't want to either.

"Australian wines are sophisticated, darling"

"These are the people who just want to drink the stuff, not know all about the background, which is fair enough."

While in France, details of a wine's origin - down to the slope on which it was grown - often takes precedence. In Australia, if Chardonnay grapes went into the bottle, the label will tell you.

However, by wearing the name of their grape variety so blatantly, Australian wines may be doing themselves a disservice, says restaurateur Ben van Stellingwerff.

Mr Van Stellingwerff - who has created an all-Australian winelist for London's Wapping Foods - says labelling has in part perpetuated the "cheap and cheerful" image.

All white on the night?

"People look at Australian wines and say: 'They're all Chardonnay!' But they're not all the same. If you say you don't like Australian Chardonnay, I bet I can find five you do. I've never had a diner send a bottle back yet."

Wapping Foods boasts seven Chardonnays on its winelist, a testament to developing variations in the Australian industry, says Mr Van Stellingwerff.

"They all taste very different. It's sometimes a shame the word 'Chardonnay' has to appear on the bottle."

"Strewth! This isn't Blue Nun!"

This may not be all bad for drinkers, though. Prices for the best Australian vintages have not rocketed in the way those of some American wines have in recent years.

"Australian wines have always been good value. Good wine for a good price. You don't find many where you look at the price tag and think 'Gee!'"

For all this praise of Aussie vineyards, Mr Van Stellingwerff is careful not to write off French producers.

"They're still the benchmark. I often think of a good French wine, then try to find an Australian like it."

In the tasting

Australia's youthful enthusiasm is giving French experience a run for its money, though, says Ian Brown.

"If you picked wines at random, you stand a far greater chance of finding a bad French wine than an Australian one. Far too many French producers are using methods which should have been shelved long ago."

"Another bottle of Chateau Neuf du Dingo coming up"

Indeed, Australian know-how and innovation has been drafted in to help turn around the wines of the Languedoc, once renowned as rot-gut.

Producers around the world are copying the Aussie formula, from borrowing label and bottle designs to adopting anglophone names.

Many vineyards are banking on such tactics to weather a predicted crisis in the industry. The Office International de la Vigne estimates a current global wine surplus of 64 million hectolitres - a quarter of production.

Anyone for a glass of Kangaroo Chianti or Bonza Blue Nun? Just wait.