It says Australia has 4.6 million consumers in the US and the potential to increase consumption of Australian wine through 23 million trialists of Australian wine.

The AWBC's second round of Market Insight Reports for the Australian wine sector shows that nearly half the US market is concentrated in the top five wine-consuming States.

The AWBC says that California, Florida and New York offer the greatest potential for volume growth opportunities, while Texas and New Jersey are the other two major wine consuming States.

It has also identified Illinois, Massachusetts and Ohio as three more States with good market prospects for Australian wine.

Together, these eight US States have a population of 135 million people, while four of them (California, Florida, New York, and Texas) each have populations about the same or larger than Australia's.

AWBC says Australia's larger brands can be competitive in the supermarkets and off-trade outlets (which account for about three-quarters of all Australian wine sold in the US) in the $US3.00-6.99 per bottle segment.

But medium-sized wineries are at their best in the over $US14.00 per bottle segment.