(Wine-Searcher) - After years marketing uncomplicated, fruit-forward Australian wine, the producer is turning to innovation for a sales boost.

Australian wine brand Jacob's Creek is looking to halt a dramatic slide in sales by mining the booming U.S. market.

The famous producer has teamed up with Californian boutique winemaker Ehren Jordan to produce Two Lands, the result of a collaboration between Jacob's Creek winemaker Bernard Hickin, and Jordan, a Sonoma Coast producer noted for his elegant Pinot Noir and Syrah.

The wine will only be available in the U.S.

The idea, Hickin said, was to "capture the best of our two lands – Australian fruit and Californian craft – in a single bottle".

The marriage of Jordan and Jacob's Creek might seem an odd one. Jacob's Creek, marketed for years as "Australia's Top Drop", sells more than 7 million cases worldwide, and is credited with creating Australia's reputation as the home of uncomplicated, inexpensive, fruit-forward wines.

Jordan, who makes wine under his Failla label, trained in the Rhône Valley and was a close collaborator of one of California's most noted winemakers, Helen Turley. A former San Francisco Chronicle winemaker of the year, he is one of the generation of winemakers forging a new identity for California based on the "authenticity" of terroir.

Jordan said the attraction of Australia is the newness of the land and the flavors.

"[It] has been a fascinating creative process which has allowed me to work with flavors not normally available to me in North America, and craft them into wines in the style that we so love to enjoy."

The four wines – a Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio, all from vineyards across South Australia – will retail in the U.S. from March 1 for $13.99.

Jacob's Creek, which is also home to a range of premium wines such as the Johann Shiraz Cabernet and the Steingarten Barossa Riesling, is doing its best to arrest what owners Pernod Ricard are referring to as a "challenging" situation.

Overall sales of Jacob's Creek fell by 6 percent last year, a drop blamed by Pernod Ricard on poor performance in China, the U.S. and the U.K. In the latter country it fell by 15 percent.

That contrasted with healthy performances by Pernod Ricard's other big-brand wines, Brancott Estate and Campo Viejo.

For Pernod, the answer to the Jacob's Creek problem is "premiumization" of the brand, an ambition repeated by new Pernod Ricard CEO Alexandre Ricard in London this week. "We're not looking for acquisitions, we are premiumizing Jacob's Creek. There are some pretty innovative ideas around."

One of these is Jacob's Creek Double Barrel – Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon finished in whisky barrels – and the WAH range of wines designed to go with Japanese cuisine.