Australian Wines: How Are We Doing?
According to the latest figures (2002) provided by the Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin (OIV), Australia is the sixth largest wine-producing country in the world and the world's fourth largest wine exporter.
France and Italy are still the big names in wine, accounting for 26.3% of total worldwide wine production and 49.7% of total wine exports. However, Australia's figures have been impressive nonetheless: a 4.4% share of wine production and a hefty 7.0% share of wine exports. Australia recently surpassed China to rank sixth in the world in wine production.
The period from 2001 to 2002 marked a golden age in Australia wine exports with a robust 25.6% during that time. Today, Australia ships out an estimated 2.5 million bottles of wine daily to 111 international markets.
Viticulture
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), there were 166,655 hectares cultivated for wine in Australia in 2005, including drying and table grapes. Over 90% (153,204 hectares) now bear fruit.
South Australia has the largest area of wine vineyards, accounting for 42.8% of total area. Meanwhile, all states registered gains in area of vineyards. The fastest growing area for wine production was Western Australia, which showed a growth rate of 7.3% among vineyards in 2005 over 2004. In real terms, that was an increase of 886 hectares for Western Australia, the second highest increase among all regions behind South Australia’s 1,101 hectares.
Australia had 6,093 hectares of new vines planted in 2004-05, an increase of 4.7% over 2004. South Australia had 35.8% of all newly planted vines in 2005 followed by Victoria (23.6%), New South Wales (23.3%) and Western Australia (7.8%).
Production
Australia produced a total of 1,818,426 tonnes of wine grapes in 2005. While red wine grape production in 2005 far outweighed white wine production (1,009,983 tonnes vs. 808,443 tonnes), there were more newly-planted white wine grapes during that period compared to reds (61.0% vs. 39.0%).
Chardonnay and Shiraz were the most widely planted wine grape varieties in 2005. Of the two, Chardonnay plantings (2,162 hectares) were far greater than Shiraz (1,523 hectares), which is a fairly recent trend. In 2001, Shiraz plantings were three times more than plantings of Chardonnay. The fastest growing wine variety is Pinot Gris, which grew by 204.0% in 2005. Meanwhile, Cabernet Sauvignon continued its yearly drop in plantings, now down to 255 hectares from 2,962 hectares in 2000.
Red vs. White Wine
Chardonnay accounted for 44.5% of all white wine vineyard areas (bearing and non-bearing) followed by Sauvignon Blanc (472 hectares), Pinot Gris (228 hectares), Smillon (199 hectares), Riesling (125 hectares), Viognier (122 hectares), Muscat Gordo Blanco (84 hectares), Sultana (59 hectares) and Colombard 42 hectares).
Among red varieties, Shiraz accounted for 64.1% of total wine grape variety planted in 2005 followed by Cabernet Sauvignon (255 hectares), Merlot (147 hectares), Pinot Noir (115 hectares), Grenache (48 hectares), Mataro (24 hectares), Durlf (16 hectares), Tarrango (15 hectares) and Petit Verdot (15 hectares).
The nation’s outlook for the near future is bright. According to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), wine grape production will increase from 1.82 million tonnes in 2004-05 to 1.93 million tonnes in 2006–07. ABARE estimates that red wine grape production will increase by 2.5% from 2004-05 2006–07 (974,000 tonnes) while white wine grape production will increase by 9.9% to 724,000 tonnes during this time. Chardonnay is projected to be the fastest-growing wine variety during with an expected rise of 15.3% by 2006-07.
