Australia: Wine crush tops 1.63M tonnes: WFA

Winemakers’ Federation of Australia has reported a 1 per cent rise in the national crush, defying predictions disease pressures would result in a significant drop.

The WFA 2011 Vintage Report was released today and puts this year’s vintage in excess of 1.62 million tonnes, despite some growers reporting losses of up to 80 per cent.

The Riverland and the Riverina produced the highest crush increase, while cool weather and high disease pressure meant the crush produced by cooler regions was down.

WFA chief executive Stephen Strachan said the results show vintage was “too big” and unsustainable.

“A harvest in excess of 1.6 million tonnes (despite the rejections) is out of step with the realities of sustainable production and the market opportunity for premium Australian wine,” Strachan said.

“Most in the industry now accept that decisive steps must be taken to align supply with market potential.”

The report shows bulk wine exports grew 46 per cent in the 12 months to the end of March, with half of all bulk sales occurring in the UK.

 Chardonnay overtook Shiraz as the leading grape variety, recording an increase of 23 per cent to 405,000 tonnes.

Sales volume fell in Australia’s top two markets -16 per cent in the US and 4 per cent in the UK – but rose by 30 per cent in China over the same period.

Total exports were down 3 per cent to 755 million litres, worth a total of $2.02 billion.

Despite the pain felt from the industry, Strachan said the quality was definitely there.

“While a lot of damaged fruit has had to be rejected, much of what was accepted was very good,” he said.

“Vintage 2011 should allow Australia’s diversity to shine through.”

The full report can be accessed at: http://www.wfa.org.au/vintage_reports.aspx

An in-depth analysis of the report will feature in the August issue of the Grapegrower & Winemaker magazine and the July/August issue of the Wine & Viticulture Journal.