Grape variety plantings
Grape variety plantings chart
The Australian Bureau of Statistics produces an annual report on the Australian wine and grape industry. I rely on this report in giving the detailed figures for the area and tonnes produced each year for the major varieties. However, the report is in fact a hybrid: one part of it comes from detailed questionnaires sent to all wineries crushing more than 400 tonnes, a less extensive enquiry to those crushing between 50 and 400 tonnes, and no figures are taken from wineries crushing less than 50 tonnes. Because the scope of the questionnaire sent to the wineries covers a great number of things, the ABS decided long ago that it was unreasonable to ask for a breakdown of the tonnage crushed by variety.
This information comes from a quite separate questionnaire to grapegrowers, sent out by a different department. The net result is a substantial difference between the total tonnage provided by the grapegrowers, and that derived from the wineries. Since the wineries pay a levy on each tonne crushed, there is no reason to imagine that they would ever overstate their crush. Moreover, while the total tonnage crushed by wineries crushing between 50 and 400 tonnes has been calculated by the ABS to be in the region of 34 000 tonnes, the contribution of the very small wineries would be much less than 5% of the total. Nonetheless, it simply underpins the winery information, which in 2006 amounted to 1 901 560 tonnes. The total of that provided by the grapegrowers (and which is reflected in the grape variety planting chart) is 1 781 668 tonnes. (I should also add that I have consistently used the grapegrower numbers in that table, to provide a continuing comparison on a year-by-year basis.)
The two giants in Australian viticulture are shiraz and chardonnay, which between them provided 46% of the total tonnage. Overall, there has been an uneasy calm before the storm, the 2006 crop little changed from the two preceding years, and adding to the already significant wine surplus generated in 2005 and 2004. Nonetheless, for the first time in decades, the hectares planted decreased, not by a large amount, perhaps, but taking them back to where they stood in 2002. Grape production also declined slightly; both of these decreases were the first signs of grapegrowers responding to the lack of demand from the wineries.
As the vintage snapshot of 2007 indicates, there will be a dramatically different outcome for 2007, with grape production two-thirds that of 2006. The surplus which was expected to take 3 or 4 years to come back into balance will have virtually disappeared overnight. Because of the lag time between grape harvest and wine sales, the immediate effect on sales may not be as dramatic as the figures might suggest, although wineries are already reacting to the shortfall. The days of massive clearances by cleanskin bottles, of discounts of over 50% of the recommended retail for branded products, and exports in bulk will all sharply diminish.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics produces an annual report on the Australian wine and grape industry. I rely on this report in giving the detailed figures for the area and tonnes produced each year for the major varieties. However, the report is in fact a hybrid: one part of it comes from detailed questionnaires sent to all wineries crushing more than 400 tonnes, a less extensive enquiry to those crushing between 50 and 400 tonnes, and no figures are taken from wineries crushing less than 50 tonnes. Because the scope of the questionnaire sent to the wineries covers a great number of things, the ABS decided long ago that it was unreasonable to ask for a breakdown of the tonnage crushed by variety.
This information comes from a quite separate questionnaire to grapegrowers, sent out by a different department. The net result is a substantial difference between the total tonnage provided by the grapegrowers, and that derived from the wineries. Since the wineries pay a levy on each tonne crushed, there is no reason to imagine that they would ever overstate their crush. Moreover, while the total tonnage crushed by wineries crushing between 50 and 400 tonnes has been calculated by the ABS to be in the region of 34 000 tonnes, the contribution of the very small wineries would be much less than 5% of the total. Nonetheless, it simply underpins the winery information, which in 2006 amounted to 1 901 560 tonnes. The total of that provided by the grapegrowers (and which is reflected in the grape variety planting chart) is 1 781 668 tonnes. (I should also add that I have consistently used the grapegrower numbers in that table, to provide a continuing comparison on a year-by-year basis.)
The two giants in Australian viticulture are shiraz and chardonnay, which between them provided 46% of the total tonnage. Overall, there has been an uneasy calm before the storm, the 2006 crop little changed from the two preceding years, and adding to the already significant wine surplus generated in 2005 and 2004. Nonetheless, for the first time in decades, the hectares planted decreased, not by a large amount, perhaps, but taking them back to where they stood in 2002. Grape production also declined slightly; both of these decreases were the first signs of grapegrowers responding to the lack of demand from the wineries.
As the vintage snapshot of 2007 indicates, there will be a dramatically different outcome for 2007, with grape production two-thirds that of 2006. The surplus which was expected to take 3 or 4 years to come back into balance will have virtually disappeared overnight. Because of the lag time between grape harvest and wine sales, the immediate effect on sales may not be as dramatic as the figures might suggest, although wineries are already reacting to the shortfall. The days of massive clearances by cleanskin bottles, of discounts of over 50% of the recommended retail for branded products, and exports in bulk will all sharply diminish.
