Wine Industry Statistics - Viticulture

Viticultural Information

• Area under vines by state
• Area of winegrapes by selected State, GI zone and derived zone
• Area of grape varieties
• Vineyard plantings by state
• Vineyard plantings of selected varieties
• State's production of winegrapes
• Winegrape production outlook
• Winegrapes commercially grown in Australia
• Vintage reports

Winegrape Production Outlook

Most commentators anticipate winegrape production in the near future will be strongly influenced by water allocations which are expected to remain under pressure, particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin.

According to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), winegrape production is projected to increase in 2009-10 by 14% relative to 2008-09, to 1.8 million tonnes (Table 8). This forecast is based on the assumption that the availability of water for irrigation will improve somewhat but remain a constraint on production in warm climate regions. The projection also assumes there will not be a repeat of the extremely hot weather conditions experienced in 2008-09. The average yield of winegrapes is forecast to be 10.8 tonnes per hectare in 2009-10, and the bearing area of vines is forecast to be 169,000 hectares.

Continuing this trend, winegrape production in 2010-11 is expected to increase by 5% relative to 2009-10, to 1.9 million tonnes. This projection reflects a small increase in the bearing area of vines and an increase in the average yield of grapes to 11.1 tonnes per hectare, as grapegrowing conditions improve further.

Red winegrapes are expected to account for the majority of winegrapes produced in Australia throughout the projection period. This reflects the larger bearing area of red winegrape varieties in Australia, which is sufficient to offset the generally lower yields of red winegrapes.

Because of the slightly faster expected growth of white winegrape bearing areas over the projection period, ABARE expects that the proportion of red winegrapes will decline slightly over the next three years, from 54% in 2007-08 to 52% in 2010-11. Shiraz is expected to remain the highest-volume winegrape variety produced in Australia throughout the projection period. Chardonnay is expected to be the next largest variety, followed by Cabernet Sauvignon. Collectively, these three varieties are expected to account for 60% of total Australian winegrape production in 2010-11, similar to the 61% they accounted for in 2007-08. ABARE expects that Merlot and Semillon will remain the next largest varieties produced in Australia, followed by Sauvignon Blanc. In the projection period, Sauvignon Blanc production is expected to increase the most of any major variety, which reflects recent plantings.

In 2009-10, assuming that the availability of water for irrigation improves somewhat and there are no extreme weather events, production in all states and the ACT is expected to increase as yields rise (Table 9). ABARE expects that this trend will continue in 2010-11, when they project that yields will return to historical averages.