Wine Industry Statistics - Viticulture

The WFA anticipates winegrape production in 2008 will be strongly influenced by water allocations which are expected to remain under pressure, particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin. Therefore, WFA forecasts the 2008 vintage to be similar to that of 2007, with chance of some improvement depending on inflows and irrigation water availability.

According to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), assuming average rainfall in winter 2007, total winegrape production is expected to begin to increase in 2007-08 by 19% to around 1.5 million tonnes (See Table), with ABARE forecasting a further increase in 2008-09 to 1.93 million tonnes, close to the record figures of 2004-05. It is also assumed that yields will return to 11.9 tonnes per hectare in 2008-09, based on five-year average yields for most regions. This return to average yields, combined with an increase in bearing area, is projected to lead to a 28% increase in production from 2007-08 to 2008-09.

By 2008-09 ABARE projects white winegrape production in both warm and cool regions to return to 2005-06 levels, with production in cool-climate regions still below the record years of 2004-05. For premium red grape production it is expected that production in cool-climate areas will return to 2005-06 levels by 2008-09, while in warm climate regions production will still be lower than in 2005-06.

Production of premium red winegrapes is projected to be 915,000 tonnes in 2008-09 while production of premium white winegrapes is projected to be 801,000 tonnes.

Production of major varieties all show a similar trend of lower production in 2006-07, followed by an expected increase in production in 2008-09. However, production of Chardonnay is expected to increase by more than the production of other varieties. This rise primarily reflects a projected increase in the bearing area of Chardonnay of nearly 9% between 2005-06 and 2008-09.

Production in 2006-07 is estimated to have fallen by more in South Australia than in other States, with an estimated decrease of 43% from 2005-06 to 2006-07. Western Australia is the only State where production in 2006-07 is estimated to have exceeded that of 2005-06. In most zones it is projected that total winegrape production will begin to increase again in 2007-08. However, for the Lower Murray zone in South Australia it is expected production will be lower in 2007-08 than 2006-07. Production in the Riverland region, which makes up the majority of the Lower Murray zone, is projected to fall because of the reduced availability of irrigation water.

ABARE expect the required intake for wineries, based on information in the 2006 Australian Regional Winegrape Crush Survey, to increase for most winegrape varieties in 2007-08 and 2008-09. Over this period, total intake is expected to increase from 1.63 million tonnes in 2006-07 to 1.83 million tonnes in 2008-09. Required intake differs by variety with Shiraz intake increasing by more than most other varieties. Required intake of premium white winegrapes as a proportion of total winegrapes is forecast to increase slightly to around 41% by 2008-09, while the intake of premium red winegrapes is projected to decrease to just beneath 50%. The intake of Shiraz is projected to increase by 21% between 2006-07 and 2008-09. In this same period ABARE expects Chardonnay intake to increase by 12% and Cabernet Sauvignon by 6%.

Wineries are not planning to reduce intake of multipurpose varieties by much over the next three vintages. The projected intake of 76,000 tonnes in 2008-09 is little different from the estimated intake of 77,000 tonnes in 2005-06.