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

Vineyard Area

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) estimates that 162,550 hectares are cultivated for winegrapes in Australia (Table 1). Of this amount 157,290 hectares are now bearing fruit.

South Australia with 75,531 ha under vine has the largest area of vineyards accounting for 46.5% of the national total vineyard area. New South Wales follows with 41,889 ha (25.8% of the total) then Victoria with 30,056 ha (18.5% of the total vineyard area). Due to changes in the methodologies used by the ABS, comparisons with previous years are not possible.

Red winegrapes are more widely planted in Victoria and South Australia but white winegrapes form the majority in the other States (Table 2). The Big Rivers zone of New South Wales and Lower Murray of South Australia are two of the largest zones.

According to the ABS, white winegrapes comprise 64,073 ha (39.4%) of Australian vineyard varieties in 2008-09 (Table 3). This represented a slight reduction in percentage terms, from 41.8% in 2007-08. Chardonnay declined 4.5% to 30,137 ha in 2009 although it still remains the most widely planted white winegrape variety accounting for 47.0% of all white winegrapes by vineyard areas (bearing and non-bearing), and for 18.5% of the total plantings in Australia. Sauvignon Blanc continues to grow, up 9.5% to 7,010 ha, now 10.9% of the total white varieties. It has now surpassed Semillon and is the second most planted white variety.

Red winegrape vineyard area dropped slightly to 98,476 ha in 2009. The percentage of red winegrapes in the national total was 60.6% in 2009. In 1997, red winegrapes comprised only 42.7% of the total. Shiraz grew by 3.0% and with 45,313 ha remains the most widely planted red variety comprising 46.0% of all vineyard area of red winegrapes and 27.9% of the national winegrape plantings. Cabernet Sauvignon reversed a downward trend and posted an increase of 1.7% while Merlot grew by 2.5%.

New Plantings

New plantings of vines during 2009 declined marginally with 2,141 ha of new vines planted which is significantly lower than 2005 when 6,093 ha were planted (Table 4). There were big drops in plantings in Victoria, Queensland, and Tasmania while New South Wales and Western Australia planted more vines this year than last. South Australia planted about the same.

According to ABS data, 983 ha of white winegrapes were planted in 2009, accounting for 45.9% of new plantings, compared with 1,158 ha for red varieties (54.1%) (Table 5).

Of white varieties, 363 ha of Sauvignon Blanc was planted which comprised 36.9% of all new white varieties planted and 17% of total plantings. However, the total of Sauvignon Blanc new plantings decreased from 2007 when 507 ha were planted. Only 61 ha of Chardonnay were planted, a significant difference to 2003 when 2608 ha were planted.

Of 1,158 ha of red vines planted in 2009, Shiraz led the way with 582 ha planted, comprising 50.3% of new red varieties and 27.2% of the total plantings. Cabernet Sauvignon plantings have jumped significantly with 228 ha planted in 2009 compared to 78 in 2008 and 114 in 2007. Contrary to white varieties, however, the overall rate of planting of reds has increased by 20.5%.

Grape Production

The ABS reported that total winegrape production in 2009 was 1.68 million tonnes, a decrease from 1.84 million tonnes the previous year (Table 6). South Australia remained the largest producing State with 747,592 tonnes. New South Wales was next with 534,322 tonnes, followed by Victoria with 329,499 tonnes. All States recorded a fall in production from 2008.

Red winegrape production (888,000 tonnes) was higher than white winegrape production (796,000 tonnes). South Australia was the highest red winegrape producing state with 52% (458,000 tonnes) of total red winegrape production. New South Wales was the highest producer of white winegrapes with 37% (296,000 tonnes) of total white winegrape production, closely followed by South Australia with 36% (290,000 tonnes).

Three varieties of grapes accounted for 61% of all winegrape production: Shiraz (394,000 tonnes), Chardonnay (384,000 tonnes) and Cabernet Sauvignon (248,000 tonnes). Shiraz accounted for 44% of all red winegrape production, while Chardonnay accounted for 48% of all white wine production.