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

In its latest vineyard survey (2009-10), the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) estimates that 156,632 ha are cultivated for winegrapes in Australia (see table). Of this amount 151,789 ha are now bearing fruit. The total area has declined every year since 2006-07 when the total area reached a record high of 173,776 ha.

South Australia with 73,409 ha under vine has the largest area of vineyards accounting for 46.9% of the national total vineyard area. New South Wales follows with 42,621 ha (27.2% of the total) then Victoria with 26,498 ha (16.9% 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 (see table). 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 61,823 ha (39.5%) of Australian vineyard varieties in 2009-10 (see table). This represented a slight reduction in percentage terms, from 41.8% in 2007-08. Chardonnay declined 7.0% to 28,037 ha in 2010 although it still remains the most widely planted white winegrape variety accounting for 45.4% of all white winegrapes by vineyard areas (bearing and non-bearing), and for 17.9% of the total plantings in Australia. Sauvignon Blanc was the only major variety to show a growth in vineyard area and increased by 1.5% to 7,114 ha, now 11.5% of the total white varieties. It has surpassed Semillon and is the second most planted white variety.

Red winegrape vineyard area dropped 3.7% to 94,809 ha in 2010. The percentage of red winegrapes in the national total was 60.5% in 2010. In 1997, red winegrapes comprised only 42.7% of the total. Shiraz declined by 3.6% but with 43,676 ha remains the most widely planted red variety comprising 46.1% of all vineyard area of red winegrapes and 27.9% of the national winegrape plantings. The area planted to Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot also decreased.

New Plantings

New plantings of vines during 2010 declined by 34.3% with 1,406 ha of new vines planted which is significantly lower than 2005 when 6,093 ha were planted (see table). There were big drops in plantings in all States except Queensland which showed a nominal gain but was still far off the number of hectares planted in 2004.

According to ABS data, 581 ha of white winegrapes were planted in 2010, accounting for 41.3% of new plantings, compared with 825 ha for red varieties (58.7%) (see table).

Of white varieties, 114 ha of Sauvignon Blanc was planted which comprised 19.6% of all new white varieties planted and 8.1% of total plantings. However, the total of Sauvignon Blanc new plantings decreased from 2007 when 507 ha were planted. Only 52 ha of Chardonnay were planted, a significant difference to 2003 when 2,608 ha were planted.

Of 825 ha of red vines planted in 2010, Shiraz led the way with 269 ha planted, comprising 32.6% of new red varieties and 19.1% of the total plantings. Cabernet Sauvignon plantings dropped by 34% with 151 ha planted in 2010 but which was still higher than the 78 ha in 2008 and 114 in 2007. The overall rate of planting of reds has decreased by 28.8%.

Grape Production

In preliminary data for 2010-11 the ABS reported that total winegrape production in 2011 was 1.60 million tonnes, a 1.2% increase from the previous year. Based on 2009-10 data South Australia remained the largest producing State with 730,628 tonnes (see table). All States except Western Australia and Tasmania recorded a fall in production from 2010.

White winegrape production (832,278 tonnes) was higher than red winegrape production (762,930 tonnes) according to the preliminary 2010-11 data. In 2009-10 South Australia was the highest red winegrape producing state with 57% (482,262 tonnes) of total red winegrape production. New South Wales was the highest producer of white winegrapes with 36% (250,457 tonnes) of total white winegrape production.

Three varieties of grapes accounted for 60% of all winegrape production in 2009-10: Shiraz (403,344 tonnes), Chardonnay (298,013 tonnes) and Cabernet Sauvignon (213,922 tonnes).