Sales figures show that wine sales slipped 3.3% in 2010/11 – the first fall in 15 years and
largest drop in annual wine sales for 22 years. Australian consumers have been spending less on the spirits ad this has affected the Australian wine market.
While the sales of Australian wines have gone down, French wines have been doing pretty well. French wine only accounts for 1.7% of all wine sales, but the share has doubled in the past five years. Apart from the low domestic demand in Australia the high Australian dollar and domestic over-supply of grapes have also affected the wine markets.
Some of the more popular wine growing region s in australia is the Hunter Valley ( NSW,VIC), Swan valley , Margaret river( WA), Port Phillip and Gippsland ( Greater Victoria)
The wine grape production for the year 2009-10 is estimated by the ABS to be 1.53 million tones, around 9 percent lower than the 2008-2009 harvest. The wine industry has been affected by scarce water supplies in some regions and in some parts of south eastern Australia also by the heat wave. In Victoria many winegrowers was affected by the floods and outbreaks of disease due to damp and humid conditions. The Murray darling Swan hill zone has been affected by disease affecting wine production in early parts of the year.
Red wine grapes have been the farmers popular choice in cultivation of production in 2009-10 with it accounting for the total of 55%
The Popular grape variety cultivated by farmers in 2009-10
1. Shiraz
2. Chardonnay
3. Cabernet-Sauvignon
The forecast for 2011 –12 is for the wine grape production to increase by 10 % taking into account vines reaching full production, but so far the weather is playing a dampener on good wine grape production and these results could get affected by any major disruptions in weather.
For more detailed information on wine grape production statistics you can visit www.abs.gov.au and www.abares.gov.au
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