AUSTRALIA | The second consecutive small vintage of Australian wine was recorded in 2024, but no evidence suggested a supply shortfall.
The Australian winegrape crush increased year-on-year by nine percent in 2024 to an estimated 1.43 million tonnes, according to the National Vintage Report 2024 released by Wine Australia.
Vintage 2024 followed a 23-year low crush in 2023, and despite the growth, this year’s crush is still well below the 10-year average of 1.73 million tonnes.
Wine Australia Manager, Market Insights, Peter Bailey said there had been a declining trend in the Australian winegrape crush over the past few years.
“This is the third vintage in the past five that has been below the 10-year average. As a result, we’ve seen the five-year average decrease by over 100,000 tonnes in the past two years,” Bailey said.
“However, the reduction in the crush doesn’t necessarily reflect a decrease in the underlying supply base. There is no indication that the vineyard area has declined significantly, so the potential for a large crop still exists without active management of yields.”
The overall year-on-year increase in the crush was 112,000 tonnes. This was driven entirely by white winegrape varieties, which increased by 117,000 tonnes (19 percent) to 722,000 tonnes. Despite the 19 percent increase, the white varieties crush was still 10 percent below the 10-year average and the second smallest in 17 years.
The crush of red grapes declined by just under 5000 tonnes (one percent) to 705,000 tonnes, the smallest since the drought-affected 2007 vintage, and 40 percent below its peak of 1.2 million tonnes in 2021.
The white winegrape share of the crush increased to 51 percent – the first time since 2014 that the white crush has been higher than the red crush.
“The overall reduction in the red crush is entirely driven by Shiraz, which decreased by nearly 48,000 tonnes while most other red varieties increased. This decrease was not just from the inland regions, with the Barossa and Clare Valleys accounting for one-third of the reduction,” Bailey said.
“Seasonal factors have contributed to 2024 being another small vintage. However, the significant further reduction in the red crush can be largely attributed to decisions made by grape growers and wine businesses to reduce production. These decisions are being driven by low grape prices, significant red wine stock overhangs and reduced global demand for wine.”
Chardonnay increased by 31 percent to 333,000 tonnes, overtaking Shiraz to resume the title of largest variety by crush size that it last held in 2013. Shiraz decreased by 14 percent to 298,000 tonnes – its smallest crush since 2007.
South Australia accounted for the largest share of the national crush size (49 percent) but decreased by four percent and lost six percentage points of share to the other states. All other states except Western Australia increased their crush compared with 2023, with Tasmania increasing by 42 percent to a record estimated crush of 16,702 tonnes.
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