Australian wine sector delivers a record harvest with outstanding quality

The Australian wine sector has bounced back from two harvests to forget with a record crop of exceptional quality.

This year’s wine grape harvest is very large, and of great quality, industry players say.

A “unicorn” vintage combining large yields and exceptional quality has been delivered by Australia’s wine producers, as the crush tips over two million tonnes for the first time.

The 2021 crush was 31 per cent higher than the previous year, which was blighted by bushfires, smoke taint and the lingering effects of drought.

Wine Australia, which on Tuesday released its National Vintage Report 2021, said it was “a season characterised by near-perfect growing and ripening conditions across most states and regions’’.

“The 2020–21 season was a perfect contrast with the previous one,’’ the report says.

“While summer 2019–20 was the second hottest on record, 2020–21 was the coolest in 10 years under the influence of a La Niña climate pattern.

“South Australia had its coolest summer in 19 years and Western Australia the coolest in

15 years. December 2020 was the third wettest on record for Australia, whereas December 2019 was the driest.

“Fewer heatwaves and good rain at the right time allowed grapes to ripen optimally, reducing bottlenecks at wineries and ensuring maximum quality potential could be realised.

“Good fruitset, strong grape prices and the need to recover incomes after the low 2020 vintage drove cropping levels up in many vineyards, facilitated by good water allocations through the inland regions, while a lack of disease pressure meant low levels of rejected fruit.’’

Wine Australia general manager, corporate affairs and regulation Rachel Triggs said the 2021 harvest was being described as a “unicorn” vintage because of the rare combination of events leading to both exceptional quality and a good crop size.

“Good fruit set, plenty of water at the right time, lack of heatwaves, low disease pressure, and favourable harvest conditions have resulted in a high-yielding, high quality vintage,” Ms Triggs said.

In May, The Australian spoke with winemakers across the nation, many of whom were calling the 2021 vintage the best in decades.

The boost for the sector comes after the blow caused by huge tariff increases implemented by the Chinese government late last year on bottled wine, which have all but wiped out exports to that country.

South Australia produced 52 per cent of the national crop, coming in at 1.06 million tonnes, followed by New South Wales with 580,875 tonnes (29 per cent) and Victoria with 334,834 tonnes (17 per cent).

“This vintage provides an opportunity for depleted inventory levels to be restored, ensuring we have the supply we need to take up new export opportunities,” Ms Triggs said.

The value of the crush came in at $1.56bn, up 36 per cent on the previous year, with the number bolstered by the bigger crop size as well as a small increase in average value, up 1 per cent to $701 per tonne.

Ms Triggs said the average value for red varieties had declined this year for the first time since 2014, while whites had continued to increase in value.

“To make the most of our opportunities in markets such as the United States and the United Kingdom, the balance in supply between red and white wine grapes may need to change,’’ she said.

“We are working closely with Austrade to grow our exports in emerging Asian wine markets such as South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, where there has been strong growth in recent times and where consumers strongly favour red wine.’’

Shiraz made up more than a quarter of the crush at 538,402 tonnes, with chardonnay second on 385,114 and cabernet sauvignon third at 308,496.

Red grapes made up 57 per cent of the crush comprising 1.16 million tonnes, an increase of 37 per cent over the previous year. The white varieties comprised 864,946 tonnes, an increase of 25 per cent. Overall, white variety’s share of the crush reduced to 43 per cent, the lowest since 2004.