Australian wine exports show some sparkly, up 4pc to $3bn

Australian wine exports have registered a 4 per cent jump in value to almost $3bn.

Head winemaker Sam Berketa at the cellar door of the Alpha Box & Dice winery in McLaren Vale on Wednesday. Picture: Pic Roy Van Der Vegt

Australian wine exports have weathered the pandemic and brushed aside any sabre-rattling from Beijing to register a 4 per cent jump in value to almost $3bn, driven by increased sales to every key export market including China.

In the 12 months to September, total Australian wine exports reached $2.998bn, with growth recorded in each of the top five markets.

Wine Australia’s latest Export Report showed the growth was driven by premium wines and the cheap and cheerful, with the three least expensive categories of wines valued at up $7.49 a litre all recording solid growth, and the biggest surges recorded in high-end categories fuelled by demand from Chinese wine enthusiasts.

Demand for wines priced at between $50 and $99 a litre soared by 42 per cent, a $92m ­increase on exports in the previous year, while the most ­expensive category of wines valued at $200 a litre and more ­jumped by 32 per cent, an increase in value of $16m.

Wine Australia chief executive Andreas Clark said the overall value was at the highest level since exports reached $3bn in the second half of 2007.

“Despite the unprecedented disruption that we’ve seen in markets around the world, Australian wine export volume has held reasonably steady and it is particularly pleasing to see both the overall value and the average value of exports growing during these challenging times,” Mr Clark said. “Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been clear trends for wine consumption emerging around the world. While premiumisation has continued, there has also been a resurgence in commercial wines, and this is evident in the growth that we’ve seen in different price segments where it was particularly strong at the low and high ends.”

Of our five main overseas wine consumers, the biggest jump was registered in post-Brexit Britain, up 18 per cent to $430m.

The report says there is evidence British importers are stocking up on Australian wine to offset any shortfall in supply from ­Europe when the hard Brexit deadline takes effect on January 1.

That trend has been detected at McLaren Vale’s Alpha Box & Dice winery, where surging British demand for what until ­recently was an obscure and ­excellent cult winery came from nowhere this year.

“We have had really strong levels of interest from the UK in the last few months,” director Dylan Fairweather said.

“It’s been such a weird year though, we will happily take every order we get. We have had some from Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. Anecdotally, people say China is holding up, although you hear a lot of wine buyers up there are ordering up big right now to stock up in case anything does happen on the trade front. It will be interesting to see the next couple of quarters.”

Despite the trade threats from Beijing, the Chinese export market jumped 4 per cent to $1.2bn, far and away the biggest overseas consumer of Australian wine.

However, that jump was driven not by volume but quality as Chinese consumers continue to become more discerning. The US, Canada and New Zealand also ­recorded increases.