Economic contributions and characteristics of grapes and wine in AustraliaÂ’s wine regions

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the Australian wine industry has been through a remarkable period of export-oriented growth. Even when vines for drying and table grapes are included, the vineyard area in Australia has trebled over the 20 vintages to 2008, the biggest surge in Australia’s history. In the first half of the 1980s, barely 2 percent of the country’s wine production was exported, which was less than the volume it imported. Today, nearly two-thirds of Australia’s production is exported – and production itself has increased nearly four-fold since the early 1980s. Prepared for the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation (GWRDC), Winemakers Federation of Australia (WFA) and the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation (AWBC). The authors are grateful for funding from GWRDC (Project Number UA08/04) and the University of Adelaide’s Wine2030 project, and for helpful comments from Leanne Webb of CSIRO, Jim Fortune, and members of the project’s Industry Reference Group.