2023 Australia Vintage

Wine Australia's report is blunt about the conditions: a third consecutive La Nina event produced the wettest year since 2011, and it was also Australia's coolest year since 2012. Persistent winter and spring rainfall across much of South-Eastern Australia made getting into vineyards difficult and caused flooding in some regions. The cool, wet run through spring and summer led to lower yields in some regions, delayed ripening and real challenges managing disease. Growing conditions in many regions were widely reported to be the most challenging in at least 20 years. Against that, the season had a clear upside. Wine Australia noted that the exceptionally cool season was conducive to producing high quality fruit with excellent flavour development, and that the low yields worked in the same direction. Crop size was not purely a weather story either. Winery inventory pressures pushed some businesses to impose yield caps, leave uncontracted grapes unsold, or temporarily take vineyards out of production. Market Insights Manager Peter Bailey said it was impossible to determine what share of the reduction came from demand-driven effects rather than seasonal conditions, but pointed out that white grapes, which were in higher demand, fell by a similar percentage to reds, which suggests seasonal effects were the main contributor.

• Third consecutive La Nina: wettest Australian year since 2011, coolest since 2012
• Persistent winter and spring rain across South-Eastern Australia limited vineyard access and caused flooding in some regions
• Cool, wet spring and summer brought lower yields, delayed ripening and disease pressure
• Cool conditions and low yields were conducive to high quality fruit with excellent flavour development
• Yield caps, unsold uncontracted fruit and vineyards temporarily out of production reduced the crush further
• Whites fell by a similar percentage to reds despite stronger demand, pointing to seasonal effects as the main driver

The 2023 crush came in at an estimated 1.32 million tonnes, 26 per cent below the 10-year average of 1.78 million tonnes and the lowest recorded since 2000. Set against the 2022 crush of 1.73 million tonnes, that is a 24 per cent fall. Wine Australia framed the gap as a reduction of roughly 465,000 tonnes compared with an average vintage, or about 325 million litres of wine. Peter Bailey warned that a second consecutive smaller vintage would hit the bottom line of grape and wine businesses across the country at a time when input, energy, labour and transport costs had all risen sharply. There was one silver lining on the balance sheet: with inventory levels above the long-term average coming into the year, a crush this small was expected to translate into production below average annual sales and ease some of that stock pressure.

• 1.32 million tonnes, the lowest crush since 2000 and 26 per cent below the 10-year average
• About 465,000 tonnes below an average vintage, equal to roughly 325 million litres of wine
• Second consecutive small vintage, landing alongside sharply higher input, energy, labour and transport costs
• Expected to reduce pressure on inventory levels that sat above the long-term average in 2022

The reduction was not spread evenly. The three large inland wine regions, the Riverland in South Australia, Murray Darling-Swan Hill across New South Wales and Victoria, and the Riverina in New South Wales, crushed 899,936 tonnes between them, down 28 per cent. The rest of Australia's 59 GI wine regions and 26 GI zones combined fell only 15 per cent, to 417,162 tonnes. That pushed the inland share of the national crush down to 68 per cent against a long-term average of 74 per cent. South Australia retained its position as the largest contributor at 55 per cent of the total, despite recording its second-smallest crush since 2007. New South Wales was next at 27 per cent, followed by Victoria at 13 per cent. Western Australia, which Wine Australia said had a very good season overall, lifted its share to 3.5 per cent, while Tasmania and Queensland each accounted for slightly less than 1 per cent. Several cool-temperate regions ran against the national trend entirely: the Barossa Valley crushed 34 per cent more than in 2022, the Yarra Valley 18 per cent more and Margaret River 9 per cent more.

• Inland regions down 28 per cent to 899,936 tonnes; rest of Australia down just 15 per cent to 417,162 tonnes
• Inland share of the national crush fell to 68 per cent from a long-term average of 74 per cent
• South Australia 55 per cent, New South Wales 27 per cent, Victoria 13 per cent, Western Australia 3.5 per cent
• Barossa Valley up 34 per cent, Yarra Valley up 18 per cent, Margaret River up 9 per cent against the national fall

The total estimated value of the crush at the weighbridge was $983 million, down $229 million or 19 per cent on 2022 and the lowest since 2015. Value fell less than tonnage because the overall average purchase value rose 2 per cent to $642 per tonne, driven by a higher average value and a larger share of fruit from cool-temperate regions. Underneath that average sit two very different markets. Average values for purchased grapes across cool-temperate regions rose 4 per cent, with reds up 3.6 per cent and whites up 5 per cent, and the average price for cool-temperate whites reached a record $1,391 per tonne, up 43 per cent since 2015. Inland regions went the other way, with average values down 11 per cent overall, reds down 21 per cent to $304 per tonne and whites down 5 per cent to $399 per tonne. Wine Australia read this as supply for inland reds sitting above demand, consistent with the global decline in commercial wine sales and an excess inventory of red wine in Australia, while the long-term shift toward premium and white wine shows up clearly in the cool-temperate numbers.

• Crush value $983 million, down 19 per cent and the lowest since 2015
• Overall average purchase value up 2 per cent to $642 per tonne
• Cool-temperate whites hit a record $1,391 per tonne, up 43 per cent since 2015
• Inland reds fell 21 per cent to $304 per tonne, the clearest sign of supply above demand for commercial red wine