Wine Australia has released its 2024 National Vintage Report, showing that although the Australian winegrape crush had a 9 per cent year-on-year increase, it still falls well below the 10-year average.
The National Vintage Report is a voluntary survey of Australian winemakers, which received a record 711 responses from businesses in 2024, estimated to represent around 88 per cent of the total 2024 winegrape crush volume.
The Vintage 2024 crush was estimated to be 1.43 million tonnes, an increase following a 23-year low crush reported in 2023. However, it is the third vintage in the past five years that has been below the 10-year average crush of 1.73 million tonnes. As a result, the five-year average has decreased by over 100,000 tonnes in the past two years.
Wine Australia manager of market insights, Peter Bailey, said this declining trend didn’t necessarily reflect a decrease in the supply base, with no indication that vineyard area has declined significantly.
“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.
"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.”
The overall year-on-year increase in the crush was 112,000 tonnes, driven entirely by white winegrape varieties, which increased by 19 per cent. Holding 51 per cent of the crush, it is the first time in a decade that there has been a larger share of white varieties than red. Despite this, the whites were still 10 per cent below the 10-year average, the second smallest in 17 years.
South Australia still accounted for the largest share of the national crush size, with 49 per cent, with a decrease of 4 per cent. All other states except Western Australia increased their crush compared with 2023, with Tasmania increasing by 42 per cent to a record estimated crush of 16,702 tonnes.
Value of the winegrape crush
The grape crush value of the 2024 vintage is estimated to be $1.01 billion, a 2 per cent increase over the previous year. The 9 per cent increase in the tonnage was offset by an overall decrease in the average value – from $642 per tonne to $613 per tonne.
Across the warm inland regions, both reds and whites declined by 5 per cent in average value, while in the cool/temperate regions there was a 3 per cent increase in whites, and the average value for reds was flat.
Bailey noted that a better understanding of the underlying supply base was critical to enable growers and winemakers to make informed decisions regarding future grape production requirements.
“It’s important for growers to look at the price changes for individual regions and varieties, to get a true picture of the market signals,” he said.
“However, the overall 2024 results, particularly the on-going decline in prices for the major inland varieties, indicate that there is no shortfall in supply from the inland regions, despite the successive low vintages.”
“We welcome the recent announcement of the Grape and Wine Sector Long-term Viability Support Package from the Australian Government, which will support the development of a national vineyard register framework to help give the sector a clearer picture of the true supply nationally,” said Bailey.
