Australian wine growers are toasting a healthy boost in the money they are reaping from selling their grapes thanks largely to the boom in demand for our wine in China.
The average farmgate price paid to grape growers increased seven per cent to $565 a tonne in the past year, while the amount of grapes crushed to make wine rose five per cent to 1.9 million tonnes, new figures from Wine Australia show.
Wine Australia chief executive Andreas Clark says it's a good news story for vineyards across the country, based primarily on growing wine exports to China.
China is Australia's top wine export market and soaked up 44 per cent of our wine exports, accounting for $607 million last year.
Growing Chinese demand for Australian wine helped drive a 12 per cent increase in the volume of red wine grapes grown in 2017 compared to the same period last year, while the volume of white wine grapes grown fell two per cent
Regardless, most wine growing regions across the country saw growth in their output.
Cool growing regions - like the Barossa, Clare Valley and Margaret River - increased their output by nine per cent, while warmer inland grape growing regions - such as the Riverland and Riverina - increased production by three per cent.
Mr Clark says the Australian wine industry is optimistic the past three years' growth in the volume of grapes produced and their price will continue.
However the Australian dollar's rise to around 80 US cents in recent weeks is a concern for the industry because growth is built on exports.
"Some people talk about 85 US cents being a point where is can become more difficult," said Mr Clark.
"It's not a precise number but we'd prefer it (the Australian dollar] to stay south of 85 US cents and then we're in a good position."
The top 10 wine grape varieties grown in Australia in past year were: shiraz, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, sauvignon blanc, pinot gris/grigio, muscat cordo blanco, semillon, colombard, and pinot noir.
