Australian Vineyards Snapshot
The Australian Vineyards Snapshot provides a high-level overview of Australia’s vineyard plantings, based on the viticultural information gained by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in the Vineyards 2015 data collection. The snapshot summarises the results of the survey including:
- Total winemaking grape tonnes, hectares, and yield (tonnes per hectare)
- Top varieties and regions
- A regional summary including warm versus cool region comparisons
- A variety summary including red versus white variety comparisons
The full data can be accessed on the ABS website.
The survey was discontinued after 2015; therefore this is the latest national viticulture data available. Plantings are not believed to have changed dramatically since the 2014 planting season.
More recent planting data is available for South Australian vineyards through the annual SA Winegrape Crush Survey.
Report summary
In the 2014-15 financial year, winemaking grape tonnes increased by 2 per cent, compared to 2011-12 when the last survey was completed, to 1.6 million tonnes crushed. However, total area hectares decreased by 9 per cent to 135,177. This resulted in an increase in yield of 12 per cent to 12.1 tonnes per bearing hectares.
The top five varieties by area are:
- Shiraz
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Chardonnay,
- Merlot and,
- Sauvignon Blanc.
South Australia produced the largest volume of winegrapes of any state, while New South Wales had the highest yield per hectare.
Of the 65 Australian wine regions, the largest region by total planted area is the Riverland. Barossa Valley had the highest number of new plantings in 2014-15 and Langhorne Creek had the highest yield of the largest cool regions.
The survey collected data on 41 varieties, although more are currently grown in Australia. Shiraz had the most new plantings in this year and tonnes produced of red varieties increased by 5 per cent compared to 2012, while white varieties decreased by 2 per cent.
About the source
The Vineyards 2015 collection was run by the ABS on behalf of Wine Australia. It was a census of all vineyards in Australia. Data collected includes area hectares and wine grape production by region and variety.
Downloads
2014-15 ABS vineyard survey infographic (Published on 22 Dec 2015)