The state of play for Australian Shiraz grapes

Published 2024년 6월 26일

Tridge summary

Shiraz, a major red winegrape variety, is crucial to Australia's wine industry, making up 46% of its red grape plantings. However, the national Shiraz crush has declined since 2022, with prices dropping due to oversupply and reduced demand, particularly after China imposed duties on Australian wine in late 2020. This led to a dramatic fall in Shiraz exports to China, from 64 million litres in 2020 to 833,000 litres by March 2024. Although these duties were removed in March 2024, the Chinese market has significantly shrunk. Future demand is expected to be driven by premium-priced Shiraz, while exports to other regions like the UK, Hong Kong, and Japan have remained stable in value but declined in volume.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

Shiraz is one of the world’s major red winegrape varieties, ranking fourth in global red plantings behind Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Tempranillo. As of 2016, there were about 180,000 hectares of Shiraz under vine around the world – with the largest area located in France, ahead of second-placed Australia (see Figure 1). Shiraz is Australia’s most planted red variety ahead of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Australia is far more reliant on Shiraz than any of the other major producers. While Shiraz accounts for 7 per cent of global red variety plantings, its share in Australia is significantly higher at 46 per cent. This means that changes in demand for Shiraz wines in wine markets around the world proportionally impacts Australia more than others. Figure 1: Shiraz plantings by country in 2016 (hectares) Source: Anderson, K. and S. Nelgen, Database of Regional, National and Global Winegrape Bearing Areas by Variety, 1960 to 2016, Wine Economics Research Centre, University of ...

Source: WineAustralia