There is too much wine in the world: There are farmers destroying vineyards and abandoning the industry

The world has too much wine. There is more wine today, there are more options and more affordable prices than in the last 50 years. But consumption has been falling and falling out of step with production. Tony Townsend is an Australian farmer who has already destroyed half of his vineyards, which corresponds to around seven hectares, and, if it weren't for the heatwave felt in the Australian city of Riverland, he would have already destroyed the rest. The reason? The profit would not exceed the costs of harvesting. “I love working in the wine industry, but it’s not viable enough to continue,” he told Bloomberg. Although wine production is just a hobby for him, Tony Townsend emphasizes that this is the current reality for many producers who have the industry as their main source of income. In Australia, according to Reuters, there are more than two billion liters, or around two years of production, stored since mid-2023. The country is today the fifth largest wine producer. The ...