Australian Prices to Fall

Now the massive 1996 grape harvest has finally drawn to a close, it looks like we can declare good news for consumers of all but the most expensive of Australian wines. There will be loads of it, it will be very drinkable and you can afford it.

While Australian wine makers are beginning to ponder how to deal with their first surplus in years, buyers of Australian wines can look forward to buckets of traditional Australian flavour from premium varieties like cabernet sauvignon, shiraz and chardonnay at prices which may well resemble those of two or three years ago.

A record crop of 850,000 tonnes – of generally high quality and of which 480,000 were premium varieties up by 52 on last year – will certainly relieve the pressure on Australian wine stocks heavily battered by low yields in 1994 and 1995. Poor years and increased prices had temporarily stalled the spectacular growth of Australian wine exports.

In the face of this massive excesses of premium varieties Petaluma’s chief executive and winemaker Brian Croser reckons all but the most secure and established brands could face considerable downward pressure on prices. Industry projections suggest the over-supply of Australian wine heralded by the 1996 vintage will last until the early years of next century, so within a few seasons Australians need to find markets for an extra 250,000-300,000 tonnes of premium fruit – about an extra 24-27 million bottles of premium wine each year.

Reductions in Australian wine prices represent a danger signal for other new world wine producers also competing for export market share. While there will be no huge price increases for most mid-to-premium market wines, don’t expect the prices on the top brands, led by Penfolds Grange, to do anything but continue their upward spiral.

Present-day Grange winemaker John Duval is delighted with his red wines from 1996. According to Duval, although 1996 was significantly cooler and later than Australia’s hitherto most recent ‘classic’ years of 1990 and 1991, it was a stunning year for the Barossa, where both its principal red varieties – cabernet sauvignon and shiraz – ripened well with intense flavours. ‘The wines will no doubt suit the Penfolds style, with probably the best Barossa cabernets we have seen for some time. Look out for some great Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon, 407 Cabernet Sauvignon and 389 Cabernet Shiraz’, he says.

Bruce Tyrrell, son of Murray Tyrrell, the ‘Mouth of the Hunter River’, is today the hands-on operator of legendary Hunter Valley producer, Tyrrells. Although some of the older Hunter vineyards cropped low after an extended drought the season before, the area received enough rain ‘on the last possible day’ to create ‘ripe, highly alcoholic semillon and chardonnay with good natural acids, much in the vein of ’95 but possibly even a little better’. Hunter shiraz also produced a ‘fantastic’ crop, says Tyrrell, in terms of quality and quantity.

While Tyrrell’s and Duval’s impressions are typical of winemakers across South Australia and New South Wales, the two largest wine producing states, few people are better placed to discuss the merits of an Australian vintage than well-travelled wine making consultant Gary Baldwin. Although he operates in most Australian states, Baldwin sees a great deal of his home state, Victoria, where he is personally involved in the wines of Dalwhinnie, Stoniers, Eyton on Yarra and Tucks Ridge. Please login to post comment