A three-year project with the University of Tasmania brought together an extensive, multi-disciplinary research team to consider the impact of seasonal climate variability and longer-term climate trends on the wine sector in Australia.

It has generated the finest available climate projections for Australia’s wine regions and provided detailed information about how the climate may change in the near, mid and long-term time horizons (out to 2100).

This information has been incorporated into the Australia’s Wine Future: A Climate Atlas, a free online resource of climate information for all Australian Geographic Indications (GIs).

The atlas helps to answer the question – what will my region’s climate look like in the future? This is essential knowledge for making good management decisions, based on decadal changes, and supporting strategic decisions over the longer term, both within and between regions.

Tailored climate indices were calculated for every Australian Geographical Indication and include:

• temperature – growing season temperature (GST); growing degree days (GDD)
• rainfall and evaporative demand – annual, monthly and seasonal rainfall; growing season rainfall; number of rainy days during harvest; annual, monthly and seasonal aridity; number of dry spells before harvest
• heat extremes – extreme heat factor (EHF) during a heatwave; heatwave duration and intensity; number of days per year exceeding temperature thresholds; frequency of days with high human heat stress; and
• cold extremes – number of days at risk of frost during the growing season; daily minimum temperature; annual chilling degree days; number of days per year temperature falls below temperature thresholds.

Want to find out more?

• Information on the project
• Media release which accompanied the atlas
• Watch the webinar for your region 

Access the Wine Climate Atlas

You can download the atlas in its entirety or by state or by region. We highly recommend reading the 'Introduction and how to interpret' first as this will allow you to better interpret the charts. 

The interpretation details for the regional charts and infographics can be found from page 12 (XII).

Download 'Introduction and how to interpret'