Weekly market bulletin – 23 March 2016

Global vintage and pricing update

The Ciatti Global Market Update this month reminds us that the world of wine remains a consistently moving target. Areas that were recently awash in wine are suddenly in high demand. Varietals that were easy to get a few months/years ago are now looking harder and harder to get. While this is nothing new as Mother Nature determines the outcome of any harvest year, it behoves all of us to take note and pay careful attention to the 'tea leaves'.

Domestic value of Australian wine increases

According to Wine Australia’s State of Australian Wine report, in the 2014-15, wine production in Australia increased by 0.4 per cent to 1.19 billion litres. Production of red wine remained relatively unchanged from the year before, while white wine increased by 2.7 per cent. Inventories of wine from red grapes were slightly down by 0.4 per cent to 1 billion litres, while wine from white grapes increased by 2.6 per cent to 631 million litres. The volume of domestic sales of Australian wine decreased by 0.6 per cent to 456 million litres, while value increased by 3.8 per cent to $2.78 billion. Sales of wine direct to the consumer increased in volume by 1.5 per cent while sales to retailers decreased by 0.8 per cent.