Australia drought may cut wine vintage by half

MELBOURNE – Australia’s drought could cut the 2008 wine grape vintage by more than half, industry groups said yesterday, cutting into a A$3 billion (N$18,2 billion) a year export business and possibly forcing hundreds of winemakers out of business.

The 2008 vintage is likely to fall to between 800 000 tonnes and 1,3 million tonnes, compared with a normal seasonal crop of about 1,9 million tonnes, according to Wine Grape Growers and Winemakers’ Federation of Australia. “Some growers will not be able to recover, and some vineyards will be lost as a result of the drought,” said Mark McKenzie, executive director of another industry group, Wine Grape Growers’ Australia.”We think some 800 growers are in immediate financial peril, with up to 1 000 at risk over time.They are broke,” McKenzie said.Australia has some 7 500 grape growers.In some regions that depend heavily on irrigation water from the Murray Darling river system, in the southeast of the country, water allocations are as low as 10 to 16 per cent of normal allocations, the two industry groups said.The falling vintage comes after a glut that forced prices to rock-bottom levels and produced a spate of retail stores across Australia selling unlabelled cheap and bulk wine.Australian scientists have predicted global warming will force wholesale changes to Australia’s A$4,8 billion wine industry, threatening the existence of some varieties with temperatures in most wine regions projected to rise by up to 1,7 degrees Celsius by 2030.(US$1=A$1,15) – Nampa-Reuters”Some growers will not be able to recover, and some vineyards will be lost as a result of the drought,” said Mark McKenzie, executive director of another industry group, Wine Grape Growers’ Australia.”We think some 800 growers are in immediate financial peril, with up to 1 000 at risk over time.They are broke,” McKenzie said.Australia has some 7 500 grape growers.In some regions that depend heavily on irrigation water from the Murray Darling river system, in the southeast of the country, water allocations are as low as 10 to 16 per cent of normal allocations, the two industry groups said.The falling vintage comes after a glut that forced prices to rock-bottom levels and produced a spate of retail stores across Australia selling unlabelled cheap and bulk wine.Australian scientists have predicted global warming will force wholesale changes to Australia’s A$4,8 billion wine industry, threatening the existence of some varieties with temperatures in most wine regions projected to rise by up to 1,7 degrees Celsius by 2030.(US$1=A$1,15) – Nampa-Reuters