Surging demand and increasing supply costs will continue to push wine prices “through the roof”, industry experts say.
Wine prices could continue to climb amid strong consumer demand, soaring grape costs and issues with supply, industry experts warn.
White wine is expected to be particularly impacted with hiking demand for chardonnay and pinot combining with cost increases for white wine grapes to push prices up.
The total wingrape crush from the 2022 harvest is 13.5 per cent below last year’s record figure, according to Wine Australia’s National Vintage report.
Wine Australia says prices for white wine grapes are at their highest level since 2008, having increased every year since 2014.
Jared Stringer, chief executive of The Lane Vineyard in the Adelaide Hills, told The Australian that some white varieties were “going gangbusters” amid increasing competition among makers.
“It appears that Adelaide Hills fruit has never been in more demand,’’ he said.
“There are a huge amount of external companies buying into the Adelaide Hills, anecdotally.
“Chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and all of those white varieties are absolutely going gangbusters … I’ve had to lock in forward contracts for the next three to five years for our business and the prices are just going through the roof.
“I think you’ll see, certainly in the next vintage report, that white price is going to skyrocket, I think we’ll see that closer to 10 per cent easily.”
Hoddles Creek Estate winemaker Franco D’Anna told 3AW that big players like Endeavour Group and Jackson Family Wines from the US were pushing smaller players out of the Yarra Valley region in Victoria, reducing supply and therefore pushing prices up.
“Chardonnay, pinot, most white wines are going up,” Mr D’Anna said.
“(Grape) prices in the Yarra, say for pinot, have gone from $16-1700 a tonne to $4000 a tonne in three years. That’s if you can get it, because you can’t find it.
“Pinot’s just crazy. you can’t buy the fruit, everything’s expensive, so it’s going to be interesting to see how the next three or four years go.
“An under $20 pinot will almost be impossible in a year or two years.”
The Wine Australia report said seasonal impacts, capacity limitations, labour shortages due to the pandemic, reduced export to China and increased shipping costs were all playing a part in bumping prices up.
Originally published as Why you won’t buy a bottle of wine for less than $20
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