According to Wine Australia’s National Vintage Report, Australia’s 2026 winegrape crush fell to 1.27 million tonnes, 19 per cent lower than the 2025 vintage of 1.57 million tonnes and the smallest since 2000. Believed to be a result of market conditions as well as climate and seasonal factors, the reduced national crop did not result in stronger grape prices.
The crush declined in a relatively even manner across all states and major regions, despite the differences in terms of seasonal effects, grape and wine specifications and demand drivers. Respondents to Wine Australia’s National Vintage Survey 2026 indicated serious market and financial strain were a major concern, identifying issues including oversupply, weak demand, low prices, cancelled or delayed contracts and grapes left unpicked, particularly for red varieties.
Wine Australia market insights manager, Peter Bailey, said a number of significant seasonal challenges, including flooding in the inland regions, had an impact on production.
“But the main driver of this lower crush is a deliberate adjustment in response to changing market conditions,” said Bailey.
“There have now been four vintages in a row below the long-term average, suggesting an underlying reset in the tonnage of grapes required by winemakers to meet changing global demand.”
Australia’s wine sector has faced a range of challenges in recent years, and is working hard to recover. Australian Grape & Wine and Wine Australia released the One Grape & Wine Sector Plan in 2024 to support this goal, leading to the Australian Wine Future Fund being created in February, designed to increase funding pathways for fast-tracking innovations addressing the industry’s most critical challenges.
Industry bodies and state governments have also been investing to support domestic and export demand, with the Western Australian government investing $6 million to grow the state’s wine industry, through a four-year partnership with Wines of Western Australia, and the South Australian government launching its Global Wine Growth Program, which will invest $3.9 million over the next two years to increase support for the state’s wine export industry.
Wine Australia is also running a coordinated program of trade, education and promotional activity across the Asia Pacific, backed by federal government funding, as the sector works to rebuild demand in China and diversify into Southeast Asia.
White grapes overtake red
The National Vintage Report 2026 showed this year’s crush was 306,334 tonnes smaller than 2025, with red varieties accounting for 80 per cent of the decrease. The crush of red grapes was down by 243,560 tonnes (29 per cent) year-on-year, to be the smallest red crush since 2000.
Conversely, the crush of white grapes declined by a more modest 62,774 tonnes (9 per cent), resulting in a big jump in white’s share of the total crush – up six percentage points to 53 per cent. This is only the second time in the past 12 years that whites have accounted for the majority of the crush.
“Globally, red wine has declined at twice the rate of white wine since 2017 and is now nearly 450 million cases lower than it was in that year, according to the IWSR,” said Bailey.
“The flow-on effect is that demand for red grapes in Australia has reduced by more than for whites.”
Grape prices soften despite small crush
The average value of purchased grapes in 2026 was $570 per tonne, down 6 per cent compared with 2025. The reduction in overall average purchase value was seen across warm inland and cool temperate regions, and for both reds and whites. Cool temperate reds and whites were both down by 3 per cent year-on-year, while across the warm inland regions, reds were down by 1 per cent and whites down by 12 per cent.
Bailey noted that the drop in average values across the board had occurred despite the very low crush size, which is expected to take pressure off wine stocks.
“There has been no improvement in grape prices, which suggests that demand is still very soft. It’s concerning that there is no sign of recovery for reds despite such a significant adjustment, and that prices for whites are also now declining,” he said.
“Current sales of Australian wine on the domestic and export markets equate to around one billion litres, or approximately 1.4 million tonnes. This could probably be achieved with a total vineyard area of less than 100,000 hectares – about two-thirds of what we estimate our current supply base to be.”
However, Bailey warned that there is also a risk of over-correction because the sector doesn’t yet have reliable data on vineyard plantings and removals.
“When the National Vineyard Register is complete, this will help the sector to make decisions and adjustments that better align supply with demand.”
For further information, the National Vintage Report is available online at wineaustralia.com.
