Riverina winemakers are seeing an increase in white wine's value compared with red after China's anti-dumping tariffs caused Australian sellers to lose one of its biggest importers of red varieties.
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Wine Australia statistics on the 2022 winegrape crush showed demand for red varieties had dropped sharply since 2020 when the tariff was announced, while demand for white varieties had continued growing since 2014.
Toorak Winery's Robert Bruno said he had noticed the growing value of white winegrape's in recent years and that sauvignon blanc and moscato varieties were becoming more popular.
He said this might have to do with decreasing red variety demand.
"In Australia there's been a slight increase in white wine popularity, but internationally there's been a lower demand for red wine, particularly in the China market," Mr Bruno explained.
He also said international demand for white wine was small but growing.
"Now that we're exploring other markets the mix of reds and whites is more even, but there is a higher demand for white wine," Mr Bruno said.
Due to an oversupply in red winegrapes, Mr Bruno said winemakers were having to become more creative with their fruit.
"We've had to find alternative products for our red wine," he said. "We made a little bit of white wine out of red grapes this year and that's changed the product."
De Bortoli Wines operations manager Rob Glastonbury said white wine's growing value was "subtle" and had little to do with overseas markets so much as younger demographics' growing interest in wine.
"White wine is always an easier starting point than red," he said.
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Mr Glastonbury, who has worked at De Bortoli for 17 years, said the brand had been lucky in avoiding the worst consequences of China's tariffs which had left other Australian wineries with a red winegrape oversupply.
Figures from Wine Australia's 2022 winegrape crush report found this year's red winegrape crush volume was down 17 per cent compared with 2021, while white winegrapes dipped by 9 per cent.
Wine Australia's Peter Bailey said this was likely a combination of reduced production capacity, reduced exports and decreased red wine value.
Despite the oversupply and lack of demand, Mr Glastonbury said inflation and freight costs were hitting Australia's winemakers the hardest and causing overseas markets like Canada to look elsewhere.
"They're buying in America now because the transport cost is making us cost prohibitive," he explained.
"Australia is a bit off the beaten route for transport, so we've got to take what we can get, and what we can get is bloody expensive."
The De Bortoli operations manager said the company was adapting well to the changing market though, and had even switched its vineyards in cooler growing areas like King Valley in Victoria from red to white.
"It makes great white rather than any other reason," Mr Glastonbury said. "We can deal with subtle changes and that's the way we do it."
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