Australian Wine Industry Overview

Australian Wine Producers

• Number of Australian wine producers by state and tonnes crushed
• Australia's largest wine producers by winegrape intake
• Australia's 22 largest wine producers by vineyard area
• Australia's 22 largest wine producers by branded wine
• Australia's 22 largest wine exporters by volume
• Australia's 22 largest wine exporters by value
• Australia's 22 largest wine producers by vineyard area
• The Big Four: Southcorp | BRL Hardy | Orlando Wyndham | Beringer Blass
• Public companies

Number of Australian wine producers

The 2004 Australian & New Zealand Wine Industry Directory lists 1,798 companies who commercially sell their wine plus four major wine groups, a 10.6% increase from the previous edition. During 2003 the Directory saw a net gain of 173 wine producers. In the past 10 years, the Directory has seen an average net gain of 95 wine producers per year. The number of wine companies listed has doubled since 1996 when there were 892 companies.

Victoria has by far the greatest number of wine companies and had a net growth of 60 companies this year (see table). Queensland showed the greatest growth in 2003 and grew by 13.5% from 89 companies to 101.

The majority of Australia's wine producers, 69.7%, crush less than 100 tonnes (see table), up from 2000 when 65.4% of producers crush under 100 tonnes. A list of Australian wineries classified by tonnes crushed is presented on pages 55-63. Queensland shows the highest concentration of boutique wineries with 98% of its companies crushing less than 500 tonnes, while Tasmania has 96.4%. About 76% of Victorian companies crush less than 100 tonnes while South Australia has only 59% crushing less than 100 tonnes (see table).

More than half of the wine producers in Australia have been established since 1990. Thirteen wine companies have been in business for 150 years or longer.

About 78% of all companies have a cellar door; Queensland has the highest percentage as 91% of its wineries have cellar doors while South Australia has the lowest at 62%.

Nearly all wine companies produce table wine while less than 30% produce sparkling or fortified wine. About 92% offer mail order services. Wine companies are using the Internet to a greater extent - 64% of companies now have a website, compared to 37% three years ago and 88% now list an e-mail address. Half of all wine companies export wine, although only 22% of companies which crush less than 20 tonnes export wine.

The top four wine companies account for about 65% of the national crush.

The industry is dominated by five wine groups--Southcorp Wines, Hardy Wine Company, Orlando Wyndham, Beringer Blass and McGuigan Simeon Wines. Southcorp Wines and Hardy Wine Company alone account for about 42% of all branded wine sales while the top 22 account for 89% of total sales. The remaining 1,776 producers compete for 11% of total sales of branded, bottled wine. (see table).

Southcorp Wines is the largest wine producer by vineyard hectareage while the top 20 wine companies own or lease about 20% of all vineyard hectareage in Australia (see table).

About 26% of the total grape intake is processed at three processing facilities.

Source: The Australian & New Zealand Wine Industry Directory