Wine Australia’s latest report shows production in 2024–25 once again exceeded sales, pushing national stock levels up 5%.
The numbers are sobering. The Australian financial year runs July 1 to June 30, and during this period, the country produced 1.13bn liters of wine, or 9% more than the previous year — but still 7% below the ten-year average. Yet sales barely moved, sitting at 1.08bn liters.
Wine Australia warns that stocks of excess wine are high. Unfortunately, this wine has nowhere to go, given that global consumption continues to fall. This means that grape prices are unlikely to get better any time soon — if they do get better at all.
The stockpile grows
The report states that "the production of red wine increased by 15% while the production of white wine increased by 2%". This is exactly the wrong trend, as consumers both in Australia and abroad increasingly prefer white wines and sparkling over traditional red wines.
For the past three decades, Shiraz has been Australia’s calling card. But today, that legacy works against the commodity end of the market. As consumers turn to whites, sparkling, and lighter reds, generic warm-climate Shiraz has become the hardest sell in the country’s portfolio.
This glut isn’t affecting the whole sector. Cool-climate Pinot Noir remains in demand, as does old vine Grenache made in a lighter style. But the majority of red grapes are grown in the warm, inland, irrigated regions of southeastern Australia where around 75% of the country’s grapes are grown, threatening the viability of many growers.
Exports now make up 59% of Australian wine sales by volume — a modest 3% rise to 638m liters, helped by the partial thaw in trade with mainland China. But the market Australia is returning to is not the one it lost, as China now buys less than half the volume it took at its 2017–2018 peak, and consumer tastes have shifted towards whites and lighter styles, leaving little relief for oversupplied red-grape growers.
Australians aren’t helping, as they are buying 3% less than they did last year. "Currently, there is an excess of around 262m liters of wine in stock, based on the 2024–2025 sales volume," said Peter Bailey, Wine Australia manager: market insights, in the report.
Click HERE to read the full article.