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Australian Wine Facts & Trivia

In just 200 years, Australia’s wine industry has grown from a few small plantings to an industry renowned throughout the world for quality, innovation and depth that produces every one of the major wine styles and grows vines in every State and Territory.

There are 74 wine regions in Australia and this number grows each year. New South Wales has 8 wine zones with 17 wine regions, South Australia has 7 wine zones with 20 wine regions, Victoria has 6 wine zones with 21 wine regions, Western Australia has 5 wine with 10 wine regions and Tasmania and Queensland each have one wine zone with three wine regions.

Australia is the world’s sixth largest wine producer according to the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics (ABARE).

Australia has some of the oldest grape vines in the world. Many of Europe’s established vineyards were destroyed by disease (phylloxera) in the 1800s. The only survivors were the vines brought to Australia.

The inland irrigated regions of the Riverina (New South Wales), Murray Valley (Victoria) and Riverland (South Australia) account for approximately 55 per cent of total wine grape production.

In 2005-06 South Australia was responsible for just over 50% of total Australian wine production.

In 2005-06 more red wine than white wine was produced.

Australia is the world’s fourth largest wine exporter. Exports of Australian wine in 2005-06 were at a record volume of 732 million litres and value of A$2.79 billion.

Australian wines have consistently won medals at almost every major international wine competition and have set records for the price of a single bottle.

Over the past decade, the share of Australian wine exports shipped to the industry’s largest five export markets (the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Germany and New Zealand) has increased from 77 per cent to around 84 per cent in volume terms.

Australian wines are being sold in over 100 countries and can be found in the finest restaurants the world over.

The United Kingdom is now importing more wine from Australia than it does from France.

As recently as 1985-86, Australia imported more wine than it exported. Since then, the trade balance for wine has changed for both quantity and value; by 2002-03, exports exceeded imports by 379 million litres and A$2.3 billion.

Around 78% of the wineries in Australia have cellar doors. 29% also have restaurant dining, 11% offer accommodation and some even offer opera theatre and have festivals celebrating wine, food and music.

The wine cask or wine box, the forerunner to the modern day soft pack, was invented in Australia.

The 2008 edition of the Halliday Australian Wine Companion profiles 1740 Australian wineries, 218 new wineries and has tasting notes for 5836 wines.

Several Australian wineries have formed joint ventures with a number of the giants of the wine world. Yering Station is participating in a joint venture with Champagne Davaux, one of the leading champagne houses in France, while Domaine Chandon (now an international brand) located in the Yarra Valley has a joint venture with Moet Chandon.