"Aussie Wine Withering" article

"Some say they probably won't survive this year's harvest, because of the cost of keeping vines alive. Water prices have more than tripled."


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23828761/from/ET/wid/18298287&GT1=45002

While I have sympathy for long-established farmers caught in this, many newer entrants have just been burned by a combination of bad luck, greed, and ill-conceived tax subsidies. The bulk wine market may suffer; half of Australia's domestic wine sales are still made in cardboard casks, and this is what these areas largely supply. Grape variety is irrelevant if you label your cask 'soft dry red' for instance. But reduced supply may put pressure on prices, and it's possible that the big companies will import bulk wine from South America of South Africa to fill out the volume in the cask wine market. It's happened before.
As far as quality wine goes, it'll make no difference. They come from other places...
cheers,
Graeme

[Jenise]

Interesting dilemna. My thoughts reading this went "Murray River...less wine...more salt! This is good!" But that's a contrarian view. Thanks for posting the article, Liz.

The problems with water and the Murray-Darling system are very serious for Australia. One could liken it to a similar fate befalling the Mississippi. The area called Southeastern Australia on a lot of wine from Oz is serviced (in part) by these rivers, and the recent lengthy drought has been severe. (see here) However I drove through part of this area in mid-December last year. Going west, once you pass Balranald in NSW, you begin to see vineyards and while there were small areas of vineyards that did look dead the vast majority of vineyards were green and lush, much greener than the surrounding countryside. The grapes here go to both wine and the table including sultanas. While the grape harvests may be falling its clearly not an economic disaster, at least on the macro-scale; some individual farmers may suffer.

What was more interesting was the scene in the Barossa Valley. The vineyards looked stunning in their green leafy coats, while all else was dried and without color. There will still be plenty of wine coming from Oz.

Mike

FYI: To appreciate the importance of the Murray-Darling system to Australia click here to see that The Murray-Darling Basin is 3,430km long, drains one-seventh of the Australian land mass, and is currently by far the most significant agricultural area in Australia.