29.3% 

To start, some good news .... According to Nielsen data (52 weeks ending October 15 2011) NZ wine was the fastest growing category in the USA in the past year, with sales up 29.3% by volume on the previous period. Next fastest growing country was Argentina +19.5%, while our trans-Tasman cousins Australia were down 4.5% by volume.

60%

At the end of October 2011 exports of 2011 Sauvignon Blanc were 58.5 million litres, compared with 36.5 million litres of 2010 Sauvignon Blanc at the same time last year. This means exports of current vintage Sauvignon Blanc at end of October are a massive 60% ahead of last year!

$71.5m

NZ wine exports to Asia for the June year end 2011 reached 6.0 million litres valued at $71.5 million, with an average price of $11.97 per litre, 69% above average export values to all markets. Exports to Asia now represent 6.5% of total export value and have grown 10 fold in the past decade.

62c per litre

This is the lift in the average price for bottle wine exports to Australia in the past year. MAT August 2011 average price was $9.54 per litre up from a low MAT June 2010 of $8.92 per litre. Across our current bottled wine sales to Australia this amounts to close to $21 million of extra winery income. Some of this benefit will have accrued as a result of the favourable exchange rate with Australia. However the exchange rate has worked against exporters to the UK and USA, so exchange rate issues still sit near the top of major issues for many wineries.

34.9%

This is the share of New Zealand wine exports that were shipped as bulk wine in the 12 months to the end of October 2011. This was marginally down on the 35% MAT September 2011, but was well up on 29.3% MAT October 2010.

$6.79 per litre

The average price for New Zealand wine exports MAT September 2011 is $6.79 per litre, down 5% or 36 cents per litre on the same month in 2010. This fall would appear to have been largely driven by the increase in bulk wine exports, because prices for packaged wine shipments are up marginally compared to 2010.

67.6m litres

NZ wine sales in NZ for the year ending September 2011 are estimated to have been 67.6 million litres. This is the highest ever sales volume and represents a market share of 71%.

328,000

This should be a well known number – our vintage in 2011 was 328,000 tonnes. This generated quite a lot of media coverage when it was realised this was 23% larger than the 2010 vintage. However, that was something of an unfair comparison because sales for June year end 2011 were 221 million litres (the equivalent of around 307,000 tonnes) so the vintage was in fact just 7% bigger than the previous year’s sales.

Another 7%

A much less well know number, but important none the less. This is the number from the MAF 2011 Viticulture Monitoring Report - 7% of the producing area of monitor vineyards in Marlborough were unharvested in 2011 given grape yields exceeded contract volumes. It is impossible to say whether or not this number has any validity across Marlborough as a whole as an indicator of the area of unharvested grapes, but it is interesting nonetheless.

$185m

Excise remains a major concern for wineries and no wonder when the rate lifted 4.55% in July to $2.7206 per litre for table wine and a massive $8.919 for a fortified wine (@18% alcohol). The increase means industry payments to the government in the next year are likely to be around $185 million.

$1239 

The average grape price from the 2011 vintage was $1,239 per tonne. This was down 4.2% on 2010, and is down 43% on the peak price of $2,161 reached in 2008. For some growers this fall in return per tonne may have been offset by increased yields. 

The Unknown Number

The unknown number is the size of vintage 2012! As I write flowering is underway in northern regions and it would seem at
this stage that we have largely escaped any nationally significant frosts. Let’s hope the New Year brings a very high quality vintage in line with profitable sales forecasts. 

Merry Xmas. ν