Anticipation and excitement is building in Margaret River with this year’s vintage tipped by local producers to be the best yet.
Good rainfall during a mild winter and a cooler than average summer which lacked the usual temperature spikes and extreme weather events, has provided an almost perfect growing season.
Twenty-six local producers and industry representatives recently gathered at Larry Cherubino’s cellar door over a lunch hosted by ANZ to discuss current trends and the challenges and opportunities across both the local and national wine industries.
Darren Haunold, from Wills Domain said networking with his regional colleagues highlighted that they were all focused on the betterment of the local wine industry.
“It helped to benchmark our own activity and really helped me understand where we could improve our strategy planning to take advantage of future opportunities, both domestically and internationally.”
Driven mostly by China, rising demand for premium Australian wine also has Margaret River producers well placed to take advantage of a great vintage.
According to the latest statistics from Wine Australia wine priced in the $20-$50 price range has seen an 82 per cent increase followed by 65 per cent increase in the $100+ priced wine.
As Western Australian producers only 3 per cent of Australia’s wine production there is significant opportunity to promote Margaret River wine to overseas markets as a ‘unique, quality, premium, boutique wine’, therefore differentiating it from other quality regional brands.
Wine Industry Association WA chief executive officer Larry Jorgensen said North America and Europe’s economies were improving which would provide growth opportunities across our regions.
“While not all wine producers will choose to establish an export market, every bottle of wine exported benefits the industry,” he said.
For now we wait in anticipation, with white wines expected to be released in the next few months and reds in 12-18 months.
The 2018 vintage is shaping up to be a year that will be talked about for decades to come, reaffirming Margaret River’s reputation as a world class wine region.