Stories of full tanks containing the 2008 vintage and cutting crops of the 2009 vintage that were being discussed might have a lesson or two for the Maharashtra farmers who have been enjoying a seller's market and producers who have been jumping the gun to make as much inroads into the market as possible, besides converting liquid gold to solid.
Warning the members of the possible glut, New Zealand Winegrowers has advised members for crop-thinning advice to its members to ensure it doesn't land itself with a massive oversupply of wine in 2009. Much of the 2008 wine is still sitting in the tanks according to a report.
Predictions of another bumper harvest in 2009 have prompted the Association to advise the industry to be careful with its stock management. Philip Gregan, CEO of the grape growers body, New Zealand Winegrowers said: "The message we're getting and giving is that of managing the crop properly. Hawkes Bay will be a larger crop but most other areas will be smaller than 2008."
People have got full tanks, they're either going to have to dump it or sell it cheap. There's probably a lot of grapes that shouldn't have been picked in 2008 and I think we're going to see a lot of other brands emerging, says an importer.
A record 285,000 tonnes of grapes were crushed in 2008, compared to 205,000 tonnes in 2007 and 185,000 tonnes in 2006.
Coming back to India, Rajeev Samant of Sula informs delWine that though the 2008 vintage was a record vintage, and was 50% over the previous year, it may be almost the same as last year. But this is only the production story. How much of that we (producers) can sell will be a matter of concern to all. Sula has already decided to reduce its crush significantly.
Unlike New Zealand, India does not depend much on exports but mainly on domestic consumption and the parallel between the two situations is uncanny.
Australia faces rough weather
In a somewhat related scenario, the commercially smart Australian winemaker Wolf Blass ( whose namesake winery is now owned by Fosters) blasted the Australian strategy of promoting overseas the overproduced and irrigated wines.
At the inaugural Barossa Generations lunch at the Peter Lehmann winery last week, attended by about 300 Barossa wine industry experts debating issues like high alcohol in Barossa wines, irrigation ban, concentration on Shiraz etc., he termed the funding system for overseas promotion of 'overproduced wine' from irrigated Australian fruit 'idiotic'.
'Parasitic and idiotic funding systems for overseas promotion mean that overproduced wine from Australian irrigated fruit will hit rock bottom, facing competition from South Africa,' Wolf Blass warned, stressing that 'no table wine over 15% should ever get any medal, anywhere in the world.' |