Domestic wine sales value increased 3.8 per cent to $2.78 billion despite volume declining 0.6 per cent to 456 million litres, according to the latest ‘State of Australian Wine’ report by Wine Australia.
The report outlines the results of the ‘Wine Production, Inventory and Domestic Sales Survey 2015’. It reveals that red and rosé were the best-performing category, up 1.2 per cent to 174.9 million litres (value up 7.8 per cent to $1.16 billion). White wine recorded the largest decline, down by 1.6 per cent to 211 million litres (value up two per cent to $1.07 billion).
A similar trend was present for both fortified and sparkling wines. Sparkling declined by 2.8 per cent to 50.1 million litres (value increased by 1.5 per cent to $452 million), while fortified sales increased by 1.2 per cent to 19.6 million litres (value increased by 4.1 per cent to $101 million).
According to the report, wineries are having more success selling wine direct to the consumer. In 2014-15, direct sales increased 1.5 per cent to 42.1 million litres. The retail channel proved to be the more difficult channel, down 0.8 per cent to 414 million litres.
This is the second year Wine Australia has conducted the survey and it is estimated to have collected data on 84 per cent of Australian wine production and 82 per cent of domestic sales. The full report is now available on the Wine Australia website.