Wine export sales hit record growth

Great Southern wines have experienced record growth in export sales in the past 12 months with export wine volumes growing by 90 per cent and export wine values up 95 per cent, bringing in about $2.2 million to the local industry.

Australian Grape and Wine Authority analyst Peter Bailey said this was great news for Great Southern wine.

"The other point is that it's coming at a relatively high average value of $8.42 per litre which reflects Great Southern's premium offering," Mr Bailey said.

"Compare that to the total average of all Australian exports, which is for bottled exports, that is around $4.89 per litre so it really does show where Great Southern is situated."

He said Wine Australia had a strong focus on growing premium offerings overseas. Mount Barker Wine Producer's Association president and owner of Galafrey Wines Kim Tyrer said she'd learned many surprising facts about the Great Southern export market from Wine Australia at the Regional Roadshow last Wednesday.

She was surprised that certain Great Southern varieties like sauvignon blanc were more popular in the export market than domestic favourites like chardonnay and which countries preferred these varieties over others.

Mr Bailey said interest in Australia wine was spread out among 33 countries.

"It's not just over a few markets - exports of Great Southern wines went to 33 markets around the world and just the biggest of those is the UK which has about a 44 per cent share and then China with 22 per cent, Denmark with about 6 percent, and the US and Canada each with around 4 per cent," he said.

Much of this growth is seen throughout Australia's export wine market and points to several factors.

AGWA chief executive Andreas Clark said the national rise of 3.6 per cent in volume and 3.9 per cent in value of wine exports match anecdotal evidence of renewed interest in Australian wines globally.