Back in the early 2000s, the Australian wine industry had never had it so good, with the booming Chinese market absorbing a massive 70 per cent of our wine exports. But the party came to a sudden, sobering end in 2021 when China introduced a raft of crippling trade sanctions against Australian wine and other goods after then prime minister Scott Morrison called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although those crushing tariffs were lifted earlier this year, our wine industry has struggled to recover. That’s not just because of sluggish domestic demand in China but because, as Luke Slattery reveals in today’s cover story, Australian producers had spent almost two decades cranking up their exports of budget bottled and cask wine, resulting in ever-falling prices. The wine glut was thus already eroding growers’ bottom lines before China abruptly pulled the plug, driving some vineyards into bankruptcy. While our “hot country” mainland wines face challenges, there is some good news: Tasmania’s cool-climate premium wines are fetching soaring prices overseas and many Apple Isle vineyards are enjoying modest expansion.
