Despite the wine industry recently showing early signs of recovery, experts warn that the wine glut will worsen.
The 2025 Australian wine crush was estimated to be around 1.57 million tonnes and worth an estimated A$1.13 billion.
While this is a 14% increase from last year’s volume, it is still below the 10-year average of 1.71 million tonnes.
Wine Australia’s 2025 National Vintage Report found the country’s wine grape crush in 2025 rebounded by 11% to 1.57 million tonnes.
Shiraz saw the largest year-on-year increase of 23%, which Wine Australia market insights manager Peter Bailey said was at odds with consumer demand.
"There hasn't really been a strong increase in demand for shiraz in the market, so I can only imagine that the increase was really due to wineries taking in some of that fruit that was available," he said.
"For example, with the Riverland shiraz, the crush itself was up 21% on 2024 and the price was up 2%, but at $204 per tonne is still exceptionally low and probably not economically viable for many of those growers."
In comparison, Chardonnay saw the biggest drop in volume by 13% with seasonal issues playing more of a role than supply and demand.
With red wines leading the rebound, Bailey said this is problematic due to a lack of demand for red wines that stands to exacerbate the issue.
"The increase in the red crush is surprising given that the oversupply that we've experienced in the last few years has been in red," he said.
"The increase in the red crush this year is not going to help that situation.
"Conditions are not likely to improve for red grapes until there is a significant reduction in the supply base."
South Australia has the largest share of the national crush by size with 48%, which is 8% higher than its 2024 crush but 13% lower than the 10-year average.
