The industry has grown is now one of the State's strongest production sectors, and is a world benchmark in terms of export orientation, production efficiency, innovation and quality.
Today, NSW accounts for over 30 per cent of the A$5 billion Australian wine industry and is the second largest wine producing State, behind South Australia. The State grows nearly 30 per cent of the industry's specialist wine grapes and produces around 34 per cent of its wine.
Since 1995, wine production in NSW has trebled, peaking at more than 480 million litres in 2006. The area under vine has also increased from less than 15,000 to over 40,000 hectares over the same period.
The Australian wine industry has a strong international focus, and exports now generate more than $2.7 billion each year. Wine exports from NSW have increased nearly 700 per cent over the last decade and have averaged more than A$500 million per annum over the past five years.
NSW is home to seven of Australia's top twenty wine exporters, including Casella Wine, whose [yellowtail] brand is the biggest selling imported wine in the USA.
The USA is NSW's most significant market for wine accounting for around 50 per cent of the State's wine exports. Other major export markets for NSW wines are the United Kingdom, Canada, Western Europe and more recently, Japan and China.
Wine producing areas
The NSW wine industry comprises 16 distinct zones/regions, all highly regarded for their distinctiveness and quality. These are:
- Big Rivers: Murray Darling (NSW), Perricoota, Riverina
- Central Ranges: Cowra, Orange, Mudgee
- Hunter Valley: Hunter
- Northern Rivers: Hastings River
- Northern Slopes: New England
- South Coast: Shoalhaven, Southern Highlands
- Southern NSW: Canberra District, Gundagai, Hilltops, Tumbarumba
- Western Plains
The Riverina (around Griffith and Leeton) is NSW's most productive region accounting for more than half the State's wine production, followed by the Murray Darling (north of the Murray River, principally around Wentworth and Buronga) with around 25 per cent of production. Wine is also a significant contributor to regional economies in the Hunter region, and around Mudgee, Cowra and Orange in the State's Central West.
Quality and innovation
The combination of quality and consistency – the key to the wine industry's success – is a result of the State's climate, soils and winemakers' commitment to excellence and innovation.
This commitment is backed by state-of-the-art technology in vineyard and winemaking operations and ongoing investment in research and development.
The National Wine and Grape Industry Centre at Wagga Wagga boasts some of the most innovative research undertaken by the industry in such areas as:
- vine pathology
- sustainable viticulture
- grape and wine quality
- wine technology.
Expert workforce
The State's network of education and training institutions supports the requirements of the industry. This includes:
- technical training for vineyard and winery staff at Technical and Further Education colleges across the State
- advanced diploma, graduate and post-graduate courses in viticulture, oenology and rural management at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga and Orange, and the University of Western Sydney at Hawkesbury.
Course delivery by these institutions is extremely flexible, with part-time, distance education and workplace-based courses available.
The future
Through competitiveness in quality, price, physical resources and technology, the Australian wine industry is well on track to achieving its 30 year vision of becoming the world's most influential and profitable supplier of branded wines by 2025, and to increase its share of the world wine market to five per cent by 2010.
Consistent with this strategy, the NSW wine industry aims to capture 40 per cent of the industry's growth to become the leading wine State in terms of size, quality, influence and profitability.