Australia, Organic & Biodynamic wine production data: See Organics, Biodynamics, Australia.

Australia calculates the tonnages of its organic and Biodynamic wine grapes rather than the surface area of its organic and Biodynamic vineyards.

Market Bulletin | Issue 160 Trends, Biodynamic, Organic 11 June 2019: The key points from this market Bulletin are:

–Consumer interest in certified organic, vegan friendly, biodynamic, preservative free or carbon neutral wines is growing, but this isn’t translating into sales and so remains niche (see Wine Intelligence’s Sustainable, Organic and Lower Alcohol Wine 2019 (SOLA) report).

–Exports of Australian of certified organic and biodynamic wine grew 34 per cent in value from 2016–March 2019. Export volume increased 23 per cent in the same period to 311,000 9-litre case equivalents. The number of export markets also grew (up 21 per cent to 64), along with the number of exporters, up 64 per cent to 97).

For organic wine, which made up 93 per cent of Australian organic and biodynamic wine exports in year ending March 2019, volume grew by 51 per cent to 288,300 9-litre case equivalents compared with the year ending March 2016 and value grew 78 per cent to $14.3 million FOB (free-on-board). Exports of biodynamic wine increased in volume by 58 per cent while value increased by 70 per cent.

Note that Wine Australia can monitor results only when exporters report and prove that the product is ‘organic’ or ‘biodynamic’ during registration. However, exporters can opt to not indicate on the label if the wine is actually organic, meaning volumes may be under-reported.

Sweden is Australia’s largest export market for certified organic wines making up half (49 per cent) of all organic exports. Organic wines account for a relatively high share of Australia’s exports to Sweden at 19 per cent in the year ending March 2019. Organic exports to Sweden have also experienced strong growth over the past 5 years, with an average annual growth rate of 55 per cent since 2014. The second and third largest export markets, Canada and the United Kingdom, have also experienced strong compound annual average growth over the past 5 years up 55 per cent and 32 per cent respectively.

Within Australia, the International Wine and Spirits Record (IWSR) reported that 680,000 9-litre case equivalents of organic wine were consumed in 2018, which was up on the previous year by 28 per cent.

Even though there has been growth in both Australian wine exports and domestic consumption, organic wine remains a niche segment, with exports making up 0.5 per cent of all bottled exports and 1.3 per cent of still wine consumption in Australia.

Opportunities for organic wine: There may be further growth opportunities for organic wine, with the organic food culture trend growing with increased interest in ethical consumerism. This organic trend also presents the biggest opportunities in Nordic countries, such as Sweden where the government alcohol monopoly Systembolaget drives consumption trends with strong retail objectives to increase the availability of organic wine. More information on Australian exports to Nordic countries can be found in issue 78 of our Market Bulletin published in September 2017.

In Australia, organic wine presents the largest opportunity compared to other alternative wines such as lower alcohol wine, preservative free wine or vegan/vegetarian wine according to Wine Intelligence

Wine Intelligence also noted in its previous SOLA report 2018 that the strongest opportunity for lower-alcohol wine was among women rather than men and that younger wine drinkers were considerably more open to alternative wine styles. Younger consumers in Australia were also more aware of vegan wine and had a higher intent on purchasing wines with both sustainable and organic credentials.

On the other hand, its Australian research also found that ‘organic’ on a wine label was actually a deterrent to purchase, with males in particular less likely to purchase wine if it had ‘organic’ on the label than if it didn’t (all other things being equal).