Posted on 06/06/2006 5:56:46 PM PDT by blam
Grape glut leaves vineyards facing ruin
By Nick Squires in Sydney
(Filed: 07/06/2006)
Hundreds of Australian vineyards are facing ruin amid a glut of grapes that has left the industry producing far more wine than it can sell at home or overseas.
The problem is so severe that the industry said yesterday that it will take a multi-million pound government bail-out to save smaller producers from going out of business.
The popularity of Australian wine in Britain and America, coupled with generous government tax breaks, encouraged a craze for establishing vineyards from the late 1990s. The Wine Grape Growers' Council of Australia said that years of over-planting of vines and two recent bumper crops meant that up to 40 per cent of grape growers would lose their livelihoods unless urgent action was taken.
Mark McKenzie, the head of the council, said: "We need to take 15,000 hectares or 300,000 tons out of the system for the next two years."
The heads of Australia's six largest wine companies will hold a crisis summit in Melbourne on Friday. They want the government to provide £24 million to compensate growers for not picking their grapes for the next two years.
LOL.
Up until 1989, I single handedly kept Miller Brewers in business. (Then I quit)
Aussie Wines suck and yes, I have tasted many (over 30 according to my wine journal). Buy American (or Italian, or Chilean, or Argentinean) and STAY AWAY from Roo Juice.
"A lot of people in this country pooh-pooh Australian table wines. This is a pity as many fine Australian wines appeal not only to the Australian palate but also to the cognoscenti of Great Britain."
"Black Stump Bordeaux is rightly praised as a peppermint flavoured Burgundy, whilst a good Sydney Syrup can rank with any of the world's best sugary wines."
"Château Blue, too, has won many prizes; not least for its taste, and its lingering afterburn."
"Old Smokey 1968 has been compared favourably to a Welsh claret, whilst the Australian Wino Society thoroughly recommends a 1970 Coq du Rod Laver, which, believe me, has a kick on it like a mule: 8 bottles of this and you're really finished. At the opening of the Sydney Bridge Club, they were fishing them out of the main sewers every half an hour."
"Of the sparkling wines, the most famous is Perth Pink. This is a bottle with a message in, and the message is 'beware'. This is not a wine for drinking, this is a wine for laying down and avoiding."
"Another good fighting wine is Melbourne Old-and-Yellow, which is particularly heavy and should be used only for hand-to-hand combat."
"Quite the reverse is true of Château Chunder, which is an appellation contrôlée, specially grown for those keen on regurgitation; a fine wine which really opens up the sluices at both ends."
"Real emetic fans will also go for a Hobart Muddy, and a prize winning Cuivre Reserve Château Bottled Nuit San Wogga Wogga, which has a bouquet like an aborigine's armpit."
Amen. Count me in.
I have a fantasy and that is to go to a deserted tropical island with every bottle of wine ever made, every book ever printed and ever piece of music ever recorded (in MP3 form).
I would not be able to leave that island until either I drank every bottle of wine there ever was, read every book there ever was and listened to ever piece of music there ever was.
If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on the wine running out first.
I'm with you- I love Australian wines!
The Rosemount Shiraz isn't bad.......
http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsprofile/rosemount.shtml
Ping
2. Rosemount ia OK, but still overwhelms everything you drink with it, other than Porterhouse. Even in that case, there are MUCH BETTER wines out there.
Let's help our Aussie friends. Drink more wine from OZ.
I'm not as think as you drunk I am.
It's been around for 20-30 years.
Let's send Australia our Democrats to soak up the wine surplus!
Well they can't blame me. I've been drinking Australian wine like there's no tomorrow.
Thanks
Oh no you don't. Think the wine surplus is preferable.
Would it also make decent fresh juice?
clarly twoo!
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