Cheap Australian Chardonnay – is it dead?
Help keep Australian Wine and Drinks Review free
Rather than bombard you with ads or erect a paywall, I simply ask for a donation to keep this site running.
Donate here and help produce more brutally honest drinks reviews
Some of the project studies (a good one here from CSU) show that Chardonnay has been a victim of its own success really, with prices per tonne for grapes falling while plantings has increased – as seen in the figure below.
![]() |
Source: Project NWG 1103 CSU (csu.edu.au) |
twenty years.
![]() |
Source: Project NWG 1103 CSU (csu.edu.au) |
Well, there is an argument – perpetuated by articles like this – that Australia can’t afford to be making cheap wine like that. From an environmental point of view, wine that is cheaper than water is a ridiculous circumstance in a nation as dry as ours, particularly given that it can take between 2-10 litres of water to make a litre of wine.
4 Comments
Hello Andrew,
This is why I am a regular reader and sometimes novice contributor……if its crap you say so and with balance . If it is at the other end of the quality spectrum you provide an equally balanced opinion.
You dont publish a big fat review book annually with all Australian wines 92+, you call it as you see it, taste it and smell it.
You keep writing the way you do and I'll keep reading…….and sometimes contributing.
Kudos to you sir
Colin r
Feel free to contribute more Colin – appreciate it!
I buy some Fiano from Ricca Terra Farms in the Riverland and they have been pulling out their Chardonnay to plant more Fiano. At 1100 per tonne for Fiano and 250 per tonne for Chardonnay it is a no brainer for the grower.
Josh Tuckfield
I would be too.