Exploring winegrape varieties from the eastern Mediterranean for South Australia

The threat of climate change to the Australian wine industry is well documented. As such, many wine regions are expected to face significant impacts in the next 50 years encompassing increasing temperatures, reduced rainfall, earlier harvests and heat induced berry composition changes. The majority of vineyards and wineries base their businesses on western European grape varieties that traditionally do not have problems with water resources. This has led Australian producers to investigate options to adapt to these challenges, with a particular focus on the drought and heat tolerant indigenous grape varieties of hot Mediterranean climates. To date producers have been seeking potential drought tolerant varieties from Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Georgia.

The mere act of importing “alternative”, lesser known, climate matched winegrape varieties, however, does not automatically guarantee their success in the marketplace. Wines made from these varieties must be acceptable to the consumer and meet their current demands.

In November 2020 large import tariffs were placed on Australian wines entering China, with these only being removed in March 2024. Consequently, these tariffs identified a large weakness within the Australian wine industry. That is, it’s an over reliance on the mass cultivation of red winegrapes and manufacturing of bulk red wines predominantly for the Chinese market. Since then, the industry has seen a great upheaval with many large growers, that concentrate on two or three varieties unable to sell their crops and having to leave the industry.

This report identified 70 winegrape varieties from the eastern Mediterranean that grow in similar conditions to South Australia and also have the potential to appeal to the current market. The author travelled to five different countries to meet with growers, producers and researchers to discuss different varieties, their cultivation, new breeding techniques, winemaking processes and the appeal to consumers in their home countries. From the list of 70 varieties, 10 from the 5 countries were earmarked as being suitable for imminent importation to Australia.

Previously it was thought that the unusual names of winegrapes was an impediment to the adoption of these varieties. Recent studies have refuted that claim and simply supplying a phonetic spelling of a variety name can increase the sales of a wine made from a new variety.

The project also included attendance at the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome, Italy for the World Food Forum (WWF) and Committee on World Food Security (CFS) conferences. These conferences provided a broad perspective on global agriculture and what the future of the wine industry might look like under the gaze of the UN and FAO.