Having Escaped The Worst So Far, Australian Winemakers Now Face Drought's Teeth - Telegraph

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The drought has now lasted nearly a decade, and is the worst in the past century, hitting not just the wine trade but the way of life of outback farming communities. It has ruined some sheep and wheat farmers and turned many rural settlements into virtual ghost towns. More than 10,000 families have been forced off the land in the past five years. In some outback schools, a generation has grown up without ever splashing through a large puddle. Worst hit have been the creeks and streams of the Murray-Darling river system, where around 1,300 growers produce more than 400,000 tons of mainly shiraz, cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay grapes, about a quarter of Australia's total. To produce reliable supplies for big-selling labels such as Lindemans and Roberts Estate, vineyards have relied on highly regulated irrigation systems flowing from enormous reservoirs in the nearby Snowy Mountains.

But storage levels have now fallen to about 40 per cent of normal, and with the current winter the driest since records began 118 years ago, fears are growing that the diminishing water flow could lead to a reduction in grape yields – ultimately putting up the price of a bottle for British drinkers. Any harvest reduction would have knock-on effects, said Brian Simpson, head of Australia's Wine Grapes Marketing Board: "If there aren't price rises at the retail level, growers will leave the industry."

So far, wine-makers have escaped the worst of the crisis. Their business is so important to the local economy that it has been guaranteed water. But for other inhabitants of the Murray-Darling basin, a vast expanse of land the size of France and Germany combined, the consequences are much more serious. Wagga Wagga, a rural community in the Riverina district, is facing disaster. "The situation's extremely tough," said Alan Brown, a livestock and wheat farmer. "Our season this year is hanging on a knife edge. If we get another crop failure I'm not sure what will happen, but it won't be pretty."

Australian farmers have fabled reserves of hardiness and resource, but many are buckling under the strain. "The problem with drought is you're accumulating debt all the time," said Les Gordon, the president of the Rice Growers Association of Australia. "Farmers close to retirement are seeing their nest egg disappearing, their ability to retire starting to diminish and they are a long way behind where they were 10 years ago."

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/2530196/Australias-wine-region-threatened-by-drought.html