For the first time since the early 1980s, shiraz grapes from the Barossa valley will remain without a home, for the time being at least. Harvest levels well above vintage estimates have added to the problems of the short-term domestic oversupply of red wine, with the result that some large wineries are not accepting tonnages above contractually agreed levels. The Barossa is not alone in this respect, for large parcels of uncontracted Coonawarra and Yarra Valley cabernet sauvignon have recently been traded at barely above cost of harvesting.
