You’d better believe it, but with the shortfall of chardonnay anticipated from so many warm Australian regions this vintage, Australia could actually be about to enter a four to five year period of chardonnay deficit. Several years ago it became apparent that even though Australia still had young chadonnay vineyards coming onstream, that the overwhelming majority (around 70-80%) of plantings in the last four to five years has been of red varieties, especially shiraz. Now that exports have continued a relatively steady growth by volume, we could begin to feel the pinch. From late this year don’t expect too much chardonnay in wine softpacks or such wide availability of varietal chardonnay in cheap bottles. What would I be planting right now? Chardonnay. And plenty of it.
