In a challenging growing season for wine grape growers amid a nationwide oversupply, the King Valley has again confirmed its status as the home of the country’s burgeoning prosecco variety, crushing more than 9000 tonnes valued at almost $11 million.

Wine Australia has just released its national vintage report for 2026, which estimated this year’s winegrape crush to be 1.27 million tonnes, which is the smallest since the year 2000, with its estimated value of $837 million more than a quarter less than last season.

The crush was 19 per cent lower than the 2025 vintage of 1.57 million tonnes and 25 per cent below the 10-year average (2016–2025) of 1.69 million tonnes.

Victoria ranked third in the country for volume - behind South Australia and New South Wales - with an estimated crush of 191,765 tonnes, down 31 per cent year-on-year and also 31 per cent below its 10-year average.

The King Valley’s 2026 wine grape crush totalled 16,783 tonnes with a value of $20,727,255, compared to 2025’s total of 22,116 tonnes and $28,473,618.

Wines of King Valley president Dean Cleave-Smith said the drop was predominantly weather driven, with a particularly tough first half of the season which impacted how the vines’ berries set, seeing the vines produce less fruit.

“While overall national numbers show a significant decline, our decline was purely weather related...our tonnage was down because yields from the vineyard were down,” he said.

Mr Cleave-Smith said lower value and prices reflected the really tough national marketplace growers and wineries were operating in at present.

“Whilst the King Valley has a really good varietal mix with our styles of grapes across whites ands red in high demand, the national oversupply is putting downward pressure on all wine production and that is impacting growers, even if you’re producing in-demand styles,” he said.

“Over the last decade our grape growers and winemakers have grafted and replanted to ensure the valley is producing wine styles that are very much in demand and it’s a real success story, however the national outlook is particularly problematic at the moment and that’s impacting everyone.

“It’s hard to sell wine at present because of a mass national oversupply and that oversupply does need to be corrected.”

Mr Cleave-Smith said despite the challenges, there was genuine optimism in the King Valley on the strength of their in-demand varieties - none more so than prosecco.

“Some 60 percent of the national prosecco crop is grown in the King Valley so we are absolutely the home of prosecco in Australia,” he said, noting De Bortoli Wines is regrafting its vineyards with varieties such as prosecco, pinot grigio and sangiovese.

“King Valley prosecco remains in very strong demand and there’s room for that to continue to grow, which is great to see off the back of the hard fought case we had with the European Union and the Free Trade negotiations, securing the right to use the name prosecco domestically,” he said.

“There is a great deal of economic value for the King Valley and regional Victoria to continue to extract from prosecco.”

KING VALLEY WINE GRAPE CRUSH 2026

16,783 tonnes crushed for value of $20,727,255

white varieties totalled 14,113 tonnes for value of $16,990,809

Prosecco 9081 tonnes value of $10,929,699

Pinot Gris/Grigio 2583 tonnes value $3,454,661

Chardonnay 1194 tonnes value $1,385,629

red varieties totalled 2670 tonnes for value of $3,736,446

Pinot Noir 1161 tonnes value $1,965,404

Sangiovese 686 tonnes value $750,964

Merlot 420 tonnes value $329,868

KING VALLEY WINE GRAPE CRUSH 2025

22,126 tonnes crushed for value of $28,473,618

white varieties totalled 18,116 tonnes for value of $22,344,599

Prosecco 10,220 tonnes value of $12,114,494

Pinot Gris/Grigio 4067 tonnes value of $5,263,712

Chardonnay 1860 tonnes value of $2,744,718

red varieties totalled 4010 tonnes for value of $6,129,020

Pinot Noir 2020 tonnes value of $3,680,724

Sangiovese 905 tonnes value of $1,055,239

Merlot 343 tonnes value of $253,477