I've read a few different places now about the glut of grapes facing Australian winemakers. I guess I'm going to start paying attention now. Too many grapes may be a good thing for wine drinkers, but for wineries - not so good.

From Growers 'deserted' in wine glut:

THE stunning growth of the Australian wine industry has come to a dramatic halt with at least 60,000 tonnes of grapes -- equivalent to 55 million bottles -- left unpicked and almost an entire 12-month supply of wine still in vats from last year.
The Australian Wine and brandy Corporation estimates the 2006 harvest will be 1.9million tonnes, 1 per cent less than last year, with the quality rated "good to excellent".

Corporation analyst Peter Bailey said up to 3per cent of grapes had been left to wither on the vine after wine companies deserted growers because of the glut.
He said estimates of wine still in storage varied from between 500 million and 900million litres.

"There is also quite a bit of wine left in storage from the last few vintages," Mr Bailey said. "That is making the situation a lot more difficult."

Australians consumed 430million litres over the past year, while 700 million litres were exported. "Our prediction is that it would take four to five years to bring the supply-demand balance back," Mr Bailey said.