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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
Dylan Nicholson

Hunter grapes buck downward trend as national wine crush slumps to a 25-year low

The 2026 Hunter vintage will be remembered as one of the best in years for quality.

But new figures from Wine Australia show it landed in the middle of the smallest Australian grape crush in more than a quarter of a century, as oversupply and weak prices bite hard across the country's bulk-producing regions.

The Hunter crushed 3604 tonnes of grapes this year, down 36 per cent on 2025. Photo: Shutterstock
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