In short:
The Orange wine region in Central West NSW produces world-class cool climate wines due to high altitude vineyards.
asserted
region → produce → vineyards
Consumers are wanting more lighter style wines, which the industry claims are produced best in cool climates.
uncertain
industry → want → climates
Hunter Valley wineries often use Orange's grapes due to climate change making it challenging to grow lighter styles.
asserted
it → use → styles
For two decades Ross and Derice McDonald made organic wines in the Hunter Valley before they say consumer tastes and the climate turned against them.
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tastes → make → them
So they packed their bags and moved to Orange in the Central West in 2020 for their own slice of an extinct volcano.
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they → pack → volcano
"Everything that we want in Orange can be grown in Orange," said Ross McDonald, owner of Macquariedale Organic Wines.
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McDonald → want → Wines
"There's no need to be looking too far afield to supplement what we're doing because of climate change.
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we → be → change
We can ripen shiraz and cabernet now quite successfully in Orange."
The Hunter Valley in NSW is the state's most well-known and most visited wine region, famous for their shiraz and semillon wines.
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Valley → ripen → wines
But climate change and consumer trends towards lighter style wines are leading to the Hunter buying and growing grapes in cooler climate regions like Orange.
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Hunter → lead → Orange
"[Lighter] wine styles are very difficult to make in hotter areas, and the hot areas have been identified in Australia as pretty much Hunter Valley, Coonawarra, Barossa Valley, Margaret River," Mr McDonald said.
"
asserted
McDonald → make → Valley
So everybody in those areas are looking at alternative grapes that are more heat tolerant, or they're purchasing grapes from cooler areas to make those styles of wines."
asserted
they → look → wines
Orange is classed as cool climate because its vineyards sit between 600 and 1,390 metres above sea level.
asserted
vineyards → class → level
Some of the fruit grown there now ends up in wines made in the Hunter.
The trend of purchasing grapes from cooler climates has accelerated over the past decade, according to industry bodies and Mr McDonald.
uncertain
trend → grow → bodies
Under Wine Australia's labelling rules, at least 85 per cent of the grapes in a wine must come from a region for that region to be named on the label.
asserted
region → come → label
But there are no rules about where a wine can be sold.
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wine → be → ?
For example, a Hunter Valley cellar door can sell wine made mostly from Orange grapes, as long as it is not labelled as Hunter Valley.
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it → sell → Valley
While there are no exact numbers showing how many grapes are farmed out, and where they are from, it is understood from a number of Central West growers that Orange makes up a large proportion of the Hunter's outsourced purchased grapes.
asserted
Orange → be → grapes
"My estimation is that approximately 50 per cent of the grapes processed in the Hunter are not actually grown there now," Mr McDonald said.
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McDonald → process → Hunter
"Orange would play a big part in that.
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Orange → play → that
Hunter Valley Wine and Tourism Association chief executive Jennie Curran said access to fruit from other regions could provide wineries with greater resilience if local harvest volumes were reduced.
uncertain
volumes → say → resilience
"Local wine production does not always meet demand and as a result, some wineries source fruit from other regions to complement their Hunter Valley production and maintain supply consistency," she said.
asserted
she → meet → consistency
"Like all regions, we are experiencing greater weather variability, including more intense rainfall events, extended heat periods and changing seasonal conditions, requiring growers to continue to invest in vineyard management and risk mitigation.
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we → experience → management
"
But the idea of using Orange's grapes in other areas is not new.
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idea → use → areas
When the first vineyards were grown in Orange, a lot of fruit was sold to the surrounding area, as the Central West was yet to be established as a wine region.
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West → grow → region
"Predominantly [it went] to wineries in places like the Hunter Valley," secretary for the Orange Region Vignerons Association and Stockman's Ridge Wines owner, Lisa De Diana said.
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Diana → go → Association
"Nowadays … most of the vignerons in Orange choose to keep their own fruit for their own wine."
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most → choose → wine
Its nutrient-rich soils, as well as the cool climate and high rainfall, makes the environment well-suited for growing fruit.
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environment → make → fruit
In the 1860s, Orange began growing apples, cherries and stone fruit, which it is still known for today.
asserted
it → begin → which
But it was not until the 1980s that attention was turned to the wine industry, with a number of wineries establishing themselves in the red soil of the mountain.
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number → turn → mountain
"It had everything we were looking for; it's got the right sort of climate, the right sort of soils, good conditions for growing good quality fruit," Ms De Diana said.
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Diana → have → fruit
"It gives us really ancient volcanic soils, which are extremely fertile, and that's one of the key growing things for a vineyard is the type of soil and in volcanic soils, vines do exceptionally well.
asserted
vines → give → soils
"
Demand for lighter wines
According to the NSW Wine Industry Association, wine consumption overall has been decreasing.
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consumption → accord → Association
Executive officer Matthew Jessop said this was being driven by lifestyle, export markets, cost-of-living pressures and changing tastes.
asserted
this → say → pressures
"There has been a move away from bigger style reds," he said.
asserted
he → say → reds
This is backed by the Endeavour Group's insights report, which states younger drinkers are looking for lighter styles of wine.
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drinkers → back → wine
Wine Australia's recent National Vintage Report showed that Orange was producing almost five times the amount of pinot noir than the Hunter Valley was.
asserted
Valley → show → noir
Orange crushed almost five times as much pinot noir as the Hunter Valley this year, according to Wine Australia: 343 tonnes, worth about $730,000, compared with 69 tonnes worth about $71,000.
uncertain
crushed → crush → tonnes
The Aporia