A south-west Western Australian wine bottling facility is looking to switch to nitrogen gas

The Capel Vale Winery usually uses carbon dioxide to bottle wine for 100 WA wineries, but has been unable to source any CO2, because it is no longer being produced, due to the gas shortage.

The winery has now opted to use nitrogen gas which costs three times as much.

Site manager Keith Warrick says he is negotiating with his supplier, working out the logistics to get the nitrogen to the south-west.

"They have at least had somebody on site that's determined the appropriate location for the bulk vessel, the amount of engineering that's going to be required to get it up and running," he said.

Australian Bulk Wine Exports Plummet

A thirty three percent decline in bulk wine shipments and 41 percent drop in tetra -pack shipments has led to a nine percent drop in the volume of Australian wine exports, reports Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation.

The volume of wine exports fell to 724 million litres in the 12 months to the end of May this year, the AWBC says, while the value of overall wine exports dropped seven per cent to $2.8 billion, in the same period.

Lawrie Stanford from the AWBC says while bulk shipments have declined, the rate of bottled shipments has also slowed in recent months as they grew only 1%, by 8 million litres.

Australian winemaker turns waste water into winning wines

World-beating winemaker Michael Fragos sees his South Australian vineyards as the perfect spot to grow grapes -- the soil, climate and afternoon sea breeze are all ideal.

The only problem is the lack of water in one of the country's driest states, a hurdle that he and other McLaren Vale vignerons have overcome by using treated waste water to irrigate the deep green vines.

A visit to the area is testimony to the long-running drought and scorching Australian climate -- any land where vines are not growing is crackling dry.

THE soaring Australian dollar is costing major wine exporters millions of dollars

While exports reached a record $3.02 billion last year, experts say a combination of drought, the high dollar and foreign competition means the industry now faces significant challenges.

Bottled wine exports are still growing but at a declining rate and experts believe the growth may stop within two months.

The rising dollar is particularly hitting the price-sensitive cheaper end of the market, as the buoyant Aussie dollar makes exports more expensive.

Shiraz makers shine

Every year, the wine industry bible The Australian And New Zealand Wine Industry Directory reports a rise in the number of Australian wine producers, usually about 10 per cent. This year, the directory notes producers - not all have wineries- are up by 7.1 per cent. The total is 2299, an increase of 153 from last year, although there are many more than the directory lists: most weeks I look up someone new and fail to find them.

Exciting new producers are continually appearing, too many for we scribes to acknowledge. Many of their most impressive wines are shiraz, which is no surprise: it's Australia's signature grape. One-fifth of the samples I receive are shiraz, which is a bit frustrating as it doesn't give a balanced view of the market.