Winemakers face barrel price jump
Posted
South-west Western Australian winemakers are anticipating wine barrel prices this year will reach the highest levels ever seen in Australia.
The barrels are expected to jump 30 per cent in price, with some already costing $1,700 each.
Pemberton winemaker Patrick Couts has blamed an 18 per cent increase in French oak timber prices, combined with a significant fall in the value of Australian dollar.
He says it will cost his vineyard thousands of dollars.
"If the Euro stays at the stage it is now we're only looking at buying 40 barrels and so really if the barrels went up by $200 a barrel, we're talking an $8,000 cost increase over this year just purely based on mainly currency and a little bit of the timber price increase coming through," he said.
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