WINE grape growers have been crushed by the news that Foster's could halve the price it will pay for chardonnay in the coming vintage.
Wineries have been holding meetings with their growers in the Murray Valley and Riverland regions this week to discuss possible price ranges for 2009-10.Murray Valley Winegrowers chairman Michael de Palma said official prices had not yet been released, but he hoped the figure of $150 a tonne for chardonnay was only the minimum.
''Some fruit sold at $150 a tonne or less last year but not a lot,'' he said.
''The fear is that if the majority of pricing is around the $150-$200 a tonne mark, then that becomes the average price, rather than the worst case scenario and that's what we're really concerned about.
''A lot of growers have got to this stage thinking they may get a better price than that and it's cost them a motza of money to do that.
"If they had known that earlier, they may not have grown grapes to begin with. At those prices, no one is viable. Growers will just go broke, they'll have no choice.''
Mr de Palma said this year's average chardonnay price of $293 a tonne, down from $521 a tonne the previous season, was bad enough.
Suggested red grape prices were ''not much better'', he said.
Constellation Wines Australia managing director John Grant warned growers at a forum in June to expect his company to cut both grape intake and prices by at least one-third.
Prices in the Murray Valley averaged about $450 a tonne for red grape varieties and $300 a tonne for white grapes this year.
Foster's spokesman Troy Hey said the company was indicating it would pay $150 a tonne as the lowest price for commercial chardonnay, or grade E grapes, with final pricing to be determined by the end of the year.
But he later said $150 a tonne was expected to be the average.
''It depends on growing conditions and the size of the harvest,'' he said.
"It's an extremely tough environment."
