The Vintage Report 2016 – released this week by Wine Australia, the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia and Wine Grape Growers Australia –  put the national crush at 1.81 million tonnes with prices paid for wine grapes the best since 2009.

The Victorian crush was down 9 per cent this year though King Valley producers scored 2 per cent higher in volume.

Winemakers of Rutherglen vice chairman Rowly Milhinch said quality was always the focus for Rutherglen vineyards because there were no large volume producers.

Mr Milhinch said the 2016 vintage was excellent quality with terrific reds and very good whites.

“It was a hero year for premium fortified wines,” he said.

Mr Milhinch, who operates Scion Vineyard and Winery at Rutherglen, said a warm spring and little rain resulted in a compressed harvest but no significant disease problems.

“It has been a stunning year for fortifieds because of the conditions,” he said.

“We did grand-based muscat and you can’t do that every season because you need the right conditions to get great flavour intensity.”

Vintage Report 2016 showed the average purchase prices for winegrapes increased across most Australian wine regions.

The warm inland wine regions increased 8 per cent to $313 per tonne and cool/temperate regions grew 4 per cent to $1196 per tonne.

Wine Grape Growers Australia executive director Andrew Weeks said the increase in average prices was a positive development for the industry.

“There is still much work to do, but with recent improvements in key markets and firming in wine grape prices across the nation, there is reason for cautious optimism,” he said.

Vintage Report 2016 data was collected by Wine Australia through the Wine Sector Survey 2016 and responses covering about 88 per cent of the crush and 40 wine regions.