Have you considered how the size of vineyards in South Australia’s wine regions compare with wine regions around the world?
Using data from Vinehealth’s Register, we can see that the median vineyard size for South Australia is 7.3 hectares and the average size is 16.1 hectares.
Breaking this down by region:
| Region | Median vineyard size (ha) | Average vineyard size (ha) |
| Adelaide Hills | 6.2 | 11.6 |
| Adelaide Plains | 3 | 6.2 |
| Barossa | 8.1 | 14 |
| Clare | 6 | 15.3 |
| Coonawarra | 13.9 | 31 |
| Eden Valley | 6.5 | 13.8 |
| Langhorne Creek | 24.8 | 44.9 |
| McLaren Vale | 6.4 | 11.1 |
| Padthaway | 43.1 | 69.7 |
| Riverland | 6.5 | 12.9 |
| Wrattonbully | 24 | 39.3 |
It’s important to note that the average vineyard area can easily be skewed by outliers and therefore the median area may be more representative for a comparison.
For those wine regions with more than 50 vineyards, median vineyard area ranged from 3 hectares in the Adelaide Plains, up to 43.1 hectares in Padthaway, and average vineyard area ranged from 6.2 hectares in the Adelaide Plains up to 69.7 hectares in Padthaway.
Other regions with comparatively large median and average vineyard areas compared to that for the state, included Langhorne Creek (24.8 hectares median, 44.9 hectares average), Wrattonbully (24.0 hectares median, 39.3 hectares average) and Coonawarra (13.9 hectares median, 31 hectares average).
The regions showing the largest difference between average and median vineyard size (Padthaway, Langhorne Creek, Coonawarra and Wrattonbully) are those regions having the most extreme differences in vineyard sizes in Vinehealth’s Register.
In comparing South Australia’s vineyard sizes to that overseas, in 2020 the average area under vine per holding in France was 10.55 hectares (1) – similar to that McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills regions currently.
In California in 2017, an average vineyard size was 32 ha (79 acres), with the median closer to 6 hectares (15 acres) (2). While the median in California is similar to that of a number of wine regions in SA currently (Adelaide Hills, Clare Valley, Eden Valley, McLaren Vale, Riverland) the considerably higher average vineyard size is indicative of a vast range of vineyard sizes present.
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