Australian winemakers are raising their glasses to a boost in export sales.

Strong sales across north-east Asia helped push the value of Aussie wine exports 11 per cent higher to $2.71 billion in the year to the end of September.

The strong growth in Asia helped offset a $38 million slide in sales in the United States, the world’s biggest wine market, figures from Wine Australia on Wednesday showed.

Sales to Europe, the Middle East, south-east Asia and across the Oceania region were all higher.

“We are seeing strong growth in China and we have redoubled our efforts in the USA to capture more of the premium end of the market as American consumers trade up to higher-priced wines,” Wine Australia chief executive Andreas Clark said.

With 842 million litres of Aussie wine exported in the past year, Wine Australia estimates that 21.5 million glasses of home-grown vino are consumed overseas every day.

Mr Clark said there were signs of an improvement in sales to the US, where Aussie cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay were doing well.
Sixty per cent of wine produced in Australia is exported.

China spends the most on Aussie wines at just over $1 billion, followed by the US and the United Kingdom.

-AAP