Australia
Australia
In wine terms, there's been a bit of falling out of love between the Australian producers and British wine drinkers. It has been years since the Australians were pressured into taking the constant revolving discount route into the evil empires of the supermarket chains and they cannot extricate themselves from this sticky morass. It's ironic, since it was the introduction of their wines in the mid eighties that recruited so many people into wine drinking in the first place. But supermarket shoppers have been carefully trained by our masters and are now notoriously promiscuous when considering their purchases. Big business has conspired to turn the word loyalty into an oxymoron. But I digress.
Australia is a country with a diverse range of climate and soils, well suited somewhere to just about every grape grown.
- South AustraliaCentred on Adelaide - a beautiful, colonial town, regions vary from the industrial Riverland that produces over half the state`s wine – and a third of Australia`s indeed - to the traditional Barossa, Clare and Eden Valleys and, through cooler Adelaide Hills and Coonawarra through to McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek. The range of terroirs and climates is great and ambition and technology see no restrictions. Except those of water and markets of course. When Australia set out in the early nineties to conquer the world by 2020 it forgot that markets were as important as planting vines. The industry expanded, but concentrated too hard on established and unprofitable markets like Britain. The water seems to be getting ever scarcer and they may not be able to divert that from China as they are so successfully diverting their output there. Ownership of wineries in SA has been crucial and many have been harmed by brewery management. (CW 23/01/12)
- VictoriaIf South Australia is the engine room of Australian wine production, then Victoria is the boutique. It is a fraction of its former size – the end of the gold rush, the interruption of the Second World War and decline in the sales of fortified wine sales all contributed to that. Victoria also has a vast range of regions many of them climatically cool. There are mountains, coastal areas, rolling hills and flat bits around Rutherglen too. Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula were for years Australia`s Burgundy, while the Goulburn valley is arguably its northern Rhone. Victoria’s heritage is centred on fortifieds, both port style wines and the magnificent liqueur Muscats that are a style unique to Australia. In fact, in sparkling Shiraz, Victoria provides another unique contribution to the world of wine. (CW 8/04/20)
- Western AustraliaThe true glories of Western Australia are its whites. As a region it has grown enormously in recent years, not having such a significant history as Victoria or South Australia. The boom in Perth led medics and lawyers to set up boutique operations almost as hobbies and these, together with some medium sized companies like Leeuwin and Cullen, as well as Houghton, have driven the industry along a quality route with less emphasis on the discounting that has so damaged much of Australia`s sales in the UK. (CW 23/01/12)
- TasmaniaA maritime climate characterises Tasmania – a sizeable island out in the southern ocean. Like Maine, if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute. The temperature is quite capable in summer of fluctuating between 30 and 15 degrees. As you might expect, sparkling wines and fresh, lighter table wines are the main produce. (CW 23/01/12)