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A Taste of Australian Wine
‘The Barossa Valley’  There wouldn't be much doubt
that if I asked people around the world to name just one Australian wine region, most would say
"The Barossa Valley".
Why is this? Well, some excellent promotion over the years has helped, it is the home of Penfolds Grange, plus there are a myriad of other reasons. An important factor in this is the fact that the Barossa Valley is our most important wine region. Just look at the names based there, a who's who of large quality producers, mixed with some of our most stunning boutique wineries. Any list would have to include Wolf Blass, Penfolds, Orlando, Seppelts, Peter Lehmann, Yalumba, and Krondorf, who between them produce some 50% of all of Australia's wine! Add to this the important boutique producers like Charles Melton, Rockfords, Henschke, St. Hallett, Greenock Creek, Torbreck and others and you can see that this is the region most people start with when discovering Australian wine. However, the real reason lies in the wines themselves, as they offer a unique style of wine coupled with remarkably consistent quality. Style
Well, the Barossa producers all make wines designed to please. Pleasing the customer should be
obvious, but it appears that not all wine producers aim to please the consumer all the time! In the
Barossa they take all those many hours of sunshine and clean air and turn it into wine, all flavor,
ripeness and health in a bottle. Many of the wines are made not for deep thinking and considering,
but for enjoying. They are fun wines, upfront, tasty and enjoyable, made to be slurped down with
good food and good friends; a generalization of course, but not far off from the truth I think.
The style does emphasize two things however, very ripe fruit (indeed it's hard to grow fruit there that does not get fully ripe) and American oak. At its best this produces wines chock full of fruit flavor with hints of chocolate and vanilla, often at great bargain prices. It can occasionally be overdone, over ripe and over oaked, but these wines are slowly lessening in number I think, most producers seem to get it about right most of the time. Quality
At the top end the quality is amazing, Grange, Old Block, Nine Popes, Run Rig and many others
prove that the Barossa makes world class wine. However the valley makes wines of an extremely high
standard across the board, and at almost every price level, from Grange down to Krondorf Shiraz.
Indeed, it is hard to find a Barossa Valley wine that is not clean, well made and enjoyable, and
the range of exceptional quality wines is expanding annually.
Climate
The Barossa Valley is some 45 minutes drive North West of Adelaide, and just far enough inland
to be away from the moderating effect of the sea enjoyed by McLaren Vale. On average it is also a
couple of degrees warmer than Adelaide and has long, dry summers. It is a climate suitable for
grape ripening, so ripe grapes is what you get, cool climate varieties do not work, and you can
safely ignore most Riesling, all Pinot Noir, all Sauvignon Blanc and look for wines emphasizing
fruit and flavor.
Varieties
Look for flavor, richness and ripeness, so Semillon, Chardonnay on the riper end, Grenache,
Shiraz, Cabernet, Merlot and ports are the staples.
Semillon Try:
Chardonnay Try:
Grenache Try:
Cabernet Try:
Try (well, where do I start and end?):
Merlot Try:
Ports Try:
Date: N/A
Author: Gavin Trott Author's Link: Australian Wine Centre About Author: Gavin is the manager of the <>
A Taste of Australian Wine
This is Australia's highest profile wine style, and arguably its best red wine. The grape is believed
to have come to Australia first from its home, Hermitage in the Rhone area of France many years ago.
Some believe, again arguably, that due to extensive re-planting in France due to Phylloxera, our
older vineyards are more like Hermitage used to be, than that region is today. Some vineyards of
‘Shiraz’  Chateau Tahbilk for instance date back over 100 years unchanged (and small amounts
of wine are still made from these old grapes.)
What is not in doubt however is that Shiraz is the best and best known red wine of Australia. It is the most widely grown red grape variety, grown in almost all regions, and makes the most recognised Australian wines in the world market such as Grange and Henschke Hill of Grace amongst others. In addition it is used in blends with many other grapes, as well as being used extensively in the fortified wines of Australia, most notably our Vintage Port styles. Through all of this and in almost every climate, Shiraz makes quality wine. It rarely needs or receives the same volume of new oak as Cabernet, it can be delicious and fruity when young, but can mellow with up to 20 or 30 years in the cellar into magnificent wine showing earthy, velvety, almost sweet fruit characters. The aromas and flavours of Shiraz vary with wine style and region, but are usually blackberry, plums, and pepper in varying degrees dependent on growing conditions. In addition, even more regionally based, we can find liquorice, tar even, and bitter chocolate and mocha. Climate affects these with the warmer climates providing the plums and chocolate (Barossa) and the cooler climates giving more of the pepper (Victoria). Below is a list of some of the Australian regions producing quality Shiraz wines, plus some labels to watch out for from those regions. Naturally there will be many that I have missed, and this is not meant to be a definitive list, but if you try these wines you will find quality, and discover some of those flavours for yourself (with apologies to other regions and producers I have missed). Cool Climate
Victoria
Western Australia
Warm Climate
Barossa Valley
McLaren Vale
Clare
Coonawarra
Hunter Valley
Date: N/A
Author: Gavin Trott Author's Link: Australian Wine Centre About Author: Gavin is the manager of the |
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