Australian Wines

Australia is not one wine country. It is a set of very different climates that happen to share a continent, and the fastest way to make sense of this range is by region rather than by grape.

The warm regions make the wines Australia is best known for. Barossa shiraz is dense, dark and generous, and producers here include Schild, Elderton, Teusner and Tomfoolery. McLaren Vale sits close behind with shiraz and grenache from Paxton, Fox Creek, Kangarilla Road and Geoff Merrill. Coonawarra, on its narrow strip of terra rossa soil, is cabernet country, and Reschke works there.

The cool regions make something quite different. Tasmania, through Pooley, Riversdale and Moorilla, produces pinot noir, chardonnay and riesling with the acidity that mainland heat strips out. The Mornington Peninsula does the same with pinot and chardonnay through Paringa Estate and Port Phillip Estate, and Geelong through Clyde Park. The Yarra Valley is represented by Rob Dolan and Helen's Hill.

Then there are the specialists. Margaret River builds its reputation on cabernet and chardonnay, with Leeuwin, Woodlands, Flametree and Fire Gully here. The King Valley grows Italian varieties, through Pizzini and Wood Park. Canberra makes riesling and cool climate shiraz through Nick O'Leary.

Browse by style in red, white, rose and sparkling.

Narrowing all that down to one bottle is the job of our Australian wine buying guide, while the Tomfoolery profile shows one Barossa grower up close.

History

Vines arrived with the First Fleet in 1788, and commercial winemaking was established in the Hunter Valley and around Adelaide within the following fifty years. James Busby's 1832 collection of vine cuttings, gathered in France and Spain, supplied much of the material the industry was built on.

One accident of history still shapes Australian wine. Phylloxera, the root louse that destroyed most of Europe's vineyards in the late nineteenth century, never reached large parts of South Australia. Strict quarantine has kept it out since. That means vines in the Barossa and elsewhere are still growing on their own roots rather than grafted rootstock, and some of the oldest continuously producing vineyards in the world are here.

The industry spent much of the twentieth century making fortified wine, and only shifted decisively to table wine after the Second World War. The export boom of the 1980s and 1990s built Australia's global reputation on ripe, oak driven, generously fruited reds.

The correction since has been just as significant. Producers moved into cooler sites, picked earlier, used less new oak, and began treating regional identity as the point rather than the label. Australia also led the world on screwcaps, driven initially by Clare Valley riesling producers around 2000, and closures are now standard across the industry.

How to drink it

Serve reds cooler than you probably do. Australian summer room temperature is well above what any red wine wants, and a Barossa shiraz at twenty five degrees tastes hot and flat. Twenty minutes in the fridge before pouring is the single most effective thing you can do. Aim for sixteen to eighteen degrees for full bodied reds and fourteen to sixteen for pinot noir.

Whites go the other way. Straight from a cold fridge is too cold for a good chardonnay or riesling. Give it ten minutes on the bench and it will open considerably.

On ageing, most Australian wine is made to be drunk within a few years, but there are clear exceptions. Barossa shiraz, Coonawarra and Margaret River cabernet, Clare and Eden Valley riesling, and Hunter semillon all reward a decade or more. Riesling under screwcap in particular develops a toasty, lime marmalade character that is quite unlike the young wine.

For food, the pairings follow the climate. Warm region reds want grilled and roasted meat. Cool region pinot suits duck, mushrooms and salmon. Riesling handles Asian food and anything with chilli better than almost any other wine.

Explore by grape in shiraz, cabernet, chardonnay and riesling.