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Australia

Contents

  1. Introduction to Australia
  2. Wine Australia: The Label Integrity Program and Geographical Indications
  3. Technology in Viticulture and Winemaking
  4. South Australia
  5. New South Wales
  6. Victoria
  7. Western Australia
  8. Tasmania
  9. Queensland

Introduction to Australia

In 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip landed the First Fleet, eleven ships whose passengcers included British soldiers, convicts, and a few free settlers, along the coastline of Botany Bay, just eight miles south of the modern-day Sydney Central Business District. Captain Phillip founded the penal colony of New South Wales and its capital, the city of Sydney—Australia’s first permanent European settlement. Prior to landfall in Australia, the First Fleet stopped for supplies—including vine cuttings—at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, and the British planted vines near Sydney upon landing in 1788. This original vineyard bore fruit three years later but did not last. In its earliest days as a penal colony, Australia suffered from little winemaking expertise, and advances in viticulture were slow. Nonetheless, the vine (a non-native plant) spread from New South Wales to Tasmania in 1823, and from Tasmania to South Australia by 1837 and to Victoria in 1838. In the Swan River Colony of Western Australia, settlers planted the first vineyard in 1830. Free immigrants arrived in Australia throughout the 1830s and 1840s from all corners of Europe, and brought winemaking traditions with them. Some of today’s most famous names arose as small family-owned wineries in this period, including Lindeman’s (1843), Penfolds (1844), Orlando Wines (1847), and Yalumba (1849). In the 1850s, the promise of gold lured even greater droves of European immigrants to southeastern Australia, and interest in winemaking burgeoned.

Boom days for gold equaled boom days for wine, particularly in the gold-rich colony of Victoria, which asserted itself as Australia’s largest producer of wine by the 1870s. However,
Anonymous
Parents
  • over 2 years ago

    The section on the Orange GI includes the following text: ‘It is also the highest region overall in the entire country: Orange GI begins at the 600-meter line of elevation, and its vineyards rise up the slopes of NSW’s central highlands, past the 1000-meter mark.’ It is worth noting that it is easy to be confused by such statements, as one can find the following quote in the World Atlas of Wine 8th Edition: ‘New England is Australia’s highest wine region at up to 4,330ft (1,320m).’ I don’t know, but I’d wager that these two seemingly contradicting statements are claiming different things: the first claiming a higher minimum elevation and the second claiming a higher maximum elevation. If so, it would probably be best to steer clear of ambiguous wording such as ‘highest region overall’ to avoid confusion. But alas confusion stems from many sources as Wine Australia’s legal definition for the Orange GI would suggest that the GI is ‘defined as that contiguous area that is above 600 metre elevation’, but then lists the altitude for the GI elsewhere as 376-1390m (wherein I’m assuming those areas below 600m affect the climate and growing conditions of the overall GI, though those elevations don’t qualify for the GI itself). But I’m open to correction and further education on all fronts . . .

Comment
  • over 2 years ago

    The section on the Orange GI includes the following text: ‘It is also the highest region overall in the entire country: Orange GI begins at the 600-meter line of elevation, and its vineyards rise up the slopes of NSW’s central highlands, past the 1000-meter mark.’ It is worth noting that it is easy to be confused by such statements, as one can find the following quote in the World Atlas of Wine 8th Edition: ‘New England is Australia’s highest wine region at up to 4,330ft (1,320m).’ I don’t know, but I’d wager that these two seemingly contradicting statements are claiming different things: the first claiming a higher minimum elevation and the second claiming a higher maximum elevation. If so, it would probably be best to steer clear of ambiguous wording such as ‘highest region overall’ to avoid confusion. But alas confusion stems from many sources as Wine Australia’s legal definition for the Orange GI would suggest that the GI is ‘defined as that contiguous area that is above 600 metre elevation’, but then lists the altitude for the GI elsewhere as 376-1390m (wherein I’m assuming those areas below 600m affect the climate and growing conditions of the overall GI, though those elevations don’t qualify for the GI itself). But I’m open to correction and further education on all fronts . . .

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