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
  • Is there a reason Penfolds isn't included in the Producer Profiles section? 

  • Hey CJ! Both of these producers share a long and intertwined history together. That being said, the current text conflates the two producers. and the 1890 date refers to the first plantings of Metala, that were trucked over to Adelaide Hills' Stonyfell for the first couple of vintages. The text is updated to feature the planting of Metala. Thanks!

  • Apparently Stonyfell is a winery and Metala is a vineyard, not the other way around: https://www.therealreview.com/2022/04/25/the-adams-family-bring-metala-home/

  • Hey Skyler! Per Wine Australia. Since 2022, the largest market for export in volume is the UK, and in value is the USA. The guide is updated.

  • Pretty sure the sentence about China being Australia's #1 export market is outdated? China imposed massive tariffs on Australian wine in 2021 and exports have shrunk by 93% according to Wine Australia. The UK, followed by the U.S. seem to be the top export markets in 2023. 

  • Hey William! The guide is updated to feature the most recent numbers Thanks! 

  • The guide states that "white wines outnumber reds in Eden Valley," however, according to Wine Australia and the Compendium, red varieties slightly outnumber white, at least in terms of total vineyard area. Is the guide using a different metric such as the total volume of wine produced, or is it out of date?

    www.wineaustralia.com/.../Eden-Valley-Snapshot-2021-22_1.pdf

  • what a great lecture of information thanks for sharing

  • Wow, thank for that clarification Jonathan!

  • Hey Sam! Great Question. Per the Köppen Climate Classification Barossa falls under a mix of BSk (Cool Semi-Arid) and Csb (Warm-summer Mediterranean). Most of the grape growing occurs under a Warm Continental climate as the area lacks the mitigating body of water of a true Mediterranean climate. Per Barossa wine "Warm and dry, with low relative humidity and rainfall." All in all, it is a continentally driven climate, but a Mediterranean climate can sound nice for marketing.