All About Wine And Its Goodness!

It was only a few years back that Australia was known for beer drinking and Crocodile Dundee.  Now Australia has established itself as the world’s seventh-largest wine producer – up there with the likes of France, Italy and California. There are 68 wine regions supplying fine wines that are sold in more than 100 countries and found in many of the world’s top restaurants. And Australia is winning more and more awards at international wine competitions.

The jewel of Australia’s wine country is the Barossa Valley in South Australia, especially for lovers of the big, bold, full-bodied shirazes and cabernet sauvignons. (of which I’m a fan.) It’s only an hour’s drive from Adelaide, on road full of bicycle riders which forms part annual Tour De Adelaide route.

At up to 166 years, you can find some of the world’s oldest vines in the Barossa Valley. Our Barossa wine tour guide, explained that many of Europe’s established vineyards were destroyed by phylloxera during the 19th century but that vines brought before the plague to Australia survived.

Shiraz is the varietal for which Australia is best known. Penfolds’ shiraz was the first non-European, non-Californian wine to win the top ranking of Wine Spectator magazine. The winery’s most famous and expensive label is Penfolds Grange. Back 25 years or so, you could buy a bottle for about $30, now Penfolds Grange’s newer vintages sell for around $600-$800 a bottle. At one stage, you could buy a boxed of three-pack of 2002, 2003 and 2004 Grange bottles, signed by the vintner for $2,200.

The wines of the Barossa that I was particular fond of was Grant Burge’s 2004 Meshach Shiraz ($124.95), Two Hands 2005 Ares Shiraz and St. Hallet’s Old Block Shiraz, voted the 2006 Wine of the Year in Australia.

Penfolds is the most popular brand among Australian fine wine collectors and it’s also one of the country’s largest wine storage companies – their flagship wine being the ultra–premium Penfold Grange.

Sydney based Wine Ark revealed that Coonawarra wine region in South Australia, is the most popular wine producing region among Australian collectors.

Wine Ark estimates it has more than fifty percent of the national Australian wine storage market.  Their comments come following their analysis of more than 3 million bottles of wine held in 8,500 private collections – and worth an estimated AUS$250m.  That’s an average of $83 per bottle.

Wine Ark CEO, Mr Dean Taylor, said the review is based on the volume of bottles in storage of each wine, and believes it is an accurate measure of variety of collectable wines across Australia.

Penfolds has 8 of the top 50 most collected wines.The next most popular being Wynn’s Coonawarra Estate, with 3 of the top 50 collectable wines.

No surprises then that South Australia wineries produce 60% of the Top 50 collectable wines.

Shiraz is the most popular wine to be collected, amassing 46% of the Top 50 wines.  And Coonawarra is the dominant wine region, providing 22% of the top 50.

‘It shows how much Australians have embraced Shiraz,’ Taylor said.
To date, no Pinot Noir made the top 50, though Taylor suggests this is because Australia was still developing the variety, and as yet, not a great deal was being cellared.  Though this is expected to change over time.

Grange is the most collected Shiraz and red wine – and the most collected wine overall.This was followed by Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz blend. That wine was the original leader in collectable wines, when Wine Ark released its inaugral list in 2006.

Interestingly, the most collected Pinot Noir was Mount Mary, from the Yarra Valley.  It might be expected to increase in collections over time.

In the Wine Wines, Leeuwin Estate Art Series was the most collectable wine and Chardonnay.  This was 11th overall.

The top top Riesling amogst Wine Ark collectors was Gosset Polish Hill, which was 13th overall.

The most collected Semillon, Tyrrell’s Vat 1, placed 26th overall.

Of all the great wine grapes this country produces, the one that we do best is must be Shiraz, one of the favourite red wines. It is the grape that we have made our own with wines such as Penfolds Grange wowing drinkers around the world. Walk into most wine shops in the United States or Europe and you are sure to find a good selection of Australian Shiraz to choose from. Some time ago, the popularity of the mightly Cabernet Sauvignon meant that some old Shiraz vines were destroyed as at the time, Shiraz couldn’t be given away. Now the mighty Shiraz (often referred to as Syrah) has come into its own and is more popular than before.

Many feel that Shiraz with its robust flavour, is best suited when consumed with a juicy steak or even better, drunk alone. But while plenty of our Shiraz does still come in this style, especially from regions such as McLaren Vale and the Barossa Valley in South Australia, Shiraz can be made to suit any palate. From sweet Rose to big and powerful alcoholic monsters Shiraz is the Jack of all trades.

Vineyard climate, though, has a great effect on red wine style with full-bodied wines usually coming from warmer areas of South Australia, while cooler regions such as Coonawarra, Margaret River in Western Australia as well as parts of Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory making spicier, more perfumed wines. The Hunter Valley is also another region that has long made a good Shiraz earthy wines that have a leathery character, especially after you age them for a few years.

Shiraz is also an excellent when blended with other grapes. With the inclusion of grapes Grenache and Mourvedre grapes, Shiraz has a very ripe red often that often has a high alcohol content. Shiraz Cabernet blends are usually well structured and made for aging. More recently in Australian wine making has been to add the white Viognier grape to Shiraz. While it sounds a little odd Shiraz Viognier blends can be superb wines that are often very aromatic and supple in the mouth.

But whichever way you like it, Shiraz is worth getting to know because it produces types of red wine that have plenty of fruit and are generally great drinking as soon as they hit the shelves.