Australian Wine

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Australian Wine

A Rapid Evolution of Taste

Australia's wine industry in its present form has really only existed for about 30 years. It was not until the 1960's that Australians started to show real interest in wine. Till then, it had been a nation of beer drinkers. What little wine was consumed was mostly fortified: cheap young sherry, port and muscat.

The migrant influx, plus new-found affluence saw wine sales increase and interest in sparkling and table wines was boosted by creations such as sparkling Barossa Pearl, made with then ultra-modern imported technology. When the winecask (also known as the bag-in-box or soft-pack) was invented by Australians in the early 1970's suddenly wine was available to everyone in a convenient package and at an affordable price. It was cheaper than beer, and at one point, even soft drinks. Every refrigerator soon had a cask of cheap white in the door. White wine sales boomed from 35 million litres in 1974-75 to 175 million litres in 1983-84.

Cabernet sauvignon fast became the vogue red grape and from the mid-Seventies Chardonnay caught on. By the late Seventies cabernet had taken over from Shiraz as the fashionable red variety and Chardonnay took the spotlight from Rhine Riesling in the mid-Eighties. It must amaze foreigners that as recently as 1970 there was hardly any Chardonnay on sale; what little we had was blended with other varieties. In 1980 there was still no sauvignon blanc on sale. Industry awareness of pinot noir was just awakening.

Today's Popular Varieties

Today, cabernet-merlot blends and other multiple variety "Bordeaux blends" are all the rage. Pinot noir is yet to receive wide consumer acceptance but some excellent wines are being made. Chardonnay is ubiquitous and ranges in style from light, simple, unwooded, everyday quaffers right through to highly sophisticated, complex and Burgundy-like. The range of prices is just as wide, from $5 to $35 for current release Chardonnays.

Semillon, particularly from the Hunter Valley, is a highly prized dry white that's often delicate and austere when young, but it keeps well and a little age can transform it into one of our most complex and intriguing, rich, full-bodied dry whites.

Sauvignon blanc and fume blanc are also popular, but of perplexing, variable quality and style. Perhaps the best value are the increasingly fashionable semillon-sauvignon blanc blends, which are crisp, grassy and pleasingly fruity. The work horse of Aussie red wine, Shiraz (also known as hermitage and Syrah), is making a comeback after a decade of neglect. Rhine Riesling is still a big seller and is the best value for money in white wine, but its popularity has been eroded greatly by the rise of Chardonnay and sauvignon blanc.

Generic styles such as claret, burgundy and white burgundy have been popular in the past but as Australia matures as a nation of wine drinkers and the industry becomes aware that it is part of a world market, generic names are used less and varietal names and proprietary brands are gathering popularity. Today, generic Chablis is still very popular as is fume blanc (which may or may not contain sauvignon blanc grapes) while the use of "champagne" is also in decline and increasingly confined to the cheaper, mass-produced sparkling wines. Port and sherry are two generic names that seem certain to endure.

What You'll Pay for a Good Bottle

As anywhere, wine prices vary enormously in Australia, so the following are generalizations. A typical bottle of high-quality Chardonnay will cost $12 to $25, with $15 being a good yardstick. For cabernet sauvignon or a Bordeaux-style cabernet blend, expect to pay similar prices as Chardonnay. Shiraz, perhaps Australia's most individual red wine type, is cheaper: $10 to $16 is the target for high quality. Rhine Riesling is cheaper than Chardonnay and like Shiraz offers the best value for money in its color. Leading Rhine Rieslings are between $8 and $14. Sauvignon blanc of high quality will cost $10 to $15 and pinot noir $15 to $25. The best methode champenoise sparkling wines are around $25, but some good ones can be had for $15-17. Tawny port, liqueur, muscat and liqueur tokay, the leading fortified styles cost $15 to $20 for premium quality.

World Class Wines

The major international wine competitions have been blitzed by Australian wines in the past decade. North America's Intervin and the UK's International Wine and Spirit Competition have been seen impressive performances that far outbalance Australian wines' small presence in the world market. Three Australians have won the IWSC's Robert Mondavi International Winemaker of the Year Award in the Eighties. At the UK Wine magazine's International Challenge, Australian reds have done well and in the French Gault-Millau magazine's Wine Olympiads Australian entries have scored consistently well against the best of France, Europe and America, even in the highly competitive Chardonnay and pinot noir categories