Australian wine

The Australian wine industry is the fourth-largest exporter in the world, [] Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, and Riesling. The country has no native grapes, and "Vitis vinifera" varieties were introduced from Europe and South Africa in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Some varieties have been bred by Australian viticulturalists, for example Cienna and Tarrango.

Although Syrah was originally called Shiraz in Australia and Syrah elsewhere, its dramatic commercial success has led many Syrah producers around the world to label their wine "Shiraz".

About 130 different grape varieties are used by commercial winemakers in Australia. Over recent years many winemakers have begun exploring so called "alternative varieties" other than those listed above. Many varieties from France, Italy and Spain for example Petit Verdot, Pinot Grigio, Sangiovese, Tempranillo and Viognier are becoming more common. Wines from many other varieties are being produced.

Australian winemaking results have been impressive and it has established benchmarks for a number of varietals, such as ChardonnayFact|date=May 2007 and Shiraz. Moreover, Australians have innovated in canopy management and other viticultural techniques and in wine-making, and they have a general attitude toward their work that sets them apart from producers in Europe. Australian wine-makers travel the wine world as highly skilled seasonal workers, relocating to the northern hemisphere during the off-season at home." They are an important resource in the globalization of wine and wine critic Matt Kramer notes that "the most powerful influence in wine today" comes from Australia (Kramer).

Major labels

Australia's most famous wine is Penfolds Grange. The great 1955 vintage was submitted to competitions beginning in 1962 and over the years has won more than 50 gold medals. The vintage of 1971 won first prize in Syrah/Shiraz at the Wine Olympics in Paris. The 1990 vintage was named 'Red Wine of the Year' by the "Wine Spectator" magazine in 1995, which later rated the 1998 vintage 99 points out of a possible 100. Wine critic Hugh Johnson has called Grange the only First Growth of the Southern Hemisphere. The influential wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr., who is well known for his love of Bordeaux wines, has written that Grange "has replaced Bordeaux's Pétrus as the worlds most exotic and concentrated wine". [ [http://www.economist.com/surveys/displayStory.cfm?story_id=268095 The globe in a glass | Economist.com ] ]

Other red wines to garner international attention include Henschke Hill of Grace, Clarendon Hills Astralis, D'Arenberg Dead Arm, Torbreck Run Rig and other high-end Penfolds wines such as St Henri shiraz.

Australia has almost 2000 wine producers, most of whom are small winery operations. However, the market is dominated by a small number of major wine companies. After several phases of consolidation, the largest Australian wine company by sales of branded wine was Foster's Group in 2001-2003 and then in 2004 and 2005, Hardy Wine Company. Hardys, part of the world's biggest wine company Constellation Brands, had the largest vineyard area and the largest winegrape intake in the years 2001 - 2005. [ [http://www.winebiz.com.au/statistics/wineries_largest.asp News & Information for the Australian Wine Industry] ] A list of the major wine companies in Australia and their associated wineries can be found below.

* Foster's Wine Estates
** Wolf Blass
** Wynns
** Penfolds
** Rosemount
** Lindemans
* Constellation Brands
** Hardy Wine Company
** Houghton Wine Company
* Pernod Ricard Pacific
** Orlando Wines
** Richmond Grove Wines
** Wyndham Estate
* Casella Wines
** Yellow Tail
* Taylors Wines (known as "Wakefield Wines" in the US and UK)
* McGuigan Simeon Wines
* De Bortoli Wines
* The Yalumba Wine Company
* Lion Nathan

Major wine regions

:"For a list of Australia's wine-producing regions, see here."The information included on wine labels is strictly regulated. One aspect of this is that the label must not make any false or misleading statements about the source of the grapes. Many names (called "geographic indications") are protected. These are divided into "South Eastern Australia", the state names, zones (shown in the map), regions, and subregions. [cite web |url=http://www.awbc.com.au/RegisterNames.aspx?p=27&s=1 |title=Register of Protected Names (includes textual descriptions of Australia's GIs) |publisher=Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation |accessdate=2006-09-05 |year=2003] The largest volume of wine is produced from grapes grown in the warm climate Murray-Darling Basin zones of Lower Murray, North Western Victoria and Big Rivers. In general, the higher-value premium wines are made from smaller and cooler-climate regions. Some well-known regions are listed below:

South Australia wine regions
*Adelaide Hills
*Barossa Valley
*Clare Valley
*Coonawarra
*Eden Valley
*Langhorne Creek
*McLaren Vale
*Padthaway
*Riverland
*Wrattonbully
Victoria wine regions
*Alpine Valleys
*Goulburn Valley
*Grampians
*Heathcote wine region
*Henty
*Mornington Peninsula
*Pyrenees
*Rutherglen
*Yarra Valley
*King Valley
New South Wales wine regions
*Hunter Valley
*Mudgee
*Riverina
Western Australia wine regions
*Margaret River
*Swan Valley
*Great Southern

In recent years, the Tasmanian wine industry has emerged as a producer of high quality wines. In particular, the Tamar Valley has developed a reputation for its Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, which are well suited to the cooler Tasmanian climate.

Queensland is also developing a wine industry with over 100 vineyards registered in the state. Some notable wines are produced in the high-altitude Granite Belt region in the state's extreme south, production is centered on the towns of Stanthorpe and Ballandean.

Export Markets

The Australian Wine export market was worth 2.8 billion dollars a year in June 2007, and was growing at 9%pa. [ [http://www.wineaustralia.com/australia/News/Reports/WineExportApprovalReports/tabid/204/Default.aspx Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Wine Export Reports] ] Of this about 2 billion dollars is accounted for by North America and the UK, and in this key latter market, Australia is now the largest supplier of still wines. In the North American market, not only has Australia to compete with the strong domestic, mostly Californian, production, but also with Italy, who are neck and neck with Australia at 200m bottles a year, and France with 97m bottles year. [ [http://usasearch.gov/search?affiliate=commerce.gov&v%3Aproject=firstgov&query=wine+imports US Department of Trade Statistics] ]

New marketing strategies have been developed for the key UK market to encourage customers to trade up to the quality end of the Australian range of brands, while maintaining sales of the lower-margin high-volume brands. [http://www.wfa.org.au/PDF/Directions%20to%202025.pdf Winemakers' Federation of Australia Strategy Document May 2007] Research had revealed that a celebratory dinner was more likely to be accompanied by an inferior French wine than a premium Australian wine, and the new strategy is aiming to change that.

ee also

*National Wine Centre of Australia
*Australian Wine Research Institute
*Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology
*Australian and New Zealand Wine Industry Journal
*Globalization of wine
*Good Food & Wine Show

References

Notes

Other sources

*The globe in a glass. "The Economist" (London), December 16, 1999 [http://www.economist.com/surveys/displayStory.cfm?story_id=268095] .
*Halliday, James "A history of the Australian wine industry 1949-1994" Adelaide : Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation in association with Winetitles, 1994.ISBN 1875130160
*Kramer, Matt. "Making Sense of Wine". Philadelphia: Running Pres, 2003.
*McCarthy, Ed, and Ewing-Mulligan, Mary. "Wine for Dummies: A Reference for the Rest of Us". Foster City, CA: IDG Books, 1995.
*Palmer, Margot. Australian Wine. An Export Success Story [http://www.oneworldpublications.com/aussiewineexports.html] (Sydney), December 2007.
*Phillips, Rod. "A Short History of Wine". NY: HarperCollins, 2000.
*Zraly, Kevin. "Windows of the World Complete Wine Course". NY: Sterling, 2005.

External links

* [http://www.wineaustralia.com Wine Australia]
* [http://www.australianwinespot.com/ Australian Wine Spot]