Australia Flashcards
Attributes to Australia’s initial success as wine producing country
Easy drinking wines - fruit driven.
Varietal labeling for simplicity.
Value for money
Forefront of vineyard and winery development - innovation and modernisation.
Strong marketing as “brand Australia”
Well priced, readily available wine with consistent quality
Negatives that have affected Australian wine rep and sales
Wine glut - oversupplied world market - quality and rep suffered.
Bulk production “critter” brands
Over aggressive pricing to meet global competition lead to decline in quality.
Water shortage - no longer sustainable to produce huge quantities of wine at entry level prices.
Lack of regional identity among bulk wines.
Wine Australia
Government authority est 1981. Maintains oversight over wine industry. Regulates label languGe, defining geog boundaries, moderating trade and promoting products and home and abroad.
It introduced label integrity program in 1990 stating any varietal, vintage, regional wines must by 85% of what it states (variety, vintage, region). If blended, grapes must be listed in order of blend amounts.
What are Australian GIs
Defined by wine Australia as geographical indications. - formal appellation protection. Purely geographical in scope, no restrictions on varietals, yields, etc.
Each appellation divided into
Zones
Regions
Sub-regions
Australian zones
Large areas without any particular attributes. Can be part of a state (limestone coast), a state itself (south Australia) or cover several states (south-eastern Australia -this band covers 95% of oz vineyard area).
Australian regions
Vary in size but smaller than zones. Must have consistent and distinct qualities that set them apart from neighboring regions.
Wine Aus defines region and sub region as single tracts of land comprised of at least 5 independently owned vineyards of atleast 5ha a piece with min output of 500 tons grapes annually.
Australian sub-regions
Notable areas within regions that have distinct and unique qualities. Sub-region must fall within a single region.
Wine Aus defines region and sub region as single tracts of land comprised of at least 5 independently owned vineyards of atleast 5ha a piece with min output of 500 tons grapes annually.
South eastern Australia covers what regions?
South Australia - fruit from Riverland
New South Wales - fruit from riverina
Victoria - fruit from Murray darling.
Fruit from barrossa, Adelaide hills and mc Laren vale (all in south Australia) sometimes also blended in to enhance quality. Blending choices depend on price, brand and style sought after.
Areas covered produce 95% of wine made in Oz.
It is a SUPER ZONE- allows blending from all regions and still qualifies for a GI designation. Mainly used by large bulk brands.
Australia’s climate
Overall predominantly Mediterranean in most of the production regions (except Tasmania) - most regions have Equatorial latitudes leading to warm to hot growing conditions tempered by proximity to southern or Indian Ocean, or Murray River.
Vintage takes place between feb-April, for most regions, cooler spots dip into may.
Threats to Oz wine industry
Severe droughts, water availability and climate change - Murray darling greatly affected
Supply-demand imbalances leading to overproduction aggressive, unsustainable pricing - little profit made.
Topography - vineyard sites in Oz
Due to arid, desert outback, most vineyards are planted near coast on flat or rolling countryside. Murray-darling (inland) was exception due to Murray river, however, drought has heavily threatened this area. Plentiful irrigation is no longer an option.
Viticulture - Oz training methods
Most young or newer vineyards are grafter, wire trained for ease of pruning and mech harvesting. But older Shiraz sites, some of the worlds oldest, are ungrafted, bush trained.
Big rivers zone - oz
Irrigation from large rivers, but in constant threat due to droughts.
Murray-darling
Riverina
Riverlands
Mainly inexpensive table wine / some good botrizyes wines from semillon (riverina).
New South Wales
Oz most populous state. Consumes more wine than it produces.
Hunter valley zone - upper hunter, lower hunter
Central ranges zone - mudgee, orange, cowra
Southern New South Wales zone - hilltops, Canberra, gundagai, tumbarumba.
Riverina (in big rivers zone which also includes Murray-darling in the state of Victoria).
Hunter valley zone
130km/80m from Sydney. Popular tourist destination due to proximity to city. Makes less than 3% of oz wine.
Upper hunter zone and lower hunter zone. Lower is the touristy bit, renowned for its semillon. Best chards found in north.
Hot Mediterranean but moderated by high humidity, afternoon cloud cover and high rainfall. Unpredictable weather at harvest - rot, mold and dilution are concerns. Good canopy management is essential for stopping rot problems. Soils - well draining silty loam.
Exceptionally long lived dry semillon (low alco 10-20 yr lifespan) and leathery, silly Shiraz (worn sweat saddle character) - ager. Viscous Chardonnays w new world fruit character are popular. CS, inoaked Verdejo also popular.
Mudgee
In central ranges zone/ NSW state.
Oldest zone with long winemaking history. 1858. No phylloxera.
Hot Mediterranean. Red wine county - Shiraz, CS - big rich and deep.
Central ranges zone
Mudgee, cowra, orange. On west slopes of great dividing range, son planted st altitude. making it a cool climate. Concentrated, elegant chard and CS produced here. Orange is very cool. Mudgee hot.
Orange OZ
In central ranges zone/ NSW.
High elevation planting result in cool climate wines of great complexity. Altitudes of 600-900m on old volcanic site. Coolest of the regions in the central ranges zone. Lively chard and mid-weight CS Merlot and Shiraz produced. Cool nights and long dry Autumn assist in slow ripening and late harvest dates - complexity acid and balance.
Cowra oz
In central ranges, NSW. Warmer than Orange cooler than Mudgee. Vineyards planted at lower sights than Orange. Flatter sites aid in easy harvest and irrigation used. Soft chards are the highlight. CS Chirac and merlot of middle weight but not as complex and interesting as chard.
Southern New South Wales zone
Canberra and Hilltops regions here.
Canberra
In southern NSW/ NSW state. Tehnicalky also split with Australian Capital Territory. Canberra is the capital of Australia.
Considerable site climate diversity due to altitude variations.
Higher sites - 599-800m great for Riesling, Pinot, semillon-SB blends, chard. Lower sites - Great Shiraz produced here. More hot continental climate. Some co-ferments with Viognier produce excellent wine. (Clonakilla). CS blends also done well in right sites.
Australia - history and basics
Young country but boasts an impressive wine industry and history of achievement and innovation going back more than 2 centuries.
Vines arrived on first prison fleet in 1788. Today ranks 6 in world in wine production and 4th largest exporter after France Italy and Spain. Exports to over 120 countries.
