Australia

Question 1

What is the state of the country’s first vineyards?

Answer 1

New South Wales, planted in 1788

Question 2

What are the zones of New South Wales?

Answer 2

Northern Slopes
 Northern Rivers
 Hunter Valley
 Central Ranges
 Southern New South Wales
 South Coast
 Western Plains
 Big Rivers

Question 3

What are the GIs of the Big Rivers zone?

Answer 3

Murray Darling
Perricoota
Riverina
Swan Hill

Question 4

What are the GIs of the Central Ranges zone?

Answer 4

Cowra
Mudgee
Orange

Question 5

What is the GI of the Hunter Valley zone?

Answer 5

Hunter

Question 6

What is the GI of the Northern Rivers zone?

Answer 6

Hastings River

Question 7

What is the GI of the Northern Slopes zone?

Answer 7

New England Australia

Question 8

What are the GIs of the South Coast zone?

Answer 8

Shoalhaven Coast

Southern Highlands

Question 9

What are the GIs of the Southern New South Wales zone?

Answer 9

Canberra District
Gundagai
Hilltops
Tumbarumba

Question 10

Wine Australia

Answer 10

A government authority established in 1981 as the Australia Wine and Brandy Corporation, maintains oversight over the wine industry, regulating its label language, defining geographical boundaries of wine regions, moderating exports and trade, and promoting the product at home and abroad

Question 11

Label Integrity Program

Answer 11

Introduced by Wine Australia for the 1990 vintage, requiring any wines labeled by variety, vintage, or region to contain a minimum 85% of the stated grape, year, or region, respectively. If multiple varieties are to be listed on the label (i.e., Grenache-Syrah-Mourvèdre) the grapes must be listed in order of proportion in the blend. All components making up a minimum 85% of the blend must appear on the label, and no listed grape may be in lower proportion than an unnamed variety

Question 12

What is the main city in Victoria?

Answer 12

Melbourne

Question 13

What type of oak barrel was most commonly used in Australia until recent times?

Answer 13

300-liter American hogshead

Question 14

Which Champagne house established a branch in Victoria?

Answer 14

Moët & Chandon saw the Yarra Valley’s promise; they started the Australian Domaine Chandon here in 1987

Question 15

What was the first vintage of Penfold’s Grange?

Answer 15

1951 (Max Schubert)

Question 16

Breakdown Australian wine law

Answer 16

Appellations are subdivided into zones, regions, and sub-regions. Both regions and sub-regions are defined by Wine Australia as single tracts of land, comprising at least five independently owned vineyards of at least five hectares apiece, with a minimum output of 500 tons of wine grapes annually

Question 17

What is the name of the mountain range in New South Wales?

Answer 17

The Great Dividing Range

Question 18

Describe wine production in Riverina

Answer 18

Heavily irrigated, represents Australian industrial viticulture at its most efficient
Casella, the producer of Yellowtail sources its fruit from Riverina

Question 19

“Hunter Riesling”

Answer 19

Semillon, an example is Tyrrell’s “Vat 1”

Question 20

What are some of the grapes that grow in the Hunter GI?

Answer 20

Semillon
Verdelho
Cabernet Sauvignon
Shiraz

Question 21

What soils divide the Yarra Valley GI?

Answer 21

Grey-brown sandy loam and red basalt-derived soils

Question 22

What two GIs in the North East Victoria zone are famous for sweet-fortified wines

Answer 22

Rutherglen and Glenrowan

Question 23

The Muscat of Rutherglen Network

Answer 23

Formed in 1995, a producers’ syndicate which developed a voluntary four-tier classification system for the wines based on age, sweetness, and complexity. The ages and residual sugar ranges for each category are indicative of each classification, but not absolute. Producers are responsible for classifying their own wines, based on taste alone, and member wines are denoted by the inclusion of a stylized “R” logo on the label.

Question 24

What are the eight zones of South Australia?

Answer 24

Far North
Limestone Coast
Lower Murray
Fleurieu
Barossa
Mount Lofty Ranges
Adelaide Superzone (includes Mount Lofty Ranges, Barossa, and Fleurieu)
The Peninsulas

Question 25

Name a GI of Limestone Coast

Answer 25

Coonawarra

Padthaway

Question 26

Name a GI of the Lower Murray zone

Answer 26

Riverland (bulk wine)

Question 27

Name a GI of Mount Lofty Ranges zone

Answer 27

Clare Valley

Question 28

Name a GI of the Barossa zone

Answer 28

Barossa Valley

Eden Valley

Question 29

What was the first vintage of “Hill of Grace”

Answer 29

1958

Question 30

Langton’s

Answer 30

Australia’s leading wine auction house, created its “Classification of Australian Wine” in 1990 to detail top-performing, investment-grade Australian wines. The classification is now in its fifth installment

Question 31

Name five wines in Langton’s “exceptional” category

Answer 31

Torbreck "RunRig" Shiraz
Penfolds “Bin 707” Cabernet Sauvignon
Leeuwin Estate “Art Series” Chardonnay
Grosset "Polish Hill" Riesling
Penfolds “Grange”
Henschke “Hill of Grace” Shiraz

Question 32

What seven states comprise the Commonwealth of Australia?

Answer 32

South Australia
New South Wales
Victoria
Western Australia 
Tasmania 
Queensland
Northern Territory

Question 33

What are the top five varieties in Australia in order of planting?

Answer 33

Shiraz
Cabernet Sauvignon
Chardonnay
Merlot
Semillon

Question 34

Barossa Old Vine Charter

Answer 34

a self-regulated classification of vineyard age in the region. The Charter, based on a model developed internally by Yalumba, introduced four age categories: Old Vines (at least 35 years of age), Survivor Vines (at least 70 years of age), Centenarian Vines (at least 100 years old) and Ancestor Vines (at least 125 years old).

Question 35

“Sparkling Burgundy”

Answer 35

A fizzy red style dating to the end of the 19th century. Edmund Mazure produced Australia’s first Sparkling Burgundy in the Adelaide Hills in 1888—and his wine likely included at least some Shiraz—but the Victorian producer Great Western popularized the style.