Australia Study Guide Flashcards
Penfolds and Lindemans are now owned by what company?
Treasury Wine Estates
What two events further decimated the Australian wine industry following the mass exodus of gold prospectors in the late 19th century?
Economic recession and phylloxera
Australia has successfully confined phylloxera to what two states through strict quarantine laws?
Victoria and parts of New South Whales
How did Phylloxera benefit South Australia?
It decimated the Victorian wine industry, Australia’s most important wine area in the late 1800s, clearing the way for South Australia to emerge as the continent’s largest region of production.
What did the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901 do to aid the wine trade in Australia?
It relaxed inters trade trade barriers
What % of Australia’s annual production comes from South Australia?
50%
What style of wine was Australian production geared towards in between the post-phylloxera period until the 1960s?
About 80% of Australia’s production consisted of sweet and fortified wines.
What 4 circumstances led to a surge in dry table wine production in Australia starting in the 1970s?
surge in quality at the lowest level
adoption of new technologies
changing consumer preferences
skyrocketing domestic consumption
By the mid 1990s what were the three grapes leading the charge for varietal premium wines in Australia?
Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay
Today Australia is the fourth largest producer of wine by volume behind what three countries?
Italy, France, and Spain
What 4 principles are at the core of commercial winemaking in Australia?
technical proficiency
mechanical harvesting
irrigation
blending
What are the three organizations based in Adelaide that have contributed greatly to the nation’s scientific understanding of the grape?
The Australian Wine Research Institute
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO)
University of Adelaide
What are “Flying Winemakers”?
A term that originated in reference to Australian at the forefront of viticultural innovation, who utilize modern techniques for canopy management and soil mapping, and have spread their technical acumen across the globe
What are three winemaking techniques that are most common at the mass market level in Australia? Is Chaptalization allowed?
The use of cultured yeasts
acidification
micro-oxygenation
Chaptalization is not allowed
Why does Australia rely heavily on mechanical harvesting?
Due to a lack of population and cheap source of labor
Why are a majority of Australian vineyards planted on flat expanses rather than unworkable hillsides?
Because they rely heavily on mechanical harvesting
What counterintuitive technique was pioneered by CSIRO to restrict vigor in Australia’s low cost vineyards?
minimal pruning (zero in fact)
Which two GIs for mass production account collectively for nearly 40% of Australia’s wine production?
Riverland in South Australia
Riverina in New South Whales
What percent of Australia’s annual production is produced by the 14 largest producers?
Around 70%
When did Penfold’s Grange first debut? Who produced it? What was it called then?
1951 Grange Hermitage was produced by Max Schubert
How is the iconic Penfold’s Grange dissimilar to most of the world’s iconic luxury wines?
It is produced by blending from many vineyards across several regions
Who makes Hill of Grace? What is the grape? What is the GI?
Henschke
Shiraz
Eden Valley
What are the producers, grapes, and Gis for the following?
Hill of Grace Grange Octavius Astralis RunRig High Sands
Hill of Grace:
Henschke/Shiraz/Eden Valley
Grange
Penfolds/Shiraz and Cab/South Australia
Octavius
Yalumba/Shiraz/Barossa
Astralis
Clarendon Hills/Shiraz/McLaren Vale
RunRig
Torbreck/Shiraz/Barossa
High Sands
Yangarra/Grenache/McLaren Vale
What vintage saw terrible brush fires in the Yarra Valley and other parts of Victoria?
2009
When are Australian vines most vulnerable to frost?
Spring time and early fall
How many prior to harvest in the Northern Hemisphere does the harvest occur in Australia?
6 months earlier
When was Wine Australia established?
What 5 responsibilities does it act upon?
Maintains oversight over the wine industry
regulates label language
defines geographical boundaries of wine regions
moderates exports and trade, and promotes the product at home and abroad
What requirements for Australian wine were drawn up with the establishment of the Label Integrity Program? When was this introduced?
Requires wines labeled by variety, vintage, or region to contain a minimum 85% of the stated grape, year, or region, respectively.
If multiple varieties are listed on the label 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.
Introduced for 1990 vintage moving forward
What is the formal appellation protection list in Australia called? What are regions in Australia defined by Wine Australia as? How do these compare to other new world regions?
Register of Protected Names
Geographical Indications (GIs)
Like other new world regions, these are purely geographic in scope; there are no restrictions on grape varieties, yields, etc.
What is the hierarchy of GIs from largest to smallest?
Zone
Region
Subregion
What does Wine Australia define regions and sub regions as?
single tracts of land, comprising at least 5 independently owned vineyards of at least 5ha apiece, with a minimum of 500 tons of wine grapes annually.
Regions are not necessarily contained within a single zone, nor are zones necessarily contained within a single state
When was the multi-state zone of South Eastern Australia established? What states does it consists of?
Victoria, Tasmania, New South Whales, South Australia, and Queensland
What mountain range in New South Whales separates the wetter coastal areas from the more arid interior?
The Great Dividing Range
What percent of Australia’s wine production comes from New South Whales and what percent of this is concentrated in the heavily irrigated Riverina region (Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area?
25% of Australia’s total production with over half of the state’s production in Riverina (Murumbidgge Irrigation Area)
What are the top two large producers in Riverina/Murumbidgee Irrigation Area?
Casella (Yellow Tail)
De Bortoli
What is the top wine of De Bortoli? What state and what GI?
Noble One, a botritized Semillon dessert wine.
New South Whales
Riverina GI
What mountain range is closest to the Hunter Valley?
Brockenback Mountains
Napoleon III sipped not Champagne, but sparkling wine from what region during the closing ceremonies of the Paris Exhibition in 1855?
Hunter Valley GI
What is the climate of Hunter Valley GI?
Sub tropical
Despite the heat, what percent of the Hunter Valley’s output is white wine?
60%
What is Hunter Riesling?
synonym for Semillon in the Hunter Valley