For a country that has no native grapes, Australia has developed a broad wine industry encompassing many of the most familiar EU varieties and excelling in making wines from most of them. Australia’s Shiraz, for example, originally from France’s north Rhne and known around the world as Syrah, has been such a success that other winemakers have begun using Australia’s term for the red wine variety.
Shiraz is the most well liked red wine produced in Australia but Cabernet Sauvignon is close behind, produced typically round the Coonawarra and Margaret Streams. Merlot has become increasingly popular recently as Australian wine buyers notice the acclamation for the grape abroad, especially in the United States, and Pinot Noir tends to be utilized for sparkling wines, particularly when mingled with Chardonnay.
Red wine types have long controlled Australia’s wine scene but the country also produces several vital white kinds. Of these, Chardonnay is obviously the hottest, with production more than double that of its nearest rival, Semillon, which until 1982 was the states dominant white variety. The grapes are grown typically around the Margaret Stream, the Adelaide Hills, the Hunter Valley and the Melbourne “Dress Circle.”
Semillon, despite its decline in favour, is an Australian rarity. The wines produced from grapes grown around the Hunter Valley have a unique flavour particularly when they have been left to mellow for five to seven years. Today nevertheless , drinkers are much more likely to prefer an Australian Riesling. Muscat grapes are also grown in Australia and some are used to supply fortified wines.
As well as those standard wine types though, buyers have also shown an interest in newer variations, and growers have been enthusiastic to experiment. Other red wines latterly produced in Australia include Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot and even Sangiovese, more widely known as the local speciality of Tuscany.
But it is not simply the range of grapes, with types from every part of the world coming together in Australia’s varied climates, that sets the country's wines apart. It's also the way they're produced. While other wine industries have had a tendency to concentrate on manufacturing single-grape wines, sometimes from single regions, Australia’s winemakers are thrilled to blend. Terroir has a tendency to be restricted to the top labels and most wines are produced with a watch on the flavour of the grape rather than the place — or places — the grape was grown.
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