There’s none of it in the US, I’m afraid. I do appreciate the suggestion though.
My view is the same as it’s always been.
Australia is a continent. It’s about twice as big as Europe. So it’s obviously going to have a lot of different microclimates.
A lot of the wines that were exported came from McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley in South Australia, which would be like coming from the southern part of Italy. Those were largely ripe, inexpensive, Shiraz.
But over in Western Australia, there’s Margaret River, which is farther away from Barossa than Austria is from Portugal. They do make Shiraz, but they also do Cab and Chenin Blanc and a load of other wines, and they’re quite different.
On the other side of the continent, in Mornington Peninsula, I’ve had some pretty good whites like Pinot Gris, and from Tasmania, some nice Pinot Noir. Remember, there’s nothing between there and the South Pole except for the cold Indian Ocean. So just like Sonoma can get a reputation for hot, jammy wines, those from the Pacific coast are utterly different.
One problem is that the Australian wine producers long ago made a concerted effort to capture a significant part of the world wide wine market and they did. Rather than show off their diversity, they focused on a few grapes and styles. It worked, but eventually became more of a mixed blessing because people figured that whether you pay $10 or $100, you’re going to get a big, jammy wine.
But there have always been more wines. It’s a problem that Chile and Argentina are facing today, except they have the added disadvantage of incompetent government.
Here’s Europe overlaid on Australia to show just how big Australia is:
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I had the Brokenwood Semillon two or three weeks ago and thought it very good, particularly for the price. I got mine at K&L, and will likely re-buy.
You could say that about most varietals. Napa Cabernet VS Bordeaux Cabernet, Northern Rhone Syrah VS Washington State Syrah -
But that’s one of the great things about Semillon. I loved the austerity of a young non-oak aged Semillon, love the fatness of them at 20 years of age, and I also love Barrel-Fermented Semillon for it’s creamy richness.
I’m not sure if any of these are available in the US, but I’ve seen great examples from Gembrook Hill, Yarra Yering, Ruggabellus, Murrumbateman, and Yangarra.
Yeah, except Sémillon is quite recognizable as Sémillon from almost everywhere else. Even in other parts of Australia they don’t make Sémillon the way they do it in Hunter Valley.
And although Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa vs. Bordeaux are different, they are still recognizable as Cabernet Sauvignon. Ditto for NRS vs. WA Syrah.
The difference between HVS and other Sémillons is akin to Croatia (known for big, bold and heavy wines) was making some of the most distinctive light, mineral and thoroughly Burgundian reds from Cabernet Sauvignon, or something along those lines. If one is expecting to have a ripe, vibrant and fruity Sémillon with the typical medium acidity and moderate alcohol, then a lean, incisively mineral and almost herbaceous low-alcohol Hunter Valley Sémillon with piercing acidity might come as a sort of surprise to an unexpecting drinker.
Not sure where to put this, might cross post in the thread about tariffs;
The Virtual Tasting Series for Charity next week, after Thanksgiving, is sponsored by Jay H a c k and his theme is Aussie wines.
Good reason and cause to open a down under.
Just saw this too. Probably deserves a separate thread:
Where are the reasonably priced, widely available Aussie wines that emulate the model set forth by the current wave of innovators?
I would love to try some of the lighter, fresher old-vine varietal wines from the Barossa Valley, McClaren Vale, Clare Valley, etc (Shiraz, Mataro…shoot, even Grenache). The prices for the handful that are commercially available in my region are way too high for me to blindly explore. Most of the wineries whose products intrigue me are not available in my area (Bekkers? Rusden? Izway?).
Heck, even my efforts to locate not-so-genteel Antipodean reds have resulted in frustration. Wynn’s “Coonawarra Estate” Cab Sauv/Shirz/Merlot was always a safe, if unexciting, choice 15 years ago. Where is it now? Massena’s “Howling Dog” Durif, which was an obscene, albeit delicious, tooth-stainer, is no longer in existence. Ess & See Mataro popped up on my radar as a potentially fun tasting opportunity, yet my shopping searches have been fruitless.
I think my most recent, joyful experiences with Australian wines were 6-7 years ago!
One holiday season, I went on a mini-spree at the local gourmet food & wine shop where I had worked years before. It was under new ownership, and there remained a few dusty bottles of random wines in inventory whose “release” prices had never been updated.
After x2 confirming that each bottle’s sticker price was correct, I cleaned out the 2002, '05, and '06 Penfolds “St Henri” Shiraz (~$40/btl). All were consumed within a couple of weeks of purchase.
Hard to tell, since what’s available in the States isn’t that much besides many, many of the supermarket wines. You really have to hunt the little producers down, and even then, there’s a ton that are not imported.
Yeah, but where’s the European Outback? Australia has little productive land and the winebelt is pretty much in the same area as the population is: ie, the thin belt of land around coasts, so looking merely at area doesn’t really tell much.
It depends. Forlorn Hope in California has one called Nacre made in a Hunter Valley style.
Agree. The map is interesting. I know it was just to give a sense of scale, but the European countries need to be flipped to reflect that warmer regions in Europe are in the south and in the north in Australia. Of course, it would look a bit strange.
Ooo, now I’m interested!
Unfortunately thus is most likely stuff that never finds its way out of the States.
I’ve been in Auz now for almost 3 years and there is plenty going on that is worthy of attention.
Stylistically Auz makes 3 unique styles of wine: Hunter Semillon, Sparkling Shiraz and Fortified Muscat’s. I love all 3, but it’s probably the Hunter Semillon, with their low alcohol and ageability , that interests me the most. The Barossa however has the oldest Semillon vines in the country and I have yet to try any of handful of Ancient Vine Madeira Clone Semillons - just not got there yet.
Out side of theses 3 styles there are lots of great young winemakers. It’s all up to what the importers think they can sell, but you can find some great examples of Chenin from the Swan valley, Aligote is now being made by a few people, brilliant Examples of Flor enhanced whites abound and there are a few very good Auz style Vin Jaunes. Orange wines are brilliant - someone already mentioned Ruggabellus- and there are more. I’ve no real interest in red wine any more, but there are plenty of wines at affordable prices eg Ravensworth (not this year though due to the fires last year), Sami-Odi and Latta Vino.
With Global warning it’s interesting to see a few houses in Coonawarra experimenting with different styles of red. In the end though Tasmania is going to end up as the main focus for premium wine. They already make some great table wines - try the Dr Edge Chardonnays - but the area is young and it will only improve with time. Sparklers are good as well.
I’d add classic Clare Rieslings to that list. They are definitely unique among the Rieslings, stylistically closer to Hunter Valley Sémillons than the Rieslings one normally might associate with the variety. As for the other Australian Rieslings, they seem much more “typical” of the variety - especially if contrasted with the examples from Clare Valley.