Tag Archives: Australian
West Australian Wines And Wineries
With more 150 wineries, Western Australia is one of the most qualitative wine producing regions of the country. Though it does not account for more than 5 percent of the production, the wine produced in Western Australia is of the topmost quality. The wineries are located at different at different physical locations such as Coastal, Great Southern, Margaret River, Pemberton, Perth Hills and Swan Valley. Amongst these, the Swan Valley is the one of the largest sources of Western Australias wine production. A 30 minute drive from Perth, Swan Valley is a picturesque place with wildlife parks and scenic beauty. Swan valley has some of the best wineries in Western Australia and is best known for its fortified wineries. But due to the presence of tropical climate in Swan Valley, many wine producers have deserted the region over the years and as a result production is rapidly falling. Yet it remains one of the most authentic wine producing regions of Western Australia and people often plan trips to Swan Valley to enjoy a weekend!
Winemaking in southern regions of Western Australia started in the late 1960s. The climate there is more suitable for wine production. The area does not have more than seven percent of Australias vineyards and the percentage of grapes crushed is a mere three percent. Nonetheless the winemaking regions of South Western Australia enjoy immense popularity because of the quality of wine they are known to produce. The Margaret River region is a renowned wine growing region and was founded not more than thirty years ago. Today dozens of wineries are spread beside each other and is immensely popular amongst visitors. Margaret River region is a tourist hotbed with popular wine tasting cuisines, first class restaurants and stroll gardens. Margaret River along with being a wine tasting heaven for tourists, is also a famous surfing spot and has exotic beaches.
The wineries of the coastal region are not grouped as such and one needs to drive extensively in order to locate them properly. The Wineries are filled with scenic beauty and exotic locales and it is a pleasure for eyes to take a look at them. The Great Southern Region is Australias largest wine region with more than 200 kilometers in width and 100 kilometers in length. The vineyards situated are spread throughout the area and have significant differences in the way they are. Also the climate of this region plays a very important role in this region as this is one of the coolest regions of Australia and the vineyards here are dependent on the cool climate to produce some of the best wines. The region has produced some award winning wines and is very well known amongst vintage wine collectors and tasters.
This region of Australia is very well known for its wine production techniques and the quality of wine it upholds even if certain problems tend to hamper the production at times. This region is the reason why Australian wine has become a global name today.
Tasting Time: Exploring The Five Secret Australian White Wine – Wine Tasting Time – Food Industry
Tasting time : Exploring the White Australia Wine Five Secrets
HC food industry network Australian white wine Wine So simple that almost anyone can easily place the bottle. But with the following five tips, when necessary against the Australian white wine to new heights.
Australia Chardonnay (Chardonnay) most abundant and rich
“The Sunshine Bottling” (ABottleofSunshine) is the slogan of Australia to promote their wines, this slogan is not only doing my part to give Australia the most representative of the red grape varieties Syrah (Shiraz), but also can be used to describe Australia The most widely planted white varieties of Chardonnay grapes. Australian Chardonnay and Shiraz in Australia, like enjoying the abundant sunshine and warm climate, coupled with almost all winemakers like to use rubber Barrel Aging them to ferment Chardonnay, so most especially in the higher class of Chardonnay has tropical fruit abundance strong fragrance, the same as mango and pineapple fruit, strong and sweet oak to bring the oil-like texture.
Unwooded / Unoaked cool and fresh Few years ago, Australian Chardonnay oak with a strong sense of meet and conquer the U.S. market, when the locals drink too strong white wine that, when he suddenly realized, “Do we want our white wine is more refreshing it? “
Consequently, in Australia there is a different trend in the U.S. market in the United States, after the white wine oak aging Americans will be particularly marked in the wine marked, while in Australia, they have not been particularly marked oak Barrel aging (written for the “Unwooded” or “Unoaked”), means that: “This does not mean wine or low, but this wine make you feel cooler!”
Riesling afraid of acid, then there must be surprises
Australia, a large number of immigrants from Germany, naturally they bring the most pride in the German grape varieties Riesling, sometimes to show their German origin, but also as the “Rhine Riesling” (RhineRiesling ). Although Australia’s climate was warmer than in Germany, does not seem suitable for the cultivation of Riesling, but appropriate for early harvest of this species will allow to maintain the excellent inherent acidity. Australian Riesling fruit as his home in Germany or France Alsace wine more rich, but to wear off the tongue and the structure is really strong and sharp acidity. The total acidity too serious not to drink alcohol at home to challenge about it.
Sauvignon Blanc (SauvignonBlanc), fresh and simple
Reputation of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is more loud than Australia did not expect that from Australia, the species spread in the past will “wall of red.” Of course, this first benefit from the cool climate of New Zealand more than Australia. In Australia, although there are many breweries brewing Sauvignon Blanc, but usually brief light, color, and water is almost the same, with cool pure light grassy acidity. Australian winemakers seem to agree, “Sauvignon Blanc = light Spirit . “
Hunter Valley Semillon (Semillon) quite a lot of vintage ability When the famous British female
Wine Tasting Found a new home JancisRobinson produced by South Wales Hunter Valley Semillon (Semillon) after white wine charm, which was once ignored by many varieties of wine experts, has finally come to prove himself to say: “I can spawn high-end dry Spirit . “Thanks to the Hunter Valley’s unique climate and soil conditions, Semillon lest (Grave) outside the best dry white wine, or even the world’s best single variety Semillon dry white wine. one of the top grade, you will find when you put it 10 years later, it remains fresh and palatable.
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A Wine Lover’s Weekly Guide to $10 Wines – An Australian Sauvignon Blanc
This is our second Australian wine, and our first Sauvignon Blanc. Australia is a major wine producer partly because Australians drink well over twice as much wine per capita as do Americans. The wine reviewed below comes from Victoria, Australia’s smallest mainland state, which is second in the country’s wine production.
Deakin Estate has been growing grapes since the late 1960s but started producing wine only in 1980. The company is named for Australia’s second Prime Minister, Alfred Deakin. A University, a suburb of Australia’s capital, and an earthquake fault are also named for this guy. Let’s see if this wine also has a fault.
OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.
Wine Reviewed
Deakin Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2008 12.5 % alcohol about $ 10
Let’s start with the marketing materials. Tasting Note: Pale straw yellow; grassy, citrus, grapefruit and gooseberry nose; dry, light bodied, zesty on the palate with grapefruit nuances; clean finish. Serving Suggestion: Oysters; chevre; herbed chicken; salads; vegetable soup. And now for my review.
I started by sipping this wine alone. I remarked its lovely acidity and more than moderate length. The first meal started with sweet and sour barbecued turkey wings, and then an overcooked, dry barbecued chicken breast, accompanied by potatoes roasted in chicken fat, and a lime and garlic spicy tomato salsa served as a vegetable. With the turkey wings the gooseberry came forward with more than a touch of sweetness. In conjunction with the chicken the Sauvignon Blanc had a very pleasant lime taste but it was light. As expected, it was quite palate cleansing when dealing with the greasy potatoes. When paired with the salsa, the wine took on a bit of an ethereal quality and wasn’t at all overwhelmed by the medium level of spiciness.
The second meal was a Middle-Eastern specialty ground beef in crushed bulgur jackets cooked in a somewhat acidic sauce containing Swiss chard. This dish is known as Kube or Kibbe. The Sauvignon Blanc was finely acidic with a note of sugar and some citrus. Later I had some high-quality French style lemon pie with a very buttery crust. The wine picked up acidity but unfortunately didn’t display any citrus.
The final meal consisted of a simple omelet. The wine displayed refreshing acidity and tasted of grapefruit that could have been somewhat riper. Don’t get me wrong; it wasn’t harsh. It picked up strength and a note of sweetness with canned palm hearts and even more so with guacamole. The wine became somewhat unctuous with a note of lime. I finished the meal with cookies covered in dark chocolate (not the real stuff, but a good imitation) and the wine weakened.
I finished the tasting with two cheeses. When paired with a Provolone the wine displayed good acidity and a bit of lime. It was refreshing. Marbled Cheddar increased the Sauvignon Blanc’s acidity and I tasted grapefruit. I was sorry not to have any goat cheese (chevre) the classic pairing for Sauvignon Blanc. I cannot remember when I was sorry not to have a cheese pairing.
Final verdict. I would definitely buy this wine again. It is a bargain. I recently reviewed a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc at twice the price that wasn’t nearly as good. I intend to review here other wines from this producer.
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Wine Importers: Know the Australian land, the spirit
Australia is blessed with abundant sunshine which enables our grapes to ripen to perfection. Whatever the vagaries of a particular red grape variety, there will be a part of Australia that can give it everything it needs. Even toughies like rustic Malbec or black-as-pitch Petit Verdot turn out a treat.
In general, the warmer the wine region, the more likely it will produce rich, full flavoured styles which many people come to associate with Australian red wine. However, Australia also has cool climatic conditions well suited to red varieties which produce lighter and more delicate red wine styles.
The world’s classic premium red grape varieties are all found in abundance in Australia.
Cabernet Sauvignon has several natural “homes” amongst Australia’s wine regions. The famous Coonawarra terra rossa soils have produced excellent Cabernet Sauvignon for over a century, while few regions can match Western Australia’s Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon for sheer stylishness.
In cooler regions the tricky grape Pinot Noir fits in nicely, while the versatile Shiraz, expresses itself wonderfully well in virtually all but the coolest regions. Several of the milder climate regions are also home to that eccentric and wonderful Australian speciality wine, sparkling red Shiraz.
Whatever you’re looking for in terms of red wine, the chances are Australia will be making that style somewhere. Here’s what to expect from the different varieties that Australia grows:
Barbera
Of the Italian varieties, Sangiovese and Barbera have had the most success in Australia. Barbera is perhaps the most suited to the country with its full-on plummy fruitiness and it is evidently at home in hot temperatures.
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc is mostly included in blends with big brother Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. This is a shame, because in its own right it’s full of wild-strawberry and cherry fruitiness – a tad lighter in style than Shiraz but no less of a wine and great for drinking in warmer weather!
Cabernet Sauvignon
Usually considered the noblest of red grapes, probably due to its pride of place in the history of old world classics.
In Australia, look for it in the medium to cool regions and the wines will be as powerfully flavoured, blackcurranty and full-bodies as you’d expect from anywhere. It’s at its minty best in Coonawarra and Margaret River – the latter region coming up with wonderfully good blends with Merlot.
The Yarra Valley in Victoria is another Cabernet Sauvignon producer, making wines that are pure-fruited and elegant. McLaren Vale in South Australia and Mudgee in New South Wales also generate wines with black currant and berry characters with a hint of chocolate. All of these wines are rich and well structured to benefit from further age in bottle, so it’s also well worth cellaring them for a year or two.
Grenache
Another red grape variety from the Rhône, which is just as at home in Australia as Shiraz is.
Like Shiraz it was taken for granted for a long while – prized principally for its juicy rosé and fiery fortified wines. Today, with the discovery of some of the original old vines, first planted over 150 years ago, growers now realise that this grape makes just about the most luscious cherry and raspberry-filled wines possible. Renowned for their sweet ripeness, these grapes (which grow best in Australia’s warmer regions) make wines which are high in alcohol and low in tannin. They’ll warm you to your toes!
Merlot
Merlot is not a grape variety which you’ll often see on its own in Australia.
When you do, however it will be full of attractive primary fruit flavours and velvety softness to make you wonder why. Merlot makes a perfect partner for Cabernet Sauvignon; Merlot adds the suppleness to Cabernet’s stern, serious structure.
Fine examples of Merlot blended wines are available from the warmer inland regions, such as Riverina, Riverland and Murray Darling. Unblended Merlot is also being increasingly seen from these areas, where like the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale it produces a soft dry red often described as plush plum like.
In cooler climates such as the Yarra Valley or Margaret River, unblended Merlot tends to take on more savoury flavours with firmer tannins.
Mourvedre
Mourvedre (or Mataro) was another grape used in Australia’s bulk wines during the1960s. Mourvedre has since been rediscovered for its fabulously rich, spicy old-vine/bush-vine wines. The Barossa Valley has some wonderful examples of this variety which should be treasured for their history and for their spice and liquorice concentration.
Pink or Rose Wines
Rosé style wines are made by pressing ripe, red grapes but leaving the juice in contact with the skins for just a short while so that the wines just acquire a pink blush. These wines are generally drunk young, while they are still fresh and vibrant.
They tend to be drunk chilled, an increasingly popular option during warm Aussie days, particularly among red wine drinkers who just can’t bear the transition to a true white wine despite the heat. As Australian winemakers are using their favourite grapes such as Shiraz and Grenache for the wine with their tendency to produce more complex flavours, Australian rosés fall mid-way between whites and fuller bodied reds.
Pinot Noir
What’s a delicate, pernickety grape like this doing in a sun-drenched robust country like Australia, you might ask.
You’d be asking a good question. Pinot Noir is a challenge to grow in any part of the world. What’s now emerged is a handful of Pinot Noir styles all Australia’s own and a proud group they are too. Being a cool climate variety, growers in the coolest regions are seeing great success; that’s in regions like the Adelaide Hills, Tasmania, Mornington Peninsula, Geelong, the Yarra Valley and Great Southern.
In these regions the wines tend to come out strawberry / raspberry- fruited when young, then get progressively more mushroomy and savoury with age. The best styles of all come from vines with a little age, which haven’t been harvested too heavily and from wines given a gentle maturation in oak barrels.
Sangiovese
Of the Italian varieties, Sangiovese and Barbera have had the most success in Australia. Sangiovese’s sour-cherry tones have proved more difficult to perfect but a few from the McLaren Vale region have shown good potential.
Shiraz
No other grape has such a uniquely Australian character. Try to copy they might but the rest of the world’s winemakers will never capture that mulberry, spicy, slightly ‘wild’ flavour that can only be Australia’s own.
Shiraz (the same grape as Syrah in France’s Rhône Valley) was one of the first vine varieties to arrive in Australia in 1832. So at home was it on its new turf that plantings prospered and it wasn’t long before the local population began to take it for granted. However, by the 1980s people had begun to realise how versatile it could be, its character changed depending on the region in which it was grown.
Every style emerged from elegant, peppery cool climate styles (Heathcote in Victoria) to more intensely flavoured spicy styles of Coonawarra and Margaret River to powerful and minty (Clare Valley), sweet and chocolaty (McLaren Vale), muscular, and ripe-fruited (Barossa), and leather and rich (Hunter Valley).
Shiraz, which has traditionally been blended in both cool and warm climates with Cabernet Sauvignon is also blended with Grenache and Mourvedre in warm climates.
In recent years, with the availability of increased plantings of Viognier in Australia, winemakers have increasingly blended Shiraz Viognier combinations. Typically, Shiraz Viognier blends have a perfumed aroma and softer tannins which make these wines suitable to enjoy while relatively young.
Tempranillo
Tempranillo is known for its sweet, plumy berry flavours that are balanced by savoury, dry tannins. Originally from Spain this grape is adapting well to new homes in Australia. In cool regions Tempranillo can be ‘spicy’ while warmer regions bring out sweeter fruity flavours but stronger tannins too.
Zinfandel
Zinfandel is a thin-skinned grape that performs best in warm, dry conditions. In Australia the Cape Mentelle winery in Western Australia’s Margaret River region has played ambassador to the grape producing dense, high alcohol wines with intense flavours that have developed a cult status. However other Australians are now using the grape to produce lighter, spicy wines that can, in the Californian fashion, be savoured much younger.
I Love Australian Wine – A Pinot Noir From Southeastern Australia
This is our second review of Australian wine in only a few weeks. You may realize that Australia is a major wine exporter in particular supplying the United States and the United Kingdom. While this wine was bottled in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales in Australia’s southwest, the grapes come from the Geographical Indication of Beechworth in New South Wales neighbor, Victoria. Beechworth was once a great place to dig for gold and is now considered a fine wine region, especially for Chardonnay and fortified wines. If money is no object search out Giaconda’s wines, including their Pinot Noir.
Wine Reviewed Pinot Noir New South Wales (Brokenwood Winery) 2005 14.0% alcohol about $ 20 There were no marketing materials so I’ll quote the back label. “This Pinot Noir is sourced from Victoria’s exciting Beechworth region, in the lower region of the Alpine Valleys. A very hot, dry season giving concentrated flavors… This is a ripe style with background French Oak and sappy/cherry Pinot fruit. The palate has strawberry flavors and lingering soft tannins. Drink over the short term with duck and Asian dishes. Our wines are now sealed with screw cap to guarantee quality and consistency.” Re screw caps: I want to mention that when I used adjustable pliers the bottle opened nicely. And now for my review.
At the first sips the wine was quite powerful with good length and tobacco but no tannins. Its first pairing was with an over dry commercially barbecued chicken breast but its paprika-dusted skin was nice and moist. This Pinot Noir was very present with some chocolate. With the tastier chicken leg it was excessively acidic. On the upside, this wine was chewy and mouth filling. Once again there was tobacco and no tannins.
The next meal involved a middle-eastern specialty known as kube, ground beef in crushed bulgar jackets accompanied by Swiss Chard and a slightly sour, delicious broth. This Pinot Noir was thick. I even got a taste of tar and black licorice. There was a lot of body but, at the risk of repetition, there were no tannins. They didn’t seem to be missing. I tasted dark fruit, especially black cherries. I finished the meal with smoked almonds and tasted tobacco and some earth.
My final meal involved fatty beef ribs cooked slowly with soft wheat kernels and accompanied by a moderately spicy guacamole. The Pinot Noir was round and thick with a lot of oak and a good length. Its acidity worked well with the meat’s grease. Not only the meat was chewy and it presented black, black cherries. The wine retained some power and all of its length when paired with the guacamole.
Before starting on the traditional two cheeses I enjoyed some Matjes herring. The wine was long, balanced, and mouth filling. The herring did not get in the way. A local Provolone actually weakened this Pinot Noir at first its acidity became slightly harsh. A tastier Swiss slightly weakened the wine, which was still powerful and long, oaky with the taste of tobacco.
Final verdict. This wine is definitely worth buying again and again. Next time I won’t waste it on the cheese. And maybe someday I’ll try Giaconda’s offerings. You’ll be the first to know.