Australian Wine Summary and Notes
Wine has been around for a long time, and some areas of the world have been producing for thousands of years. Australia’s not one of them – it’s been making wine only since Europeans came to this continent. However, within fifty years of European arrival, vineyards were appearing just about everywhere, and flourishing.
Over the course of the past century, the Australian wine industry has gotten noticed, and the results have been dramatic. At the beginning of the century, the entire continent was producing less than five million gallons every year. By the last quarter of the century, world attention had increased that figure to close to a hundred million gallons – Australia was on the map as far as wine went.
Australia’s large variety of climate types and soil conditions leads it to be favorable to cultivation of many different grape varieties and many types of wine. These climates run the range from cool and damp to very hot and arid, with some conditions coming very close to the climates in the best European wine regions. Some regions are irrigated to help them produce wine grapes.
Soil types mostly involve clay and limestone (if you dig deeply enough) but vary just as much as the temperatures and overall climate. This allows the winemakers to match different types of grapes with the soil that will grow them best, creating high quality fruit and getting a better yield.
Australian wine spent a remarkably long time without notice from the rest of the world, and a set of judges in a world competition even insisted that the Victoria wines they’d just rated so highly couldn’t possible be Australian! That changed, however, when the first big boom occurred, and wine lovers everywhere found out why they shouldn’t ignore these wines. Production soared in the 1970s, and has been high ever since.
Another boom on the lower end of the price scale occurred recently – Australian imports were seen just about everywhere, offering decent, low priced wine in major retailers. These wines have fallen out of fashion somewhat, making them a little less popular now, but they still have a lot to offer. Take the time to check out some of the high quality wines Australia has to offer – you might be surprised.
Australia is the world’s fourth biggest wine exporter, and it has much to offer everyone. Spain, Italy, France and other major wine producers buy Australian wines as well as drinking their own. The country has been called one of wine’s most powerful influences today.
If you’ll be visiting Australia on your next holiday, don’t forget to have a look at some of the country’s excellent wine regions, and try a few wines. If you can’t make it to Australia, be sure to look at the options the next time you buy wine for your table. There are some really great wines waiting for you to find them.
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