Al right, last week I went on the rampage with a rant about stupid things that piss me off and then I heard from one of my readers (someone who reads it on line from Chicago no less) that I had promised the week before to talk about the rest of Australia. Nobody will let me have any fun.
So, on with this week’s topic, the rest of Australia, but that doesn’t sound right. We’ve already covered the Hunter Valley, Barossa, and Coonawarra appellations, so the rest of Australia must be crap, n’est-ce pas? Non, non, mon frère.
The first of these “other” areas is the state of Victoria, the southernmost growing region in mainland Australia (yes, even further south than the state of South Australia, oh those loony Aussies!) While the first plantings here started in the mid 1800’s, it pretty much died off until the fine wine craze started again in the 1980’s – 90’s. It’s an area still sorting itself out, but several appellations are already producing some outstanding wines. Keep an eye out for wines from Yarra Valley, Geelong and Mornington Peninsula. These are wonderful areas for chard, pinot noir, and pinot gris. Further north (which, remember is warmer in the southern hemisphere) lie Bendigo, Heathcote and, most importantly, Goulburn Valley. These are great areas for shiraz and cab. Vineyards to keep an eye out for include Mitchelton and Yarra Yering.
And now we come to my favorite appellation in all of Oz – the Margaret River. Located in Western Australia, more than 3,000 miles west of my beloved Hunter Valley and around 200 miles south of Perth (do ya get the idea that this is a big country?), this area only started getting vineyards planted in the 70’s, but boy have they come of age.
All of Western Australia accounts for only three percent of Australia’s wine production and the Margaret River is a tiny portion of that, but when you go to Australia and start talking about wine, the conversation will always end up here.
The first varietal to be planted here was cabernet and it quickly started producing some of Australia’s best. Next they started planting chardonnay and, BOOM, they did it again. Then, of course, a couple of vineyards started playing around with the Aussie’s favorite grape, shiraz, and OMG. Instead of the big jammy, fruit bomb it produces in the rest of the country, here it turns into a complex French style syrah, but still with a bit of the juiciness of its South Australian neighbor.
The wineries to keep your eyes out for here include Leeuwin Estates (more on them in a sec), Moss Wood for chard and shiraz, and Cape Mentelle for sauv blanc and cab. This last one is actually the New Zealand winery Cloudy Bay’s sister so, believe me, they know sauv blanc.
But back to Leeuwin Estates for a minute. This is one of the oldest and finest wineries in the Margaret River district and is still one of the best. The winery’s name comes from the ship that first spotted Western Australia, the Leeuwin, which means lioness in Dutch.
But what a lot of people don’t know is that the winery owes it’s beginnings to an American. Robert Mondavi tasted some of the wines coming out of the region and encouraged his buddy, Denis Horgan to start up the winery. Today, if you get a chance to taste any of their wines, just do it! But, there is one jewel that stands out above all others and that’s their “Art Series” chardonnay. If you don’t like Aussie chard, this one’s for you. It’s a creamy, Burgundian style chard that is one of Australia’s best. But then, for around $80 retail, it should be.
That’s it for this week, so until next time; wine a bit, you’ll feel better!
[livemarket market_name="KONK Life LiveMarket" limit=3 category=“” show_signup=0 show_more=0]
No Comment