The New Wines Of The New World

Australia may be relatively new on the winemaking circuit , but it ’s got many tricks up its sleeve. The most important of them is sustainability. A whirlwind tasting tour of South Australia and Tasmania reveals organic and biodynamic wines, and a communal passion for innovation.

- Sumeet Keswani

‘Five reasons why you should drink wine every day! ’, ‘Benefits of wine unproven!’, ‘Wine can make you feel skinny, wise, and happy!’, ‘Beware! Red wine can lead to headaches!’

If I had an Australian dollar for every time I came across an article that claimed to have decoded wine and its effects, I would start a winery of my own. Personal experience aside, the claim that drinking wine makes you feel happy seems to have a scientific basis—curse that damn dopamine! The jury is still out, though, on wine’s health benefits. In my search for definitive answers—and the best wines—I embarked on a journey through the southern region of Australia this fall. Europe may have had a head start in viticulture and winemaking, but Australia is no bush-leaguer.

A MOUTHFUL OF MCLAREN VALE

Australia has 65 distinct wine regions, and its winemakers aren’t afraid to break the mould. “Here, no technique goes untested and no convention goes unchallenged… we have a proud tradition of starting new traditions,” says Andreas Clark, CEO of Wine Australia. Nowhere is this aversion to convention more evident than the bewilderingly imaginative d’Arenberg Cube in McLaren Vale, a 45-minute drive from Adelaide in the state of South Australia.