Australia's Awakening

Vintners Across the Continent Are Taking New Approaches to Their Terroirs and Wines

- Maryann Worobiec

There’s a fresh energy in Australian wine. The tidal wave of critter labels and thick, jammy reds has crested and receded and a new landscape is emerging. Today, winemakers are highlighting regionality, diversity, balance and elegance over extreme value or brute strength.

Australia is close in size to the continental United States; Sydney to Perth spans the same distance as Atlanta to San Diego. Within its remarkable geographical diversity, the country possesses all the attributes of other great wine regions of the world—distinctive terroirs, world-class vineyards, talented winemakers, expressive wines and a new generation improving upon the work of the last.

Australia’s wine map is complex and detailed —there are 65 wine regions across the continent. Few of them are as familiar to wine lovers as Margaux, Mosel or Montalcino. But the country’s vintners are well aware of how distinctive its great terroirs can be, and embrace their differences.

This is a relatively new development. For many years, grapes from great vineyards have been used in wines that carried broader, more generic appellations. Some of these wines are value-driven, taking advantage of the flexibility of blending to create consistent house styles. But Penfolds Grange, the country’s most celebrated wine, is also labeled with a general South Australia appellation.

Henschke’s Hill of Grace is another pinnacle of Australian wine, but it takes a different approach: expressing a unique site. This remote 20-acre vineyard sits in Eden Valley, a subregion of the Barossa. Barossa is Australia’s best-known wine region, with nearly 200 brands and 550 wine growing families, many working plots of land that have been in their families for generations.