The State of Australian Wine

Filed in archive Australian Wines on June 18, 2010

© laRuth


As a younger man, I spent about four years in Australia. I lived in Canberra and saw large parts of New South Wales and Victoria: Syndey, Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road (with the 12 Apostles standing in the ocean). I remember watching my children feed the black swans on Lake Wendouree in Ballarat. And I remember the beauty of the Snowy Mountains, playing in the snow at Thredbo.

And I remember a few wineries. At the time I was not quite the connoisseur that I've become now. I didn't know all that much about wine - but I knew what I liked. The tour of Brown Brothers winery in Victoria was the most impressive. I've mentioned them before...

Alder Yarrow just spent a while in Down Under and he's published an insightful look at the state of state of the wine industry in Australia. Two observations stand out to me from his somewhat lengthy critique. First, the shortage of labor faced there leads to mechanical harvesting, and that is probably the biggest obstacle standing in the way of greatness. Australia generally exports wine that is, well, pretty good. If you're looking for great wine, you'll have to go elsewhere.

The second observation that struck me is that Australia exports very little of the wine produced at the country's smaller wineries. Sadly, those are the best wines the country produces.

Adler's piece contains a lot more. It's worth a read.