Australian Wine Tasting at Home

Host Your Own Australian Wine Tasting at Home

To pass the time while at home, let the wine of Australia and this inspiring video motivate you to start planning a trip to this stunning location. When you are ready, we will be here to help you go from virtual to reality. We are in this together, but the vino we share makes it that much more bearable!

Australia is synonymous with bold red wine, and Shiraz is the grape that started it all. Barossa Valley took a French grape from the Northern Rhône and made something entirely its own. The luxury wines of Penfold’s Grange and Henschke’s Hill of Grace defined the country’s wine identity in past decades and drinkers have since associated Australia with commanding wines of body, plushness and jammy fruit. Shiraz remains iconic but pockets of a different sort of wine have emerged and taken hold of the hearts of wine lovers everywhere as they notice that there is far more to Australia than full-bodied reds.

While Australian Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon still abound, a caravan of new winemakers have championed the opposite end of the spectrum, prizing freshness and subtlety. Truly, in a country so large with such diversity of soil and climate, it is a wonder that these different wine styles have not gained traction with North American drinkers sooner. Barossa Valley’s neighbours of McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills have many innovators planting what the locals call ‘alternative varietals,’ which range from familiar grapes like Riesling and Sangiovese to curiosities like Zibibo and Friulano. Over on the Western side of Australia, areas like Margaret River are having collectors scramble for their balanced Chardonnays with the same voracity as their Cabernets.

The new wave of wine is shifting the identity of Australia to make room for wines of energy and unexpected drinkability, paving the way for lovers of mouth-watering freshness to find new favourites. The two stars that shine the brightest are familiar grapes that display a new distinctiveness in the Australian landscape that’s truly all their own.

Grenache
Today’s wine drinkers are being lured to Australia by this other Rhône grape. Similar to its French counterparts in Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas, Grenache has classically been blended with Syrah and Mourvèdre (called Mataro in Australia) for the traditional GSM blend. Many of the trendiest wines are minimizing the blending grapes or dropping them all together to show Grenache as a single varietal wine. Expect a wine that looks almost Pinot Noir-esque in the glass but with an intensely concentrated red fruit that is pure pleasure.

Chardonnay
Chardonnay drinkers may believe they have to choose between oaky, buttery California and tense, mineral-driven Burgundy – but perhaps not anymore. Emerging cool climate regions like Margaret River are bridging the gap between the two Chardonnay camps. The best ones have a richness and ripeness that is decidedly New World, but an elegance and fruit diversity that is a delightful surprise.

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