Give Me Grapes: Victoria, Australia

I thought I needed to leave Europe for a while and try some New World wines, so I honed in on the Southern hemisphere. A friend suggested, and then it became obvious, that I should choose a region in Australia. For those of you that actually read my first post (if not, find it here), you know that I came of age with wines in an Australian wine shop. I always felt that Australian wine offered good consistency for very reasonable prices (as long as you don’t buy Yellowtail Chardonnay- bleck!), but for few exceptions couldn’t ever afford to buy much from the shop, instead I purchased at the grocery store. Now that I’m not 22 anymore, I can afford to try some of the good stuff.

I arbitrarily chose Victoria first. Victoria is full of small wineries, but still hasn’t recovered from phylloxera in the late 19th century when the government encouraged the destruction of vineyards in an attempt to wipe out the pest. Production is now only half of what it is in South Australia, that has never been affected by phylloxera. The area is the smallest and coolest region on Australia’s mainland for grape growing, and kangaroos apparently like to snack on the grapes.

With fourteen wine zones (i.e. appellations), I couldn’t possibly taste a wine from each (even if I could get a wine from each). The best known region is Yarra Valley, which is so close to Melbourne, its a northern suburb. Pinot Noir is one of the wines done best here, so I picked up one of those. Victoria being such a cool region, they are also known for chardonnay, so I grabbed one from the Mornington Peninsula. This little strip of land is due south of Melbourne, jutting out into the water.

Jasper Hill, a winery credited for putting Heathcote on the map is the maker of the third wine. Although my book mentions the Shiraz grown here, I opted to save that variety for another time and instead picked up a grenache, one of the varieties I had specified I’d like to try from Australia. My fourth wine is one for fun. Low alcohol, a bit of sugar and some fizz, it seems. It’s the only “reasonably priced” (read: in the amount I used to spend on Australian wine) wine I purchased.

Cheers, Mate!