When starting out, the crucial thing for most drinkers is the grape itself which is why Australian wine has become so popular – it is easy to understand. All Australian wines show clearly on their labels (often front and back) the varietal(s) used and the character of the wine. Many will also suggest the best foods to complement the wine, or the other way around!

Different grapes provide vastly different characters and flavours and it’s a lot of fun exploring to find out what you like best. Once you know what grapes are supposed to taste like, your choice is all the easier.

Learning about wine is easy when you are judging just by the grape variety itself. But remember that in Australian wine, often more than one variety may be used so that different varietal characteristics complement each other to provide a better overall wine. For example Shiraz Cabernet is a blend of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, but Cabernet Sauvignon is simply a grape with a double-barreled name).

To help understand what to look for, we’ve compiled a list of the major varieties used in Australian wine and their most obvious characters.

Red Varieties

Shiraz

Shiraz is the most important and widely planted grape variety in Australia where it consistently produces outstanding medium to full-bodied wines deep crimson in colour and with rich, ripe plum and pepper flavours.

Most Shiraz wines benefit from oak maturation and may be kept for many years. The Barossa Valley and Hunter valley are home to Australia’s greatest Shiraz. The synonym ‘Syrah’ may often be found in other wine producing countries.

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is the classic red variety of Bordeaux and second only to Shiraz in importance in Australia. Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be medium to full bodied, typically leafy with ripe cassis like flavours and are always well structured and elegant.

Australia is famous for blends of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, the Cabernet Sauvignon structure giving elegance to the ripe fruit flavours of Shiraz. Coonawarra and Langhorne Creek are both famous of their Cabernet Sauvignon wines.

Merlot

Merlot, another of the famous Bordeaux red varieties, has only recently become popular in Australia. Merlot wines are characterised by soft ‘rose petal’ like flavours and lovely subtle palate. Historically, Merlot has been blended with Cabernet Sauvignon to produce a softer easy drinking wine, however straight Merlot red wines are now becoming increasingly popular and are a great style of wine to introduce people to the enjoyment of red wine.

Grenache

Grenache is a variety that when grown in a warm climate like Australia, produces wines that are highly perfumed soft, round and very flavoursome. It is for this reason that Grenache is usually blended with Shiraz to create a better-balanced wine. Grenache blends can be an ideal accompaniment for highly spiced foods, especially when served chilled. In fact these wines are often most appealing when consumed chilled.

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is unusual in as much as it is used to produce base wines for sparkling or light bodied, elegant dry red wines. When grown in the cooler areas of southern Australia and blended with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir produces some of Australia’s greatest sparkling wines. When grown to make dry red wines, the variety needs to be grown in slightly warmer areas, generally speaking. Pinot Noir wines are best accompanying light red meat dishes or gamy poultry.

White Varieties

Chardonnay

Chardonnay is unquestionably the most important white grape variety around the world, and this is certainly the case in Australia, where it is used to produce sparkling and dry white wine styles. Chardonnay grown in warm regions of Australia produces wines with ripe melon flavours, in the cooler areas the flavours tend to be more peach and citrus like, and some of Australia’s most popular Chardonnays are often blends of wines made from both warm and cool regions. With rare exceptions, Chardonnay benefits from maturation in oak, the oak flavour greatly complementing the fruit flavours of Chardonnay. Australian Chardonnay wines are best drunk when they are relatively young (1-3 years), and are an exceptionally good accompaniment to a range of foods from delicate seafood through most white meats or some red meats, including lamb.

This versatile variety when blended with Pinot Noir makes Australia’s greatest sparkling wines. Chardonnay is successful in many districts of Australia, with the most famous being Padthaway, Langhorne Creek, Adelaide Hills and the Margaret River in Western Australia.

Riesling

Riesling is one of the classic white grape varieties of the world, historically grown in Alsace and Germany.

In Australia, under warmer conditions, this variety makes wonderfully perfumed dry elegant wines usually consumed when young fresh and zesty, but capable of developing into lovely aged wines.

Rieslings may be served as an aperitif, but are equally attractive when served with lightly flavoured foods, seafood dishes in particular. The Barossa Valley, Clare Valley and Eden Valley of South Australia have become world famous for this variety.

Sauvignon Blanc

Sauvignon Blanc is relatively new to Australia and best suited to the cooler regions of Victoria and South Australia. Wines from this variety have a distinct fresh gooseberry like flavour, are fresh, unoaked, and always best when consumed young.

Semillon often blended with Sauvignon Blanc to produce a fresh lively easy drinking style that is an excellent accompaniment to seafood dishes.

Semillon

Semillon is the main white variety of Bordeaux and is now days grown throughout Australia. The best examples of Semillon dry white wine are from the Hunter Valley and Mudgee in New South Wales, and the Barossa Valley in South Australia. Most Semillon wines are not oak matured however there are some oaked styles found in Australia. Semillon is most commonly blended with a small proportion of Chardonnay, this blend offering the attractive green and grassy flavours of Semillon balanced by the soft creaminess of Chardonnay.

An overview of the wine making process from developing and harvesting the grapes through to the bottled wine is available in the Making Australian Wine section.

 
Australian Wine topics:

» Australian Wine Growing Regions
» Australian Red Wine Varieties
» Australian White Wine Varieties
» Making Australian Wine
» Australian Wine Evaluation and Tasting
» Serving and Storing Wine
» Matching Australian Wine with Food
» Australian Wine and Health
» Glossary of Australian Wine Terms