Australian wine is a typical example of New World wine, and since the 1990s, in just over 10 years, Australia has become one of the great powers in the wine world. Nowadays, Australian wine is also becoming more and more popular in the Chinese market, so let's take a look at the Australian wine overview with the wine encyclopedia.
1. On January 24, 1791, the Governor's Mansion Garden in Sydney city selected two bunches of grapes transplanted from the Cape of Good Hope to produce wine for the first time, creating the history of Australian wine. Compared to France, The history of Australian winemaking is very young.
2. Australia's current model of the wine industry was formed in the 1950s. Today, however, Australia is the world's sixth-largest wine producer, with around 2,300 wine companies.
3. Australia's most well-known production areas are: the Barossa valley (Barossa valley) in South Australia, coonawarra, mclaren vale, the hunter valley in New South Wales and the margaret river in Western Australia. Among them, South Australia is to Australia as California is to the United States, and the Barossa Valley of South Australia has always been known as "Australia's Napa Valley".
4. Syrah is Australia's deserved king of grapes, with the highest quality of Syrah produced in the Barossa Valley and Hunter Valley of South Australia. Australian Syrah grapes have a long history and are the most widely planted grape varieties in Australia, currently accounting for 40% of the red grape varieties and 20% of the total Australian grape grown area, and are currently all the rage in the world.
Lelis Old Tree Gohaina Silla Dry Red, Image Source: Lefu Wine
5. Australia is a New World wine country, so there is no legal provision for the grading system. The semi-official Australian Wine Spirits Association (awbc) rates the country's wines, roughly dividing wines into four classes as recommendations, ranging from highest to lowest: landmark Australia, regional heroes, generation next and brand champions.
6. In addition to grading wines, Australian wine expert James Halliday has developed a star-rated winery rating system based on the quality of the winery, from high to low: red five-star winery, five-star winery, quasi-five-star winery, four-star winery, quasi-four-star winery and three-star winery. Among them, the red five-star winery must have at least 2 wines with a rating of 94 points (or above) for the current year, and the first two years are also five-star ratings. Three-star winery wines must also be rated between 87 and 89.
7. There is no shortage of famous wineries in Australia, such as Penfolds, Wolf Blass, Seppelt, Peter Lehmann, Yalumba and Hardys. Among them, the name of the winery with Chinese characteristics, "Penfolds", is the darling of the Chinese market.
8. Like other wine-producing countries in New World, Australian wines also pay great attention to brand marketing. In Australia, there is no more successful brand marketing than the yellow tail. Founded in 2001, the yellow-tailed kangaroo quickly became the most successful wine brand in Australia, and indeed throughout the 21st century. It is the first wine brand in the United States to sell imported wine, and it can also be seen everywhere in China's large and small supermarkets, and the image of the jumping kangaroo has created a sales miracle in wine.
9, in the folk, Penfolds Grange has always been known as the "King of Australian Wine". Although "grange" is the quaint "meaning of farm", it is from a noble origin. It was only born to rival Bordeaux's famous wines, and the road to fame has been bumpy. Against the backdrop of a sharp drop in the price index of Bordeaux wines, its prices have risen all the way. The 2008 year's perfect score made Penfolds Granch the focus of media attention.
10. Overall, Australian wine quality is relatively stable, usually fruity, sometimes thick and greasy, low acidity, easy to enter, with the characteristics of New World wine, more in line with the taste of Chinese.
11, Australia is the lead in the use of a large number of "screw caps" of the main wine producers, 98% of Australian wine is the use of screw caps, therefore, in most cases, drinking Australian wine does not require a corkscrew.
12, Australia's annual per capita alcohol consumption is 23 liters, which is twice that of the French, ranking first in English-speaking countries.
13 Australians are proud of their cultural identity, with interesting cuisine influenced by Asian cultures, special wine-related cultures, and "byo" (bring your own) restaurant culture.
14. Australia is the world's fourth largest wine exporter, second only to France, Italy and Spain, and its wines are exported to more than 120 countries around the world. However, according to the Wine Australia Authority, the total export volume of Australian wine fell to 678 million litres in 2013, and the total value of exports fell to A$1.76 billion, but the average export price rose by 1% to 2.59 Australian dollars per litre.
15. It can be seen from China's customs data that in 2013, Australia was the second largest exporter of bottled wine imports from China, after France. The total amount of bottled wine imported into China was 36 million liters, with a total value of $226 million. (Text/Wine Encyclopedia)
About the Author
Liu Xi, senior editor of the Wine Encyclopedia, passed the WSET Advanced Exam with full honors, wset diploma is reading, good at combining with current affairs to spread wine culture, laughter and anger contain wine expertise, personal WeChat: 937321852.
Red Wine Encyclopedia (WeChat: wikiwine) - China's most influential wine self-media, providing the most popular wine information and knowledge, aiming to popularize wine culture and improve the taste of Chinese people.