By Chris Grimm
WestportNow Contributing Editor
Writing about Australian wine in only one article is as difficult as covering all of California in a single piece. The breadth of wine produced—the varietals, terroir, and quality—is certainly comparable to that from California. 
Wine has been grown in Australia since the late 18th Century. As in the United States, improvements in the 1960s in quality, variety, and production really launched the contemporary Australian wine industry.
Most Australian wine comes from the state of South Australia (including the McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley regions). New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia all contribute significantly to the country’s wine production. Even less well-known areas like Tasmania and Kangaroo Island are producing fine wines.
My Wine of the Month is the finest Cabernet Sauvignon I’ve tasted in years—the rather cumbersomely monickered 1998 Parkers Coonawarra Estate First Growth Terra Rossa. This spectacular effort features very fine-grained tannins that give a great structure for aging, but don’t hinder current drinking. Big black currant flavors and aromas of cinnamon add to the pleasure.
This wine matched perfectly with grilled steak with a coffee-cardamom rub. While I brought my bottle in California, this wine has popped up locally at Harry’s in Fairfield. The suggested retail on this wine was $75, but Harry’s has the last few bottles on sale for $60! While this isn’t cheap, it is a relative bargain given the price of premium Cabs. This is far better than many bottles going for twice the price.
White wines make up about three-quarters of the wine production in Australia. The most widely planted fine white wine grape in Australia—no surprise—is Chardonnay. But if there is one wine grape that says “Australia,” it is the red grape Shiraz—which is known as Syrah in the United States and the French Rhone regions where it is also grown.
Surely the most storied name in Australian wine is Penfolds Grange. Made predominantly from Shiraz, Grange was created more than 50 years ago, in an attempt to produce age-worthy wines in the style of the finest wines of Bordeaux.
Today, Grange is Australia’s “First Growth” wine—comparable in quality, consistency, and reputation to Mouton-Rothschild, Haut-Brion, or Petrus. Alas, the price is also comparable, with a bottle of Grange running upwards of $200.
Syrah has become the hot grape of the moment (at least if one excepts the “Sideways” bounce that Pinot noir has enjoyed in the last six months). I have not always liked Syrah, often finding New World attempts to be, at worst, somewhat vegetal, and, at best, not especially showing varietal quality—just tasting like generic red wine. More recent offerings, especially at lower prices, have left me open to try more Australian (and American) shiraz/syrah.
Some of the Australian shiraz that I have most enjoyed are made in the bigger, higher-alcohol and explosive-fruit style of some California Zinfandel. An example of this style is D’Arenberg’s Dead Arm Shiraz (the 2001 and 2002 are both out now). The aromas of this wine all but jump from the glass. The dark red and black fruit flavors are almost overwhelming. This “cocktail bomb” style of wine begs for bright and bold food as an accompaniment—grilled beef with grilled peppers and sweet potatoes would be ideal. (Or, as a side, our favorite recipe of peppers stuffed with feta cheese, pine nuts, and sautéed squash.)
Great wineries make great wine. It seems obvious, right? But few large wineries consistently produce great wine at every price level. California’s Beringer Vineyards is one good example, as is Guigal from the French Rhone region. In both cases, one can hardly go wrong when choosing their wine. Other wineries consistently produce excellent wine, but few do so while producing the breadth and quality of these wineries.
The comparable Australian winery is the aforementioned D’Arenberg. While Dead Arm is their high-end Shiraz, they produce wines at a range of price points. Their bargain release are their Stump Jump red and white wines. D’Arenberg’s 2003 The Stump Jump red wine is a blend of Grenache, Shiraz and Mouv’dre. This is an exhuberant, medium-to-full bodied wine, offering big flavors for a bargain price of about $12—as such, my Wine Value of the Month. It doesn’t have the tannic structure of their higher priced offerings, so should be consumed in the near-term—but for the price, you wouldn’t want to hold it, anyway.
Another winery finding its way into local shops is Clarendon Hills. Their Shiraz are also big and bold, with intense, black-fruit flavors. While not bargain-priced, they also offer fine quality—highly the terroir of the individual vineyards from which they are produced.
No write-up of Australia would complete without mention of Yellow Tail—a winery shipping more than five million cases annually to the United States. While these aren’t hand-crafted efforts, Yellow Tail wines are well-made “industrial” wines. They aren’t spectacular but they are certainly enjoyable, without obvious flaws. Packaged attractively and capped with cost-saving synthetic corks, these are very good wines for very little money—only about $6 a bottle for Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Shiraz.
Yellow Tail, like Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw (“Two Buck Chuck”) line (which is unavailable in Connecticut) reflects the benefit to consumers of the worldwide wine glut. That is to say, there is more good-quality, low-priced wine being produced now, than ever before.
More than once, I have had a host apologize for serving a value-priced wine at a party. Don’t apologize! These wines, released in large quality, are often made to better quality control standards than more expensive wines. They might not produce mind-blowing experiences, but they can certainly be served to guests without hesitation—especially at a larger gathering, where more expensive wines simply aren’t practical.
While I haven’t mentioned any white wines, I prefer the Sauvignon Blanc being produced in neighboring New Zealand. The greatest name in New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is Cloudy Bay, but Kim Crawford, Craggy Range, and many others are producing fine wines from what is the white wine grape of Bordeaux. So take that leap and unscrew a cap off of a bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc!
Finally, Australia is the home of some of some of the world’s finest fortified (dessert) wines. Endearingly known in their homeland as “stickies,” these sweet wines are fantastic. I recently had a R.L. Buller Premium Fine Tokay —a sweet and luxurious wine, which would make a fine dessert in and of itself.
There are a number of stickies available in the United States. In my last article I mentioned looking for importer names on the back of bottles. In this case I’d suggest looking for the “Australian Premium Wine Collection” label of the exporter, John Larchet, on the front of the bottle. I have yet to go wrong with any of his sweet wine offerings. The wines of Elderton are just one fine example.
(Editor’s Note: Chris Grimm is Contributing Editor to the James Beard Award-winning Oregon Wine Report. The opinions and accuracy of information in this article are the responsibility of the contributor.)
i will never apologize for serving a value-priced wine to you. Yellow-Tail Chard will be the next wine served with a steak!