Australia: Articles on Australian Wine & Wine Regions

Let’s do some free association. I’ll say a word, and you respond with the first word that comes to your mind. Ready? Here we go:

Tasmanian.

Chances are good that you just said Devil. That’s certainly what I would have said a month ago. But now that I’ve been to Tasmania, the first word that comes to my mind is Pinot. Or, depending on my mood, maybe Riesling or sparkling wine.

Happy January! The snow’s on the ground and the ice is on the roads, and if you’re walking through a vineyard in the northern hemisphere, somewhere in Germany or Washington or upstate New York for instance, the frost is probably on the vine and the dirt is crunching beneath your feet. If, however, you’re part of the 10% of the world’s population that lives below the equator, your January vineyard stroll involves warm sunshine and dry air. In fact, if you’re walking through an Australian vineyard, you won’t be wishing you had grabbed a pair of gloves on your way out the door. Your thoughts are more likely to be along the lines of “So this is what the worst drought in a hundred years looks like.”

Have you booked your ticket home for the Holidays yet? If not, you might want to get on that. Have you bought Auntie Ingrid her extra special Christmas gift? If not, you should get on that too.

And what will you be serving at that special family dinner? You know you’ve got a reputation to live up to, and they’re going to expect nothing less than a little known, concentrated, crowd pleaser. Mom has the turkey covered, and your sister knows her way around a mashed potato. But you’re in charge of the wine.

Let’s say you’re up for a trip to wine country, and you’re thinking you’ll go to the quintessential wine growing region, the Napa Valley. But then you think about it for a minute and realize that such a trip would not be convenient, because you’re not in California -- you’re in New South Wales. Australia. You know you’re near great wine country, and you still want to satisfy that tasting-day urge, but you don’t know where to start. What’s a wine lover to do?

Yellow Tail. There, I said it. The first brand to spring to mind when one uses the words “Australia” and “wine” in the same sentence. You know you’ve drunk it. You may even have enjoyed it, though if you are part of a wine-geek circle, you’re probably reluctant to admit as much. If that’s the case, allow me to take the pressure off and acknowledge what all too many casual quaffers are afraid to admit – the stuff ain’t bad, and for under $8 a bottle, it’s one of the best bargains out there.