While our customers are being tempted by our Aussie sale, I think it fitting to run an Australian series on the Curious blog for the next month or so. Wine Australia have been very good about helping me out with content on this one, so I have twenty fascinating regions (out of more than sixty), along with the type of wine, or grape variety, that defines them (the regional hero).

Australian wine is my favourite topic. I love the freedom they enjoy with their winemaking, I love their branding and packaging (Are cork stoppers really necessary? That’s a blog post in itself!) and I’m not surprised that they are now recognised as one of the world’s top producers of fine wine and ultra-fine wine (Langmeil’s Orphan Bank says it all), as well as high quality inexpensive brands (such as Stickleback).

Regional heroes are Australian wines and winemakers best defined by a distinct sense of place and expression. They’re a perfect marriage of the right grape, grown in the right region to produce a winning wine. The following factors help define a regional hero:

Place: Australian wines from somewhere rather than wines from anywhere

Authenticity: the credible claim that people and site influence varietal choice and regional wine-style

Heritage: culture, generational learning and imported influences which result in wine quality and expression

People: the Australian faces behind the places

Interest: wines that maintain and sustain interest

Family: generations who have influenced the landscape and the wine

Honesty: wines that display authentic claims

Accent: unique and discrete regional wine styles that are unmistakable

Character: valuable personalities that have stories to tell

First stop – Victoria! Coming to the Curious Blog this Friday.

Content used with permission from WineAustralia.com