There’s nobody more keen to get you Curious about your wines than us, and we continue to fly the flag in Ireland for encouraging people to explore new countries and regions. In reading our ‘Regional Heroes’ series, you’ll be armed to the teeth with the knowledge and the sense of adventure you’ll need.

Few, if any, wine merchants carry wines from all of these regions that we’ll look at over the coming weeks, so it’s worth seeking out the heroes from a number of sources, including your local independent, supermarket, and of course, on-line wine specialist.

We kick off our ‘Regional Heroes’ series, of which you can view our first post here, with a glance at four very interesting regions of Victoria.

Yarra Valley - Chardonnay

Yarra Valley’s regional accent for Chardonnay is fast emerging and constantly evolving, defined by both vineyard and winemaking practice. The fruit expression is distinctly white stone fruit - peaches, nectarines - through to more opulent fig, while winemaking practice has certainly now mastered the elegant integration of oak. (Yarra Valley - see pictured)

Heathcote - Shiraz

If you are searching out cool regional expressions that are currently ‘hot’, Heathcote and its Shiraz would be up near the top of the list. Dense and mouth-filling, but not without elegance, the flavour spectrum ranges from berry and stone fruit richness through to spice and licorice, and is usually accompanied by long, supple tannins.

Rutherglen - Fortified

Always leave room for dessert… especially when it’s wine! To sip a Rutherglen Fortified is truly to taste the flavours of history. Explosively rich and sweet, these luscious wines offer undreamed-of layers of complexity as it ages in cask.

Grampians - Shiraz

It is as if Barossa Valley had discovered it’s feminine side - still undeniably Shiraz, with dark fruit and earthy richness, but here with a regionally distinct nose of black pepper spice and an almost violet, floral aroma.

Content used with permission from WineAustralia.com