Shiraz – A Versatile Wine in Australia

By Rob Hemphill
Shiraz, or Syrah as it is known in France where it originated from, is an immensely important grape variety in Australia. It is seen to be a workhorse one due to its consistent heavy cropping, but in recent years Shiraz has been used to blend with many different varieties to great effect. This has helped to give Shiraz the seal of quality it has today.

A single varietal Shiraz may be considered to be rather basic especially if grown in very hot areas. The grapes from higher yielding vines will then almost become over-ripe and taste slightly sweet and therefore lose a certain amount of concentration of fruit. This could be typical ‘hot country’ red wine that has had much of the flavor cooked out of it. But the Australians have extensive plantings of this noble grape and if anyone is going to exploit it, they will – and have!

The Hunter Valley is one area with its quality-conscious winemakers able to turn the huge amounts of Shiraz into some really serious wines. As this region has relatively poor soils, which incidentally is great for vines, combined with high temperatures, a very distinctive style of wine is produced. Shiraz is known as Hunter ‘Hermitage’ here.

If yields are kept to as little as half a tonne per acre and the weather has been right, i.e. not too hot, then the wine can develop an extraordinary unique style of its own. The wine will show a richness of an almost chocolaty character with a notable mineral tang. Shiraz is still very much the red wine grape of the area however Cabernet Sauvignon now accounts for a large proportion of the Hunter Valley vine acreage.

Perhaps the model for Australian Shiraz comes from The Barossa Valley in the form of the famous and much loved Penfolds ‘Grange’. Made entirely from local fruit, this is a wine of extraordinary dimension and power, while being richly textured and intensely concentrated it is packed with natural fruit sweetness.

Another promising style of Shiraz is being produced in the cooler south western part of the country around Coonawarra. The acid levels are kept well up producing appetizing wines with that wonderful dry peppery quality that we are so familiar with. These wines keep their color and age extremely well. It is here that the Australian wine industry showed the world what successful if unlikely partners Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon can be.

There are numerous premier Shiraz producers such as Penfolds, Hardys, Henschke, Orlando, Peter Lehmann Wines, Rosemount, Wolf Blass, Lindemans, Wynns and Yalumba as well as many other excellent wineries.

With a wide climate range throughout Australia and top class winemakers, it is no wonder that they have, and continue to discover how to work this magical old grape variety and extract so many different flavours from it.

That’s why Shiraz is such a versatile wine in Australia, and why it has withstood the test of time.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2134447

Red Wine and Its Varieties
By Ian Love

Australia is the fourth largest wine producing country in the world and boasts of great quality wines from major producers like Foster Group, Constellation wines and so on. The red grapes of Australia are their greatest asset and the most cherished wine is Shiraz. With the abundance of sunshine in Australia, the grapes ripen perfectly to give that special taste to the Australian wine. It is believed, the warmer the wine region, the better the red wine. But, the cooler areas are also well suited for the lighter and delicate red wine. There are several mild climate regions that are home to Australian specialty of sparkling red wine popularly known as “Shiraz”.

Shiraz: Shiraz produced from the same grapes as Syrah in France’s Rhone Valley were imported in Australia in 1832. It prospered in the Australian turf and became a great source of high quality wines. The versatility it displays to transform depended on the region and its growth is something special. There are several elegant styles that have emerged because of the climate, like the elegant peppery cool climate style in Heathcote, Victoria to cull out intense flavors with a spicy style of Coonawarra and Margaret River, the powerful minty one from Clare Valley, sweet and chocolaty one of McLaren Vale and muscular ripe fruited of Barossa. There is no other variety, which can match the mulberry, spicy, slightly wild flavor of Australia’s Shiraz wine.

Barbera: Barbera and Sangiovese are the most welcoming choice of Australia’s Italian variety. Barbera is best suited for the country and its desirable fruitiness and can give a great taste, when grown in areas with hot climate.

Cabernet Franc: It is a bit lighter in style than Shiraz but with a cherry and wild strawberry fruitiness and makes for a great drink for the warmer weather.

Cabernet Sauvignon: It is considered the best wine from the noblest red grapes and has found a place as an old world classic wine. Found generally in medium to cool regions, the wine is powerfully flavored and blackcurranty. In regions Margaret River and Coonawarra, it is at its minty best. Victoria’s Yarra Valley is also home to some good wine producers with a pure fruited elegance. South Australia’s McLaren Vale and Mudgee of New South Wales are popular for their berry characters with a tinge of chocolate. These wines, if stored in the cellar for one or two years can get immensely rich and well matured.

Grenache: This red grape variety of Rhone is as popular as Shiraz for juicy rose and the fiery fortified wines. With some old vines as old as first planted 150 year ago, the growers have come to realize its potential, as the most delicious cherry and raspberry filled wines. They are famous for the sweet ripeness and with a high alcohol level and low tannin would warm you to the toes.

Pinot Noir: Pinot Noir wine is known to throw a challenge to growers in any part of the world and have been highly successful in the coolest regions like Adelaide Hills, Tasmania, Yarra Valley and the Great Southern Australia. The best wines are known to be the ones produced from vines that have not been heavily harvested and from those given a gentle maturation in oak barrels.

Pink or Rose Wines: These rose style wines are popular, as they are best consumed, when chilled on a warm Aussie day. These wines are made red grapes which are pressed and some juice is left in contact with the skins for some time to give it a pink blush. They taste best, when fresh and vibrant.

There are several red wine varieties like Mourvedre, Merlot, Sangiovese, Tempranillo and Zinfandel that have a cult following of their own. The wine scene changes constantly and you will find several varieties emerging and produced by Australian wineries.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2061294

In this section of Winery Heathcote, I will attempt to trace the history of Australian wine.  I feel that when we gain a better understanding of where our wine comes from and where it all started, we will be able to appreciate it better.  Although Australian wine is in great demand all over the world, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States, domestic consumption is decreasing by 2% every year.

The first grape vine cuttings in Australia are said to have been brought by Governor Arthur Philips in 1788 to New South Wales, which was then a brand new British penal colony.  These cuttings were taken from South Africa when he was sailing to Australia from Portsmouth.  But his attempts at viticulture failed due to lack of understanding climactic differences.

Slowly, newcomers to the colony figured out how to grow the grapes according to the Australian weather and soon started producing excellent wines.  In the early to mid nineteenth century, French and Spanish grape cuttings were introduced by James Busby, widely known as the father of the Australian Wine Industry, who managed to produce some really good wines both in Australia and New Zealand.

Within a decade, Australian wine makers started getting noticed in the international wine arena and their wines began winning awards.  They discovered that the perfect grapes for the Australian climate were the Semillon, Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Sauvignon Blanc.  Australia was producing nearly 90,000 litres of wine annually by the mid 1820s.

The Australian wine making industry made huge strides in the late 1800s and their wine quality improved dramatically.  Soon Australian wine was winning at international competitions and the global demand for Australian wine grew exponentially.

Then Australian wine production was struck down for a long time by the Phylloxera Epidemic that completely destroyed vineyards mainly in the state of Victoria.  And it was only in the mid 1970s that serious wine making resumed again and Australians once again started producing world class wines.  It now has more than 26 different wine regions and more than a thousand wineries in the country.

Australia exports more than 40 million litres of unfortified dry wines each year and interestingly, old world wine producing countries like Italy and France began importing Australian wines.  Australia is now the 4^th largest wine exporter in the world and the wine industry plays a big role in the Australian economy providing employment and income through wine tourism.

Australia’s most famous wine is the Shiraz (originally called Syrah in other wine growing regions) although it is quite popular for its Chardonnay, Merlot, and Cabernet.  The Shiraz needs several years to mature and it is made from the Shiraz grape, which is deep purple in colour.  ‘Shiraz’ comes from a city of that name where wine making originated several thousands of years ago.

The Shiraz grape is also combined with other grapes to produce a fuller and richer texture of wine too. The Shiraz wines exude very strong aromas and flavours and it can alter based on the type of soil and weather.  It is said to be at its best when grown on the Cambrian soil of Heathcote.

Shiraz wines are best drunk within five years of bottling for the best effect.  It is very intense with a velvety texture and brings to mind cedar and raspberry.  These wines go well with any kind of meal and tastes best with meat dishes made of lamb, beef, or duck.

Australia is constantly honing its viticulture skills and investing in extensive research and development.  New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia produce nearly 98% of the grapes in Australia.  The flavour, the rich texture, and the balance of the Australian Shiraz are said to be unmatched in the world.

Welcome to Winery Heathcote!

Although I enjoy the taste of different wines, the extraordinarily rich and deep velvety texture of the Heathcote Shiraz is simply indescribable.  I wanted to know more about this wine and travelled to Heathcote to visit a winery.  It was an awesome experience.  I got to know a lot about the history of Australian wines, the nuances of viticulture, the art of wine-making, bottling, etc.

I had the opportunity to take part in a wine-tasting ‘ceremony’ and it was a delight to my senses of smell and taste!  I also understood the skill of matching the perfect wine with the perfect meal, and what an ill-matched wine could do to the flavours of a good meal.  I understood the importance of allowing the wine to blend with the food and the food to blend with the wine.

But I also found out the best way to blend my wine with my food is by instinct!  Although I came across many guidelines on how it can be done perfectly, I found that they were just that: ‘guidelines’.  We can only use them to come up with our own formula for what works for us.  So here, in Winery Heathcote, you will also find guidelines on matching your wine with your food but I encourage you to go, above all, with your intuition.

The bottom line is I enjoy my glass of wine; it could be while am eating, or could be an after dinner dessert accompaniment, or it could just be me and my wine enjoying some quiet time of contemplation!  It was during one such moment of blissful contemplation, sipping my sparkling Shiraz and letting its rich fruity flavours cascade over my tongue that I came up with the idea of setting up a website.  And voila! Winery Heathcote came into being.

I thought it would be interesting to trace the Australian wine trail that starts from the first export of a pipe of brandy fortified red wine to England by Gregory Blaxland in the early nineteenth century.  On this trail, I went off on various tangents that took me to many exciting places!  For example, while I was reading up on how James Busby came to be known as the Father of the Australian Wine Industry (in fact he is also considered the Father of the New Zealand Wine Industry!) , I found out that his books on wines and wine-making were more successful than his wine-making efforts.

This set me off on a trail of some awesome literature on many aspects of this delicious beverage that has so many intense followers all over the world.  I found myself poring over books at the State Library and trying to assimilate information at high speed.  This website, Winery Heathcote, is a result of this interminable search for understanding the qualities of wine and wine-making,

I figured out that if I waited till I had all the information to put it all together, it is never going to happen.  So here I am getting started with a little and with the promise of adding more and more in the days to come.

I have dedicated an entire section to capture the known and rumoured history of the Australian Wine Industry.  There is also a section with articles by experts on the different varieties of red wine and the Australian Shiraz – my favourite!

You will also find in these pages information on the Mail Coach Shiraz, Cabernet, Blanc and several other Heathcote winery wines, some wine region Heathcote reviews; nothing like a knowledgeable reviewer rating region –wise vineyards and wine produce.   I have also compiled some insights into viticulture and the different grapes, including the viognier, a white wine grape.

This is definitely turning out to be a very interesting project! I can think of so many interesting things to make this website a wealth of information on Australian wines.

I hope you enjoy your visit as much as I’ve enjoyed putting it together for you!  Stay for awhile, sip your wine, let it play with your senses, and read on …