1) It's Really Good!
As we mentioned in our newsletter last week, Australia has been making quality wine for a long time. Not only have they been at it a long time, so have their vines. Australia has more old, even ancient (100+ year old) vines than any other winemaking country and they're making many high quality, great value wines from these old vineyards.
2) Lots of family owned wineries.
The country has about 2,500 wineries, many of which are small, family-owned companies. That said, 5 mega-companies — Foster's Wine Group, Constellation Wines, Pernod Ricard, and McGuigan Simeon Wines — together with one family-owned winery, Casella Wines (the Yellowtail guys), are responsible for about two-thirds of Australia's wine production.
3) These family owned wineries need your help.
When the 2008 economic bubble burst, Australian wine's popularity in the USA was already in decline. Big, fruity, easy drinking Shiraz from Australia was EVERYWHERE in the late 2000's and began to suffer a similar fate to that of Merlot in the the early/mid 2000's. May people also began to also began to associate Australian wines with cheap, mass produced, grocery store quality swill, especially the "Cute Critter Labels (you know those labels with kangroo's, penguins, koalas, turtles, ducks...).
When the economy around the world took a downturn in 2008, the lower demand and the exchange rate caused many Australian brands to stop being imported to the USA. The good news for Australian farmers and winemakers was that their neighbor China was beginning to drink more wine, better wine and their economy was still booming, so they still had a market for the exports not going to the American market anymore.
Things were going OK for Australian wines with China, by far Australia’s leading wine export destination, importing shipments in the year to January 2020 worth over $1.2bn. However, political tensions between the two nations led to China imposing punitive import tariffs of 107.1-212.1% on Australian wine in November 2020, increasing to 116.2-218.4% in March 2021 brought shipments to a screeching halt, a devastating blow to Australia's family owned wineries.
4) Modern Australian Wines are versatile, tasty and won't break the bank.
Modern Australian wines have an abundance of fruit. They're intense, generous and even cooler-climate wines, from places like the Yarra Valley and Tasmania, tend to show good amounts of fruit. Part of the reason is that Australian wines were made to be drunk, whereas many European wines have jobs. "That job is to match food, and you're not going to get a Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir that tastes the same as Grand Cru Burgundy, because red Burgundy has evolved, over hundreds of years, to pair with the region's traditional cuisine. But if you want something that's really delicious, drinkable and pairs well with duck, Australian pinot is going to do an amazing job without the $900 price tag.
5) Speaking of versatile...
Like many "new world" winemaking regions and countries, Australian winemakers aren't burdened by tradition and rules like many European winemakers. Aussie winemakers are free to grow whatever grapes they want, where they want and can produce any style they want. In a vast country like Australia with a variety of climates, soils and personalities, that means there is an Australian wine perfect for just about every wine lover out there.