James Halliday - Australian Wine Companion 2015

About the author

Respected wine critic and vigneron James Halliday AM has a career that spans over forty years, but he is most widely known for his witty and informative writing about wine. As one of the founders of Brokenwood in the Lower Hunter Valley, New South Wales, and thereafter of Coldstream Hills in the Yarra Valley, Victoria, James is an unmatched authority on every aspect of the wine industry, from the planting and pruning of vines through to the creation and marketing of the finished product. His winemaking has led him to sojourns in Bordeaux and Burgundy, and he has had a long career as a wine judge in Australia and overseas. In 1995 he received the wine industrys ultimate accolade, the Maurice OShea Award. In 2010 James was made a Member of the Order of Australia.

James has written or contributed to more than 70 books on wine since he began writing in 1979. His books have been translated into Japanese, French, German, Danish, Icelandic and Polish, and have been published in the UK and the US, as well as in Australia. He is the author of James Hallidays Wine Atlas of Australia and The Australian Wine Encyclopedia.

Wine zones and regions of Australia

Published in 2014 by Hardie Grant Books

Hardie Grant Books (Australia)
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658 Church Street
Richmond, Victoria 3121
www.hardiegrant.com.au

Hardie Grant Books (UK)
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www.hardiegrant.co.uk

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

Copyright text James Halliday 2014
Copyright map Explore Australia Publishing Pty Ltd 2014

The Australian Wine Companion is a joint venture between James Halliday and Explore Australia Pty Ltd.

The map in this publication incorporates data copyright Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2004. Geoscience Australia has not evaluated the data as altered and incorporated within this publication and therefore gives no warranty regarding accuracy, completeness, currency or suitability for any particular purpose.

Australian wine zones and wine regions data copyright Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation, April 2005

eISBN 978 1 74358 222 0

Cover design by Nikki Townsend
Author photograph by Julian Kingma

Contents

The obstinate Australian dollar has refused to behave as the Reserve Bank, the Federal Treasury, the major banking institutions, and all manner of observers, have predicted. A year ago, it seemed a US85 cents exchange rate would simply be the first downward step, with 80 cents following soon thereafter. As at May 2014, however, it continues to oscillate at around 93 cents, notwithstanding the slowing of the Chinese economy (with lower steel prices reducing the demand for Australian dollars to pay for steel purchases) and the steady, if unspectacular, growth of the United States, the worlds largest economy (implicitly increasing the demand for US dollars, and slowing the rate of printing of them).

We live in a jittery world, with threats to international economic and political stability wherever you look, from the Middle East to Russia to North Korea to the PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain). Ironically, any conflagration would see a flight to the USD, and the selling of the risky AUD. Ironically, because the fall in the AUD is precisely what Australian exporters are waiting for, and it could be a rapid one especially with the factors in the first paragraph still to play out.

I dwell on this because the strength of the AUD has undoubtedly impacted on our competitive advantage over the south of France, and over South American producers Chile and Argentina, with Chile now having overtaken Australia and occupying fourth spot in volume (though not yet value). But its the other side of the coin that is also causing angst: imported wines have not been so cheap here since the early 1980s, and their appeal has been enhanced by the clever selections imported directly by Coles and Woolworths.

Yet its not all doom and gloom: each of Australias four most important markets the US, the UK, China (especially piggy-backing Hong Kong) and Canada is showing resilience. The UK has tired of its race to the bottom of price and quality and the duty escalator has ceased to be an automatic part of the UK Budget; the US is looking to increase its purchase of wines with an RRP of A$20+; and Canada purchases more wine in the A$5 to $9.99 per litre FOB bracket than any other country.

The domestic market still has to confront social health issues and misinformation: to wit, all forms of alcohol are equally abused; consumption of wine does not have a significant cardiovascular protective effect; and so on. Tax on wine remains the highest in any major wine-producing country.

On the bright side, the Australian Tourism Commission has identified wine, food and lifestyle as a major magnet for inbound tourists, especially from China. It is investing substantial funds into promoting this sector, and thus into increasing the billions of dollars generated by and for the Australian economy.

And the 2012 and 13 vintages produced wonderful wines (look at the sea of red print for the red wine tasting notes in this years Companion). Nature couldnt resist taking a swipe at 14, but the impact was on quantity, rather than quality. Moreover, Western Australia proved itself (for the eighth consecutive vintage) immune from any form of climatic misfortune common in the eastern half of the country.

Wineries

Hentley Farm Wines

Cnr Jenke Road/Gerald Roberts Road, Seppeltsfield, SA 5355 Region Barossa Valley

T (08) 8562 8427 www.hentleyfarm.com.au Open 7 days 11-5

Winemaker Andrew Quin Est. 1999 Dozens 15 000 Vyds 45.7ha

Keith and Alison Hentschke purchased Hentley Farm in 1997, as an old vineyard and mixed farming property. Keith has thoroughly impressive credentials, having studied agricultural science at Roseworthy, graduating with the Gramp Hardy Smith Memorial Prize for Most Outstanding Student, later adding an MBA. During the 1990s he had a senior production role with Orlando, before moving on to manage Fabal, one of Australias largest vineyard management companies .

Winery name Hentley Farm Wines

The name appearing on the front label as the producer is used throughout the book; in this instance Hentley comes from Hentschke and Sawley (Alisons maiden name).

Winery rating