Chardonnay is the main white grape
variety and makes good value, easy-to-drink wines. Rich and ripe reds
come from cabernet sauvignon and shiraz. Consumers appreciate the region's easy drinking,
well-priced wines, especially chardonnay. For a simple guide to the state's
principal grape varieties click the external link below to visitvictoria.com's wine section.
South Australia is the state that dominates Australian wine production, accounting for about half of Australia's wine prodiction today. It was not always so - in the 19th century Victoria was a larger producer and in the decades from the 1840's to the 1870's, there was a golden age for Victorian wine.
That wonderful age has been occurring again in the last decade as more and more exciting regions are developed and the wines become better and better. Victoria is a small state in area compared to say, South Australia and NSW, and most of the state is within easy travel distance of Melbourne. Within this easily travelled zone there is a wealth and diversity of wine regions.
The golden era of the mid 19th century saw wines of delicacy and quality. In 1886 Hubert de Castella published a famous book about Victorian wine called "John Bull's Vineyard". He criticised sweet full bodied reds and whites and predicted that wine styles would swing back to clean dry light sophisticated whites "as light as their climate can produce". He was right but 150 years ahead of his time!
The Victorian wine industry was decimated by the phylloxera insect disease and the preference by drinkers for rich wines. De Castella also misunderstood the climate - he was talking about the cool Yarra Valley and one of the features of Victoria is diversity - around Rutherglen the climate is hot and it suits strong fortified wines. This style was popular for much of the 20th century and by the 1960's there were hardly any wineries south of this north east region.
The modern era sees cool climate regions circling Melbourne and making prestige excellent quality. As well there are huge producers in the Sunraysia along the Murray - Lindemans Karadoc winery accounts on its own for more than 10% of the annual Australian crush!
