The end of the 20^th century saw the Australian export market flourish, with wines of mass production from the broad region of South Eastern Australia leading the way. These wines represented outstanding value, were full of big fruit flavours and made from grapes sourced throughout the area. They made huge strides in successfully penetrating foreign markets throughout the western world.

Yellow Tail and Yellow label continued to show the way into the 21^st century, but behind these market leaders, something else was happening.

For more than 50 years, Penfold's Grange and later, Henschke's Hill of Grace and others gained credibility for the Australian industry at the high end among collectors and in the sale rooms of the world. In the last 20 years, however, less imposing wines, still of great character but much more reasonably priced, began to show up on shelves of wine stores and supermarkets around the world.

The availability of such great wines was not enough. In a world expecting Aussie wines to be brash and cheap, or concentrated, rich and priced in the Petrus price range, the industry had a unique marketing problem. As the consuming world had been primed on the styles of wines produced from limited areas, often from limited grapes, from California to the Rhone to Tuscany, the Australian industry went back to the drawing board to learn how to teach the market to understand the unique character of these wines. Australian wines were certainly on a par and had a better quality/price ratio than most others, but Yellow Tail was still the image. To make their marketing mark, Australian vintners began to explain the characteristics of the wines of the many regions of Australia, using their collectibles to lead the way. This was quite an exercise as many of the wineries were just finding their way.

Then, many vintners began to spice up the naming of wines. Bin numbers and label colours began to fade away, and The Dead Arm and Aphrodite, among others began to find their way to the export shelves.

Frequently, these vintners also produce a range of qualities, enabling them to effectively engage the competition in the next levels up from the market leaders, and in some cases, all the way to the very top.

To help the buying community understand the regional strengths and differences, the state of South Australia opens its doors every two years to Tasting Australia, supported by the wine regions throughout the state and their wineries and vineyard owners.

An overview of these regions and their wines follows...

ADELAIDE HILLS

Close to the city of Adelaide, just on the other side of Mount Lofty, this was home to more than 40 wineries in the 19th Century. Interest later fell off, but a renewal was started again with a vengeance in 1976 by Brian Croser at Petaluma.

Chardonnay was a great success for Croser, and many others followed.

The area is bounded by the Eden Valley and Barossa Valley wine regions to the north and the McLaren Vale wine region to the south. The undulating topography generates a wide range of complex microclimates but the region is generally cooler and moister than Adelaide and the coastal plain.

Still, the area remains most famous for its Chardonnay, but the multitude of microclimates has given high hopes for many other varieties. The Picadilly Valley subregion, for example has approximately the same number of heat degree days (1100) as the Cotes de Beaune, suggesting Chardonnay and Pinot Noir should flourish.  And flourish they do. With a tendency to greater ripeness, and more alcohol than Burgundy, the best Chardonnays compare favourably to the very best of Puligny and Chassagne and the best Pinots to the premier crus from a little further north.

In the area just over the mountain, grapes must compete with market gardening.  Petaluma does so favourably, with its Chardonnay being grown on north facing hills and his Pinot Noir on the south side.

Further east, some of Australia's best Sauvignon Blancs are made from grapes grown near Napenthe. Overall, we experienced different styles from a variety of vineyards.  These wines are certainly gaining on Chardonnay as the prominent style from the Adelaide Hills. At $17-25 they are in the same range as some Marlborough wines, and even some from the Loire. Despite exceptions, my impression is that the styles are likely to stay more tropical than tart.

Finally, as with many other regions in Australia, there is some outstanding Shiraz. Although close to Barossa, famous for producing massive, almost chewable Shiraz, the wines of the Hills are much more subtle, but will probably age more gracefully to develop great character after a few years. 

Back to the Sauvignon tasting, my best included:

07 Hahndorf Hill - Faint colour but classic cat's pee nose.  Grassy texture, coming together.  A little hot on finish.

07 Blockman - Intense grassy nose typical for Kiwi.  A very good sauvignon in the Sancerre style. Well balanced.

Now to the Chardonnays, probably regarded as the best wines from the region.  I liked:

06 Bird in Hand - Very light in appearance for a Chardonnay. Lightly oaked, good balance, very smooth. Ready.  A good food wine. Attractive at the price $20 - $25. Note: also a renowned olive oil producer.

06 Shaw and Smith M3 - Closed nose but what there is shows tight complexity. Closed on entry but started to open up in the glass. Memories of Beaune. Lots of finesse. 2 yrs to excellence. $35.

05 Petaluma - Intense ripe peaches on nose.  Complex, quiet wine, minerally, subdued.   Well balanced complete finish. A complete wine. $37.

The afternoon took us to Howard's for Pinot Noir. Stephen George, leading the tasting, referred to Cabernet Sauvignon being to God as Pinot Noir is to the devil. Although the area has a similar number of degree days to Burgundy, the alcohol level in the Adelaide Hills tends to be higher to enable the grapes to properly ripen. No one mentioned chaptalization, a practice prohibited in Australia but commonly used in France.

My choices from this tasting were:

06 Ashton Hills Estate - Green Pepper nose - clean, some red berries on palate - not long but nice mouthful. Very good. $37

06 Knappstein Riposte - Real pinot nose but somewhat faint. Medium cherries on palate. Decent finish.  Good to Very Good. $35

04 Napenthe, The Good Doctor - Very big,full nose.  Showing some age and complexity. Very good to excellent. $30

I also liked:

03 Sandow's End Reserve - Nose is opening up, but still somewhat dumb, good cherry berry fruit on palate, well balanced, excellent bottle.

05 Barrett's "The Reserve" - Light berry nose - more complete, complex flavours raspberry and cherries. A little hot on the finish. Very good.

05 Leabrook Estate - Darker fruit and full extract.  Great balance. Excellent, particularly for $30.

06 Abbey Rock - Impressive! A little hot, but full of berries and mushrooms.  Excellent, particularly at $22.

Now to Shiraz to finish the day.  There are high hopes for Shiraz in the Hills. All are relatively cool climate wines and many have started to show well after five years.

My favorites:

04 Petaluma - Big, dark fruit nose and on palate, real mothful of black currents and cherries. Full clean finish. Possibly some cabernet?  Excellent. 7% viognier $45.

05 Shaw and Smith - Not picking up spice on nose, but lots of spicy black currents in mouth.  Nice depth, good balance. Becoming a complete wine. Very good. $36.

05 Amadio - Quiet nose. Palate clean, currents and cherries, but not a lot of spice.  Round and firm.  Excellent balance.  Very good. $20.

05 Longview Block 3 - Spice is everywhere, in the nose and in the mouth.  Plenty of depth. Many years to go.  Young, but very good. Viognier skins thrown in. $40