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Adelaide (Australia)

Superzone (GI area) with the regions Barossa, Fleurieu and Mount Lofty Ranges in the state of South Australia; see under Australia.

The Commonwealth of Australia in the southern hemisphere with its capital Canberra comprises the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania to the south, the sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island with its tributary islands and, as outer territories, the Pacific Norfolk Island, the Cocos Islands, Christmas Island, the Ashmore and Cartier Islands as well as Heard and the McDonald Islands in the Indian Ocean, totalling 7,688,287 km². Australia's neighbouring countries are New Zealand in the south-east and Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea in the north.

Australien - Landkarte und Flagge

Australia is a parliamentary monarchy on a democratic-parliamentary basis in the "Commonwealth of Nations" (largely former territories of the British Empire) with a democratic constitution. The British monarch is King and Head of State of Australia, who is represented by the Australian Governor-General.

History

In January 1788, an English ship with 300 convicts and guards landed on the south-eastern coast of Australia in the harbour of the city of Sydney, which was founded in the same year. The commander was Captain Arthur Phillip (1738-1814), who later became the first governor of the state of New South Wales. He recorded in writing that viticulture could be pursued to any desired degree of perfection in such a favourable climate. He immediately began planting the vines he had brought with him, where the heritage-listed Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney is located today. Opened in 1816, the garden, where Sydney's first zoo was later opened, is now Australia's oldest scientific institution and one of the most important historical botanical institutions in the world. But it was to take 200 years before Australian viticulture could establish itself. For the first few decades, rum was drunk so excessively that the camp was called the "Rum Corps".

Australien - Barossa Valley

Australian winegrowing pioneers

The Scotsman James Busby (1802-1871) is regarded as the "father of Australian viticulture". In 1825, he founded a farm north of Sydney in the Hunter Valley. He brought back hundreds of grape variety cuttings from a trip to Europe in 1833, including Syrah, which later became famous as Shiraz in Australia. Busby published writings and books on vine science, viticulture and winemaking. From 1841, Silesian immigrants used his instructions when planting vineyards.

In 1845, the English physician Dr Christopher Penfold (1811-1870) founded his vineyard in the Barossa Valley, which still exists today under the Penfolds name. A second pioneer in this area was the German Joseph Ernest Seppelt (1813-1868) in 1851 with his Seppeltfield vineyard. John Riddoch (1827-1901) first planted vineyards in the famous Coonawarra area in the early 1890s, triggering a boom there. Equally important was Thomas Hardy (1830-1912), who founded a vineyard in McLaren Vale in 1853. The Swiss, such as Hubert de Castella (1825-1907), who founded viticulture in the Yarra Valley, also played an important role. In 1919, a viticultural research centre was founded in Merbein (Sunraysia, state of Victoria), which then became part of the CSIRO research institute in 1927. Two other important viticultural institutions are the AWRI and Charles Sturt University.

For over a hundred years, Australia mainly produced heavy, high-alcohol sweet wines, which were marketed as "Australian Port" when fortified. From the beginning of the 1960s, there was an initial shift towards fresh white wines. The well-known winemaker Len Evans (1930-2006) played a key role in this development. A milestone was the "Grange Hermitage", a Bordeaux-style red wine from the Penfolds estate, created by the legendary cellar master Max Schubert (1915-1994) in 1959. From the mid-1960s, this was ultimately the starting point for the production of excellent red wines, primarily from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Shiraz, which were marketed as single varietals or as cuvées. Another pioneer was Wolfgang Blass (*1934), who immigrated from Germany in 1961. Australian oenologists, known as Flying Winemakers, are sought-after consultants worldwide.

In just one generation, Australia has become a true wine-drinking nation. Journalists such as Len Evans, James Halliday, Campbell Mattinson and Jeremy Oliver have also contributed to this through books, publications and wine guides.

Production volumes and grape varieties

In 2022, the vineyards covered 146,244 hectares of vines and the wine production volume was 13.1 million hectolitres. Around 80% of production is accounted for by multis. The majority are varietals (varietal wines). Around 70% are bulk wines bottled in bag-in-boxes. Large quantities of table grapes and sultanas are also produced. About 40% are white wines and 60% are red wines. Suitable new varieties such as Cienna and Tyrian have been created for the special Australian climate/soil conditions. The top...

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Sigi Hiss

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Sigi Hiss
freier Autor und Weinberater (Fine, Vinum u.a.), Bad Krozingen

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