Wine has been available in Australia for more than two hundred years ago, as the first fleet of vine (Plant on which grapes grow) cuttings was brought in the country in the year 1788. Although during early period, it was difficult to make wine from these cuttings later it was successfully developed and domestically produced. Wine in Australia was first offered for sale in then market in the year 1820. Since then, the production and use is continuously increasing.
In Australia 47 different varieties of wine grapes including white and red wine grapes in 89 cold and hot wine regions are grown. According to a survey carried out by Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, a modest 7 percent increase of production of wine grapes is expected in the year 2008-09 from the year 2007-08 and a hefty12 percent increase is forecasted for the year 2009-10. A few varieties of premium white wine grapes includes Chardonnay, Semillon, Colombard, Riesling etc and premium red wine grapes includes Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir etc.
Wine in Australia is not only made from the wine grapes in the country but wine grapes of more than fifty varieties from other countries including Spain, France and Italy. Although the country produces many brands, the most famous brand of the country is Penfolds Grange, which is made from the Shiraz grapes containing a small percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon. The total number of wine producers in the country are little more than 2000 and most of them are small wineries, however few big names include Foster’s Group, McGuigan Simeon Wines, Hardy wine company, Warburn Estate etc.
Australia is among the top ten wine producing countries in the world and it is currently ranked at sixth place. It produced 1.23 billion litesr of wine in the year 2007 and out of which 786 million liters was exported to many countries. Australian wine is definitely good wine indeed.