Growth of Shiraz Wines in Australia

Let us first take some general statistics of wines industry in Australia. This will help us understand the role of Shiraz wines in this island nation. About 60 percent production of wines in Australia is exported to other countries. Of the remaining 40 percent wines which are consumed in Australia, it is the wines from small wineries which see good domestic consumption and helps them remain afloat.

Red wines sales have grown in bottled form whereas white wines sales have grown in cask form. Recently, there is a surge in wine exports figures in terms of value which has shown that premium red wines and premium white wines are more in demand from Australia.

The Shiraz Performance

Australia witnessed an increase in plantings of Shiraz grapes in 1980s and 1990s which can be attributed to success of Australian brands like Jacob Creek and Lindemans in UK and Rosemount in UK and US. Government began to give tax subsidies to wineries planting new vineyards which boosted the planting in 1990s. With the yield of 422,430 tons of Shiraz grapes in 2005-2006, Shiraz became the most planted variety in Australia. And with this, Australia became the second largest Shiraz grape grower, just behind France.

By the year ending June 2016, Shiraz and cabernet sauvignon together notched up $727 million of export revenue together, making these top selling grape varietals.

Popular Shiraz Wines in Australia

Popular Shiraz Wines in Australia

There are many popular shiraz wines available in Australia. These include the ones from brands such as Penfolds "Grange", the Henschke "Hill of Grace" and the Penfolds "RWT".

There has been a recent increase in demand for the organic wines. Important organic shiraz wines are produced by Coastal Estate, Tamburlaine, Yalumba, Gardeners Ground, Mount Horrocks and others.

Why Wine Tasters Hold the Key to Wine Sale-Purchase?

For those who do not know much about wines or the wine industry, it might seem difficult to gauge the importance of role of wine tasters. With hundreds of thousands of wines from different brands and geographical regions and with many different blends also possible to make, it is not possible for wine consumers to know which one is better than the other. Wine lovers would often like to compare and judge the wines before buying wines. So, they need to find the reviews and the tasting notes of the wines from experts they trust. These experts are the wine tasters who, by virtue of their sensory perception and experience, are able to provide valuable information about the wine.

Popular wine tasters command a good following and their followers trust every single bit of word they write or say about a wine. Being professionals, they are in a position to determine the style and nature of a wine and compare it with the others. For this reason, all wineries do call these experts to tell them about the quality and nature. They can rate the wines on the basis of its different qualities in terms of points in order to signify their relative characteristics. The more are the points of a wine, the better it is. The first tasting notes prepared by them after tasting the wine are the fine prints which provide valuable information about its nature and characteristics. These notes and reviews are very useful in present day where wines are bought and sold online.

Wine tasting became a more organized and professional skill from the 14^th century onwards. It evolved slowly as the aromas, flavours and colours of wines began to be given different terminologies and these began to be accepted on a wide scale. It has now evolved into a full-fledged professional career path for wine lovers. (Details about winetasting can be further read here.)