This marks week three of our Australian Wine series and for this episode we focus on the state of South Australia. South Australia produces more than half of all Australian wine and some of the most prominent wine regions in the country.
Thanks to Wine Folly for making this cool map of Australia’s wine region.
In this episode, we’ll discuss:
- When did grape growing and winemaking start in South Australia
- South Australia’s many zones and regions
- Some awesome wine recommendations
Wine Recommendations
D’Arenberg The Hermit Crab 2016 – priced around $15. Lovely white blend of Viognier and Marsanne with aromas of chalky minerality, grapefruit pith, flowers and stone fruit. This wine is dry with medium acidity and medium body and flavors of toasted oak, white flowers and grapefruit. A nice nod to Rhone with just the right amount of oak to add flavor, texture and complexity but the oak doesn’t define the wine.
Mitolo Jester 2015 Shiraz – priced around $22. A 100% Shiraz wine that’s aged in used French oak for 18 months. This wine has a nose of berries, a strong black pepper aroma, and a hint of meatiness. It’s dry with medium acidity, medium tannins and full bodied with flavors of black plum, black pepper, and black olives. The tannins are really silky and give this wine a lovely texture and the finish lingers for a long time and we thought this was fruity, complex but still easy to drink on it’s own.
Tait Family Winery’s The Ball Buster 2014 – priced around $25. This wine has aromas of dark fruits, earth and herbal liqueur. It’s dry with medium acidity and medium tannins with flavors of stewed dark fruits, dusty earth and a hint of dark chocolate. This wine is intense, it’s not trying to be subtle (hence the name). We thought this wine was refine and the winemaker did an excellent blend – the Cab brings tannins and structure and the Merlot brings fruit and roundness to the wine.
Do you have any favorite South Australian wine? Let’s us know your recommendations below!