Tasmania

Australia is the world's fifth-largest wine producer: around 146,000 hectares of vines, more than 100 grape varieties and 65 protected Geographical Indications, mostly in the cooler south-east and south-west of the continent. Shiraz leads with roughly a quarter of the vineyard area, followed by Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Wine history begins in 1788, when Captain Arthur Phillip brought vine cuttings from the Cape of Good Hope to Sydney; John Macarthur planted the first commercial vineyard around 1820, and German settlers shaped the Barossa Valley from the 1840s. Wine law is liberal: origin, vintage and variety on the label must each be at least 85 % true – beyond that, winemakers are largely free.

Tasmania is Australia's coolest wine region – an island between the 41st and 43rd parallels, swept by winds from the Southern Ocean. With only around 2,300 hectares, production is small but the reputation is big: traditional-method sparkling wines from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier show citrus, green apple and white peach, floral notes, fine minerality and, with lees ageing, brioche and toasted nuts – many critics place them alongside Champagne. Jansz, House of Arras, Clover Hill and the biodynamic Stefano Lubiana are the best-known houses; Pooley Wines represents the Coal River Valley near Hobart. Beyond sparkling wine, the Tamar Valley and the east coast deliver tense, vibrant Pinot Noir as well as Riesling, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.