Wine tasting in Australia and NZ
Hunter Valley, Barossa Valley, Margaret River and Marlborough
Wineries to travel to in Oz and New Zealand include Wolf Blass, Jacob's Creek, Lindemans, Penfolds and those of the Gisborne and East Cape regions.
Once upon a time, wine was French or, at a push, Italian. Anything else was treated with the sort of suspicion usually reserved men in camelskin coats offering genuine designer watches. However, if you wander down the spirits aisle at Tescos now, you’re bombarded with Aussie and Kiwi wines of all varieties, and they are now practically standard issue.
Despite Australia being a largely barren wasteland, there are some areas that are absolutely perfect for churning out mammoth amounts of delightfully suppable plonk.
The most famous of these are probably the Hunter and Barossa Valleys. The Hunter Valley, a couple of hours drive north of Sydney, is home to a veritable barrel-load of wineries, including the world famous Penfolds and Lindemans. If you can hire a car and a mug to drive you, you can sort yourself out with a staggering tour of them, and many offer free tastings.
The same applies to the Barossa, a couple of hours out of Adelaide. The Barossa is named after the Spanish site of a British victory in the Napoleonic wars, although subsequently misspelt whilst the maps were being drawn up. It’s home to famous brands such as Wolf Blass and Jacob’s Creek, and has levels of specialization that are equal to anywhere in the world.
A third option, perfect if you’re out west, is Margaret River. In the south-west corner of WA, this is a bit of a surfing hotspot, but it’s perfect if you fancy going gourmet for a while. The wineries here don’t produce quite as much of the romance-enhancing liquid, but they do pride themselves on making it premium quality. You can combine visiting the wineries with trips to chocolate and cheese factories, and then feel like a right fat bloater.
In New Zealand, the main regions are around Gisborne on the East Cape of the North Island, and Marlborough in the north east of the South Island. Again, with many wineries in close proximity, all you need to do is bully someone into driving you around, and as long as you vaguely pretend to pay attention to the swilly-in-mouthy stuff, you can get absolutely roaring.
