South Australia
South Australia produces most of the nation’s wine and boasts some of the oldest individual vines in the world. Some of these vines found in South Australia’s Barossa Valley and Adelaide Hills survived the great phylloxera plagues that wiped out many of the vines of North America and Europe and devastated Australia’s eastern vineyards. Quarantine restrictions were introduced to save South Australia’s vines, and ensure the State retained its grape growing status.
There are some excellent wine regions across South Australia, from the relatively warm temperate climate of the Clare Valley through the maritime precincts of the McLaren Vale, Southern Fleurieu, Currency Creek, and across the cooler Adelaide Hills region to the hotter Riverland region on the Murray River. The south-eastern part of the State includes the Limestone Coast and the “terra rossa” soils overlying limestone which give rise to elegant reds of the Coonawarra region. The Coonawarra climate is extremely favourable for production of quality grapes being very similar to that of Bordeaux with long mild summers, cool autumns and cold winters that give a seven month growing season.