Southern Hemisphere Wine Regions
The Southern Hemisphere
has been producing wine for hundreds
of years, yet it has been only in the
past two decades that wines from Australia,
New Zealand, Argentina, Chile and South
Africa have truly reached an international
market.
Inspired by European
tradition and originally planted by European émigrés,
each country’s viticulture has
adapted to the climate and the culture
of the host country.
With modern innovations
both in the vineyards and in winery technology,
varietal wines in each of the Southern
Hemisphere countries have a New World
modernity to them and are making an enormous
international impact.
Fruit-forward,
clean and correct wines often at very
competitive prices compared to their
California counterparts, they have taken
the U.S. by storm.
Australia
Hunter Valley
 Located
in New South Wales, a two-hour drive north
from cosmopolitan Sydney, Hunter Valley has
been called the birthplace of Australian
Wine because it was the first region under
vines on the continent. It is home to Australia’s
oldest continuously operating winery – Wyndham
Estate, established in 1828.
Historically, Hunter
wines were first made more as an alternative
to rum, than for the taste of fine wine. They
had a tendency to bring out the aggressive
side of some people.
Today, Hunter
Valley is home to large and boutique
wineries, and produces fine wines from
light whites to heavy reds. Semillon
and Shiraz are what the region is known
for, and the style of these wines is
unique when compared with many other
regions around Australia. The climate
is warm to hot, with a sea breeze and
cloud cover providing a moderating cooling
effect.
Barossa Valley
 In
1842, immigrants from England, Germany and
Poland established one of Australia's best-known
and historic wine regions, the Barossa Valley
in South Australia. The largest group comprised
the Germans who had fled religious persecution
in their homeland. Within a short time the
valley developed its own culture and lifestyle
which has remained till today.
With a population
of only 20,000, it is now home to both
large and small operations, with most
of the country's largest wine companies
headquartered here, as well as many family-owned
vineyards having been owned and worked
for five or six generations. This is
the land of the old vine with many vineyards
of Shiraz, Grenache, and Semillon having
vines from 50 to over 100 years of age.
The concentration
and intensity of fruit derived from these
old vines show Barossa at its finest.
Barossa wines deliver what the consumer
expects out of Australia: full-bodied,
mouth-filling, fruit-forward wines.
Because of all
these reasons, the Barossa Valley is
considered an institution among Australian
wine lovers. From here, impressive wines
with the ability to age can be found.
Margaret River
 The
wines produced in the Margaret River
region cover all the classic varietals
and many new wineries are emerging. The
landscape in the Margaret River is beautiful
and changes markedly from place to place. It
is marked by small creeks and sweeping
valleys and thick native brush.
For successful
vineyard planting there must be an element
of protection from the sometimes harsh
sea wines. The soil is extremely
permeable and will shed its moisture
easily, requiring irrigation.
The cool breezes from
the Indian ocean create conditions for elegant,
strong and earthy Cabernet Sauvignon, grassy
Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc and distinctive
and well-structured Chardonnay, a variety
that can age in this region better than most
warmer regions of Australia.
New Zealand
Marlborough
 Sauvignon
Blanc is the wine grape variety most
associated with New Zealand at the present,
and Marlborough has become the
country’s glamour region because
of its accomplished wine grown there.
Located at the
northern tip of the South Island, Marlborough’s
wines have impeccable structure with
good acidity and vibrant fruit. Pinot
Noir is promising, and a few years will
tell whether Marlborough will join the
Russian River and Willamette Valley as
sources of world class New World Pinot
Noir.
Martinborough
 Martinborough
is at the southern tip of New Zealand’s
North Island, and in spite of the fact
that many growers try to capitalize on
New Zealand’s Sauvignon Blanc identity,
the region may turn out to be the country’s
finest for Pinot Noir. Ata Rangi,
the celebrated producer of award winning
Pinots, is located in this region.
Top quality Cabernet
Sauvignon is also grown in Martinborough,
although it may be difficult to find
a market already overstuffed with Cabernet
from every grape growing location in
the world.
Hawke's Bay
 Hawke’s
Bay is New Zealand’s oldest winemaking
region and is the country’s leading
producer of award-winning red wines. Located
on the east coast of the North Island,
the landscape begins with the forested
Ruahine and Kawkeka Ranges where the
land sweeps down from the mountains towards
the coast, flattening out to become a
plain.
Cabernet Sauvignon
is Hawke’s Bay’s leading
wine, with Merlot a close second.
Chile
Maipo Valley
 Maipo
Valley is Chile’s most prestigious
wine grape growing region, an area responsible
for the country’s finest red wines,
primarily Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay
and Merlot. There are champions for
Carmenère, a Bordeaux refugee that
once was thought to have potential as Chile’s
identifying grape. But the wines lack
charm and depth, and most varietals have
Cabernet added to them to make them interesting
to drink.Maipo Valley is in the North central
area of Chile.
Casablanca
 Casablanca
is Chile’s new northern coastal
wine region, and wines from this area
have exhibited the racy minerality one
associates with cool weather fruit. The
region is promising for wines with good
structure.
Argentina
Mendoza
 It
is in the rugged Andes that the principal
wine growing region of Mendoza is located,
boasting over 900 wineries in the worlds
highest altitude vineyards. The
vineyards are located primarily 350 to
2100 meters above sea level, a terroir
that favors slow ripening and the development
of complex flavor components.
Argentina’s
flagship varietals are Malbec and Torrentés. Malbec
is a red grape from Bordeaux that has
declined in significance there, while
Torrentés is a local white varietal. Malbec
is fast gaining popularity for its earthy
character, as well as medium body and
lush plum flavors. Torrentés
is a charmer, a light and fresh wine,
with an aromatic and floral nose, and
flavors of peach and tropical fruits.
Cabernet Sauvignon,
Merlot, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc
are also produced with success in Argentina. The
Cabernets are big and bold, the Merlots
smooth and fruity, the Chardonnays ranging
from fruity to complex, and the Sauvignon
Blancs zingy, just the way we like them.
South Africa
Stellenbosch
 South
Africa has produced wines shortly after
Europeans colonized the country in the
seventeenth century. Over the centuries,
winegrowing has pretty much been traditional,
and little wine except sweet wine has
interested anyone outside of the country. In
fact, Constantia, South Africa’s
Muscat-based dessert wine commanded prices
in Europe second only to Hungarian Tokaji
in the eighteenth century.
The international
embargoes against South Africa during
the apartheid era in the second half
of the twentieth century coincided historically
with the worldwide wine boom. While
the world’s wine regions were heavily
investing in modernizing vineyards and
winemaking, South African vintners languished. Finally
apartheid was abolished, investment came
rolling in and the quality of South African
wines improved, albeit playing catch
up with other New World regions.
Pinotage, the
curious South African cross of Pinot
Noir and Cinsaut, started out being South
Africa’s “Shiraz,” but
the flavors were disagreeable to most
and a curiosity at best, and other more
conventional varieties are taking center
stage.
Cabernet Sauvignon,
sweet fortified wine, and Shiraz have
been produced with increasing quality,
but it is the white wines, particularly
Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc that
have excelled early. In both cases
the acidity is superior to most examples
produced in California and Australia,
and are varieties to seek out.
Stellenbosch is
South Africa’s most prestigious
grape growing region, and one of the
world’s most beautiful. Located
just to the east of Cape Town, Stellenbosch
produces all the major international
vine varieties in its cool climate and
hosts most of the leading estates in
the country. Cabernet Sauvignon,
Merlot, Shiraz, Pinotage, Sauvignon Blanc
and Chardonnay along with sweet wine
are its major varietals. |
