Top 10 Wineries of Australia and New Zealand

By Chris Farnell

Australia boasts the fourth-largest wine export business on the planet. 760 million litres of the stuff hit foreign shores every year. The Australians aren’t turning out all that wine for our benefit however - the Aussies down another 500 million litres a year all by themselves. Unfortunately we’re unable to verify how many aspirin and glasses of water are imbibed the next morning, but we imagine it’s a lot.

Since wine is such a serious business Down Under, we thought we’d take a look at the country’s top wine producers.

AUSTRALIA

Penfolds

Possibly Australia’s most famous winery, Penfolds was founded in 1844 by one Dr. Christopher Rawson Penfold. Dr. Penfold was a firm believer in the medicinal benefits of wine- so you can always claim your drinking Penfold wines for medical reasons. Before he emigrated to Australia, Dr. Penfold got hold of some vine cuttings from Southern France. These cuttings would go towards the founding for the Magill Estate Vineyard, now a historic, heritage protected site. This was the birthplace of Penfolds Grange, a wine from the Shiraz grape that is often known as the “first growth” of Australian wine.

Henschke

Henschke is another grand-daddy of the Australian wine industry, which has also made its name with a Shiraz-based wine. Hill of Grace, the name of Henschke’s most famous wine, and the vineyard it heralds from, comes from the Lutheran church across the road. The wine, produced from vines planted in the 1860s, has been recognised as “Exceptional” in Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine. Definitely worth a taste if you get the chance.

Clarendon Hills

A relative newbie to the Australian wine scene, Clarendon Hills started up only in 1989. The brainchild of biochemist Roman Bratasiuk. Despite having no training as a winemaker, Bratasiuk used his insight as both a scientist and a winemaker to make versions of his favourite wines. Today the winery produces a range of single vineyard, single varietal wines, all of them produced from low yielding, dry grown old vines, both picked and pruned by hand then aged in high quality French oak barriques. Bratasiuk has become a winemaker to keep an eye on.

Wolf Blass

Wolfgang Blass arrived from Germany in 1961 with only a little money and a winemaking diploma to his name. From this humble start Blass went on to found the Wolf Blass winery. Over the last four decades Wolf Blass has received over 3,000 national and international awards. Today Wolf Blass is synonymous for a soft, rounded palate and well integrated tannins.

Seppelt

Another veteran of the old school of winemaking, Seppelt was established in 1851. With a century and a half of experience, it’s established quite a name for itself, particularly with its famous 100 year old Para Tawny. Ever since 1878, the winery has set aside some of its finest wine to mature in the barrel for a century. Trying a wine with a 100 year old vintage is something you need to add to your bucket list.

Yalumba

Founded in 1847, Yalumba is the oldest of Australia’s family-owned wineries. Its name is an indigenous Australian word for “all the land around”. It’s an appropriate name for a company that has invested a great deal into the Australian wine industry. The company is part of an alliance called “Australia’s First Families of Wine” that aims to highlight the quality and diversity of the nation’s wine industry. Over the last ten years the company has worked hard to introduce new styles of wine to Australian drinkers, winning its Winestate Magazine’s Wine Company of the Year award in 2007.

NEW ZEALAND

Australia’s wine industry may be in the top four exporters, but New Zealand is no slouch either. With wineries going back to colonial times, a magic combination of soil, climate and water have worked together to create some truly special wines.

Cloudy Bay Vineyards

For some people Marlborough country will always mean cigarettes, and those people are missing out, for the Marlborough region of New Zealand is world class wine country. It owes a large part of that reputation to the Cloudy Bay Vineyards, whose winemaking skills have helped put this region on the map. Since its foundation Cloudy Bay has made top class vineyards on what was originally barren sheep and cattle land. Years later, and Cloudy Bay’s Sauvignon Blanc is now an international benchmark, with its vibrant aromatics, layers of pure fruit flavours, and fine structure.

Mission Estate

Mission Estate boasts of its mantle as the “birthplace” of New Zealand wine, and you can see why. Mission Estate founded New Zealand’s very first winery in Hawke’s Bay in 1851. With pedigree like that, you could be forgiven for thinking Mission Estate is a strictly old school outfit, but nothing could be further from the truth. Mission Estate boasts some of the most sustainable winemaking practices in the country, using advanced viticultural practices and a progressive winemaking team, all housed in Mission Estate’s elegantly restored seminary building.

Kumeo River

Another winery founded by migrants- for some reason as soon as people get to Australia or New Zealand they want to set up a winery. Firm believers that good winemaking is as much as art as science, Kumeo River is committed to ensuring that all of its wines are properly and correctly produced, with great aroma and flavour.

Clearview Estate

History is full of people who have ignored conventional wisdom- and then been instantly forgotten because conventional wisdom is there for a reason, and you should only ignore it if you really know what you’re doing. Occasionally, however, there is an exception to the rule. Tim Turvey is one of those exceptions. In 1988 he was told that the land the Clearview Estate would be founded on was “too cold to grow wine grapes”. That land went on to grow the grapes that would make a Reserve Chardonnay which would achieve Super Classic Wine Status, and receive Gold and/or Five Stars in every vintage since 1992. And don’t let the “too cold” comment put you off either, this is a place worth visiting for one of the finest winery restaurants in the country.

Bottom’s up!