The Tasting Panel magazine

July 2009

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A ustralian winemakers have been suffering a debilitating decade-plus drought, torrential rains that come after harvest, severe frosts (South Australia had seventeen in 2007 alone), and the recent fi res in Victoria, home to such celebrated wine regions as the Yarra Valley and Mur- ray Darling, have given new meaning to the tasting term "smoky." And don't forget sometimes unsympathetic politicians, who right now are considering putting a high- way through Coonawarra, one of South Australia's most revered and fragile Caber- net and Shiraz growing regions. Still, to paraphrase the much-quoted mot- to (often attributed to the U.S. Postal Service but actually from Herodotus): "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these vintners from producing some of the best wines in the world." Nowhere is this more dramatically evident than in the vine- yards and wines—vast and varied not just in scope, but in varietals and price—of three labels found under the umbrella of drinks giant Pernod Ricard. First there is Wyndham Estate, established in 1828 by Englishman George Wyndham, "the father of Australian Shiraz." Located in the famed Lower Hunter Valley in New South Wales, it is Australia's oldest operat- ing winery and has become one of Austra- The beautiful, bucolic Barossa Valley. Highs and Lows Down Under story and photos by Richard Carleton Hacker The "grapes of wrath" have been especially prolifi c in Australia over the past decade, but in spite of the setbacks, some wineries have managed not only to survive, but prosper Wyndham Estate winemaker Ben Bryant pours the current 2005 vintage of the rare Black Cluster Shiraz for a tasting with the author in the wine's namesake Hunter Valley vine- yard. This is the site where George Wyndham planted his fi rst Shiraz in 1832. 56 / the tasting panel / july 2009 Australia

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