Things are looking up for Down Under wines

A new era of interest appears to be dawning in full-bodied offerings from Australia

One of the exciting trends coming out of last week’s Gourmet Food & Wine Expo in Toronto was the growing interest in wines from Australia. Australian producers enjoyed tremendous popularity throughout Canada in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly on strength of their Shiraz and Shiraz-Cabernet blends, until consumer taste shifted away in 2007 toward red wines from Argentina and elsewhere.

While there’s always been a market for quality producers, such as D’Arenberg, Penfolds and Wolf Blass, the overall impression of Australian wine suffered greatly.

Consumers of a certain age, who first embraced wine when Australian Chardonnay and Shiraz were the fashionable choices, came to view wines from Down Under as something they drank when they didn’t know anything about wine.

Younger audiences can be forgiven for not recognizing Australian wines, considering they aren’t marketed as heavily as selections from California, Chile or Argentina.

Following 2007, Australian wine exports to Canada and the rest of the world went into freefall. Recovering from the boom and bust cycle has been a long journey for Australian wineries, but there are signs things are getting back on track.

Global exports are increasing and trade agreements with China, Japan and South Korea is sure to further stimulate sales of Australian wine.

Here at home, consumers appear ready to embrace the range of red and white wines coming from Australia’s diverse regions, as well as more affordable blends produced with grapes from multiple states.

Judging by feedback received during tasting seminars where I poured notable Australian wines alongside top picks from Canada, California, Italy and South Africa, there’s no longer any bias against ripe and flavourful red wines.

A ripe and full-bodied Shiraz from the Barossa Valley in South Australia (Pirathon by Kalleske Shiraz 2013, $29.95, Vintages 130278) was a consensus favourite of the Friday Night Flights seminar. In a similar session staged five years ago, that wouldn’t have been the case.

A marked increase in red wines made with the Grenache grape is also garnering approval from tasters who appreciate that grape’s juicy and easygoing character.

An enjoyable and flavourful $20 red wine from Yalumba called The Strapper proved to be one of the most talked-about wines poured at the Vines Magazine booth over the weekend.

Made with Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvèdre, this pretty and perfumed red held its own alongside popular Cabernets from California and established reds from Italy.

For Australian wines, interest can only grow.