WINE

WHILE we shiver and cough our way through January with our eyes on a distant spring, Australians have been basking in sunshine while celebrating Australia Day.

On January 26, Aussies marked the anniversary of the day when the first fleet of ships landed in Sydney Harbour in 1788.

That ragged collection of ‘convicts’, some imprisoned for stealing food because they were starving, laid the human platform for a nation.

Perhaps some of their direct descendants are the inspiring wine-makers of today.

Australian wine is, in many ways, still in a formative phase. In the 1980s and 90s it became a victim of its own success when production became too large, delivering standardised bottles in