Banfi Vintners

Wine Regions: South Australia

South Australia is the largest wine producing state in Australia. Its many growing areas are familiar if not downright famous.

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  • The Adelaide Hills were higher than the Himalayas 150 million years ago. Now, these weathered and worn down mountains are home to Pinot Noir, Riesling, Chardonnay, Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. The climate is cool, wet and marginal. Grapes struggle to ripen here.
  • McLaren Vale has a Mediterranean climate: its summers are warm and dry with cooling sea breezes. Much of the area is planted to red grape varieties.
  • The Barossa Valley was settled by German immigrants despite its Italian-sounding name. This warm growing region is inundated with sunshine. Here, there are many old vine plantings of Grenache and Shiraz—some of which are over 100 years old!
  • The Eden and the Clare Valleys are both famous for their Rieslings. Both areas are higher in altitude than the growing regions that surround them. They are stonier too.
  • Coonawarra is part of the Limestone Coast, which encompasses Wrattonbully, Padthway, Elgin Valley, Robe and Mt. Gambier. This region is mostly flat, warm and humid with a maritime climate. Afternoon cloud cover moderates temperature; summer rains are frequent. The area is famous for its terra rossa soil, also known as “pay dirt”—a red-brown mix of clay, sand and silt that sits atop a limestone subsoil. Red varieties dominate the plantings here.
  • Langhorne Creek is a warm, flat region with cooling winds and significant temperature swings between daytime highs and nighttime lows.
  • Riverland is the most important wine region in South Australia. It is responsible for half of the State’s production and 22% of the national total. The climate is a hot, dry and continental; the vineyard land is reclaimed desert brought about by a vast irrigation project. Many of the grapes go into wine destined for bag-in-the-box sales.

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The Barossa Valley has the largest acreage of non-irrigated vineyard land in Australia.

The Barossa Valley is home to most of Australia’s large wine companies. As a result, most of the fruit that is vinted in the Barossa actually hails from outside the region itself.

Clare Valley Riesling smacks of lime!

Terra Rossa soil is the most expensive vineyard land in all of Australia and is referred to by Australians as “pay dirt.”

Bag-in-the-box wines are known as “cask” wines in Australia and represent more than 50% of all wines sold.

Riverland, nothing more than reclaimed desert, was populated by a homesteading project for returning servicemen after World War I.

Chateau de Cardboard—Aussie slang for bag-in-the-box wine.

South Australia is the only state that wasn’t established as a penal colony! In fact, its liberal-minded colonials were the second in the world to grant women the right to vote. (New Zealand was first.)

The wine regions of the Limestone Coast have a unique common denominator. The foundation is limestone, formed from the residue of rich marine life, with various layers of soil left behind during the “ebb and flow” stages of the sea which receded from this area over a million years ago.

The combination of the well draining limestone and rich, nutritious soil, along with positive climatic influences, has contributed to this region’s popularity for winemaking.