Wines of New South Wales

The first of the Australian states, NSW also naturally claims to have the oldest vineyards, including the oldest continuous vineyard, the Wyndham Estate, established in the Hunter Valley in 1828. The area now known as NSW was home to dozens of tribal Aboriginal groups when Sydney was first settled in 1788. Since that time Sydney has grown into an international metropolis from which many of its inhabitants are anxious to get away from time to time to the state s many wine regions

Begun as a convict settlement at Sydney Cove, NSW at one time encompassed more than half the Australian continent until the gradual carving out of the colonies of Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia reduced it to its present, though still respectable, size. From Sydney, convicts, settlers and later gold seekers, went over the Great Dividing Range into the valley of the Hunter River, up and down the north and south coasts and gradually further west into the drier plains.

Agriculture was the first industry, cattle and then increasingly sheep. Gold saw a great rush of new people in the 1850s and 60s, before most turned their hand once again to more mundane ways of making a living. NSW led the way in supplying produce to the motherland, as many then regarded Britain, until WW1 saw greater independence in areas such as industrial production, as well as in attitudes. The twentieth century saw Sydney grow into one of the great cities of the world, capping its arrival with the celebration of one of the best Olympic Games at the beginning of the new millennium.

Vine cuttings were reputedly brought to NSW with the First Fleet in 1788 and planted in Farm Cove itself. Naturally this was not very successful given Sydney s humidity. However, Parramatta and the Liverpool plains offered as slight improvement in this regard and so more permanent vineyards were established in what are today Sydney s western suburbs. These were productive enough to actually export wine in the 1820s and the name Minchinbury, famous again today in wine making, dates from that time. However, once the Great Dividing Range was crossed and the Hunter Valley settled NSW had a region for wine growing that would one day dominate all others.

The domination of the Hunter valley did not to happen quickly however, with wine being produced in many areas such as the Southern Highlands, Port Macquarie, and Mudgee, among others, throughout the nineteenth century; some winning awards and many being exported. For reasons that are not completely clear, this scattered wine making had just about entirely ceased by the beginning of the twentieth century; perhaps due to cheaper imports brought about by better shipping, or maybe a growing taste for beer. While some Hunter valley vineyards continued, the great majority of wine regions needed to be re-established, or established for the first time, in the great wine boom of the 1970s and 80s, or even as late as the 1990s in some cases.

While many Sydneysiders claim it has a Mediterranean climate, its humidity and pockets of rainforest give is a very temperate feel. North of Sydney the temperate climate continues along the coast and the likelihood of rainforest increases. Along the coast to the south the luxurious forests and fertile pastures continues in a more wet temperate style. The Great Dividing Range, which passes right through NSW, provides plenty of cool micro-climates, from the decidedly English  Southern Highlands to the Alpine regions nearer the border with Victoria. Over the mountains the Great Western Plains stretch out, beginning with fertile lands that gradually become drier and hotter until NSW itself ends in very much desert country. Only along the great river system, where the Darling and Murray rivers pass, is the dry climate made adaptable by the possibilities of irrigation, for which the Riverina region is most well-known.

Name a kind of wine and NSW can produce it, and probably does. While Chardonnay stands out from all the rest, the versatility of this grape means that its wines vary greatly with the regions that produce it. Naturally the cool climate regions such as Tumbarumba and Cowra produce a more sparkling version compared to the drier produce of the Hunter Valley and Riverina. Many areas have their specializations, from the outstanding Semillons of the Hunter, to the Shiraz of Gundagai and the Shoalhaven region s Verdelho. Perhaps the most specialised are the Botrytised Semillons, produced by the so called noble rot , in the Riverina.

The coastal region is dominated by the Hunter Valley and such famous names as Rosemount, Tyrrells, McWilliams and Lindemans. Further up the coast is the Cassegrain family in the Hastings River region, and the Coolangatta Estate in the south at Shoalhaven. De Bortoli Wines of the Riverina are justly famous, as is the Chalkers Crossing Winery of the Hilltops region.

When thinking of NSW, many people think only of the Hunter Valley, though most NSW wine actually comes from the Riverina region. Increasingly the many wines of NSW are testing this Hunter dominance. The sunny slopes of the Tumbarumba region produce excellent Pinot Noir and Chardonnay of a sparkling wine type. Orange is another cold-climate region that produces great Pinot Noir as well as Sauvignon Blanc on its many slopes, often above the 1000m mark. Cowra is a strong white wine region that specialises in exceptional but reasonably priced Chardonnays and its Verdelho is also well worth a taste. Chardonnay also dominates in the Hastings River, maturing quickly in contrast to the Chardonnays of the Hilltops, which prefer to age nicely over five years or so. For range of excellence NSW has wine regions of a quality and productivity that stand second to none in the world.