Victorian Wines
Victoria may only be the second smallest state, however it is home to more regions and individual wineries than any other state in Australia. It also has the greatest diversity of regional and site climates, which allows for the production of virtually every imaginable wine style from fine sparkling wine, high quality Chardonnay and cool climate Pinot Noir, age-worthy Cabernet, savoury Shiraz and the historic fortified wines produced in Scottish castles of Rutherglen.
In the 1880s Victoria was Australia’s largest wine producing state. The ebb and flow of prosperity due to gold mining and the eventual outbreaks of Phylloxera put a temporary halt to production in many areas. A resurgence of interest was reignited in the 1970s.
Victoria is tucked into the South East corner of Australia. It has many diverse regions from warm-climate regions that span the northern and western rim of Victoria and include the Murray Darling, Swan Hill and Rutherglen, which has carved a reputation for unique fortified wine styles such as Muscat. These wines boast exciting sweet fruit flavours concentrated through the long dry autumns that this area is known for..
Victoria ’s other wine regions are general cooler than those of the States to the north and west. One example is the Yarra Valley region, which is only half an hour’s drive from Melbourne, which produces Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines of elegance and delicacy. From stylish and refined Chardonnay to rich, voluptuous Shiraz; intense and complex Pinot Noir to unique and decadent fortified wines, you’ll find a wine to suit any occasion from the diverse regions of Victoria. In addition, you will find it very hard as a tourist not to enjoy all that the Victorian wine regions have to offer.