Wines from New South Wales

Highlights of the New South Wales Wine Region

New South Wales is one of the six states in Australia that make up the Federal Commonwealth.

This, which is the most populous state in the country, is ranking second as the largest wine producer in Australia.

Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon
€10.12 Find merchant

Although this is not home to the country’s world-famous wine names, this is accounting for about 30% of the total wine production in Australia.

This way, this region is making revenue of around five billion Australian dollars.

Moreover, the wine production is facing a dramatic increase now and we can expect that it would become the country’s largest wine producer in the near future.

Let’s see the highlights of this wine region here…

Past and Present of New South Wales Wine Region

The country’s history suggests that the viticultural activities in New South Wales had played an important role in the antipodean wine industry.

During the 1970s, the state was producing almost one-third of the South Australia’s wines.

De Bortoli Noble One Botrytis Semillon
€25.28 Find merchant

We can say that the region’s wine production has trebled during the past three decades, although it’s making 15% less than its neighboring states in all the vintages.

During the year 1994, the wine regions within the state wanted to form a regulatory body to represent the wine industry of the state in federal levels through the Winemakers Federation of Australia Inc.

This led to the formation of the New South Wales Wine Industry Association. As suggested by the wine association website, the region is producing more than 26% of the specialist wine grapes of the country and is producing almost 34% of the country’s specialty wines.

In the international wine market, the state has an important role to play with its exports, making more than three billion dollars in a year. This is nearly 60% of the total sales produced by the industry!

With almost 40,000 hectares of land under vine cultivation, the region is producing 48,000,000 liters of wine every year.

Climate and Geography

Overall, the state is running for around 810,000 square kilometres and is covering a variety of microclimates. In general, the climatic conditions of this region are found to be similar to those of the French wine region, Languedoc.

The Great Dividing Range running through the NSW region has some substantial effects on the climates of the viticultural zones.

Wirra Wirra Church Block Cabernet Sauvignon/shiraz/merlot
€13.64 Find merchant

The areas with higher altitudes are experiencing cooler climates with more continental impacts. On the other hand, the Hunter Valley is found to be warmer with higher humidity levels and gets large amounts of rainfall during the harvest periods.

The region has various types of soils like clay, loam, and sandstone. In addition, we can also find some regions with volcanic loams with alluvial soils and silts in some vineyards.

Besides these, basalt, gravel, and granites can also be found in few areas.

Wine Regions in New South Wales

In total, the region has fourteen wine regions each representing the diversity of climates and terroir. You cannot find these in any other Australian state.

Here is the list of the wine regions for your reference:

Canberra District
Cowra
Gundagai
Hastings River
Hilltops
Hunter Valley
Mudgee
New England
Orange
Perricoota
Riverina
Shoalhaven Coast
Southern Highlands
Tumbarumba

Wine Grapes in New South Wales

It’s to be mentioned that the country’s two most famous grape varieties (Chardonnay and Shiraz) had their start here and these are growing well even today.

Apart from these, the following grape varieties are producing great results at present:

Cabernet Sauvignon
Viognier
Verdelho
Semillon
Riesling
Sauvignon Blanc
Botrytis Semillon
Chambourcin
Pinot Noir