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 Regional Overview
Visiting Australia? Discover our main wine states and regions
Australian wine regions
Australia is a large country - Margaret River is further from the Hunter Valley than Jerez in Spain is from Tokaji in Hungary - so, despite the distinctive national approach to wine, Australian wines are not all the same. The wines of Margaret River and of the Hunter Valley differ as much as sherry and tokay do. The three most important wine-producing states are South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. As well as bulk production, they each have specific premium wine regions.
Read more about the wine regions of Australia here.
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REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT ARCHIVE |
Home : Regions : Australia : Victoria : Goulburn Valley |
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| All articles on the Winepros Archive website are pre 2006 and are historical information only. |
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Goulburn Valley
Principal Wine Styles
Shiraz
This is big-bodied red wine country, producing red wines of awesome proportions. The old vines of Tahbilk take Shiraz into another dimension, but even its standard Shiraz is as compelling in its consistency of style as it is in its concentration and tannic strength. Mitchelton takes a somewhat different approach; its Shiraz is undeniably rich and textured, but the tannins are less pronounced, the overall level of extract less.
Marsanne
This is the only district in which marsanne is grown and made in commercial quantities - All Saints Estate (northeast Victoria) and Yeringberg (Yarra Valley) are the other wineries in Australia offering the wine, but they do so in minuscule quantities. For both Mitchelton and Tahbilk, the variety is important: in many ways it is the flagbearer for each, even though each makes greater quantities of other wines. Yet the style of the two wines could not be more different: that of Mitchelton is oak influenced, lemon-accented and gains a pungent, almost oily richness with age. Oak plays no part at all in the Tahbilk wine: it is delicate and faintly chalky in its youth, but in the best years is extremely long-lived, building the honeysuckle bouquet and taste which typifies the variety. Chateau Tahbilk, incidentally, has (or had) the largest planting of marsanne in the world. Mitchelton, too, is an important producer, using various approaches including the use of oak and using Roussane (seemingly sourced elsewhere)
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon follows much in the footsteps of Shiraz, with a diversity of style which might seem surprising given the relatively few wineries and the seemingly homogeneity of the climate. Once again, Chateau Tahbilk leads in the weight stakes, Mitchelton's approach is more softly, softly - and complicated by the fact that some of the Mitchelton label wines use diverse fruit sources.
Chardonnay
Has forged to the lead in white grape plantings, for it is capable of producing good yields at high sugar levels, and a peachy/buttery richness attesting to the climate.
Riesling
While showing a degree of variability from one vintage to the next, it is arguable that Goulburn Valley produces Victoria's best Riesling. Mitchelton has been particularly successful (and most consistent), but Tahbilk has done extremely well at times, never better than with its 2000 vintage wine. The wines have considerable weight and flavour, with marked lime juice and tropical fruit aromas and flavours intermingling. Despite their early appeal, the wines also have the capacity to age attractively for up to five years, holding their peak for some further years thereafter.
by James Halliday
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