Comparing Australian wines to those of France and California

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Question submitted by Daniel Lim, Singapore

I would like to ask, how do Australian wines compare in relation to wines from the likes of France and California, which boast of some of the world’s finest wines?
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Like France and California, Australia also boasts some of the finest wines in the world. Each of these three countries if we can consider California this way for a moment without getting into politics is home to a large number of different wine regions, each of which has its own particular characteristics of climate, soil and topography. As such, each of these regions is capable of producing wine that is different from any other.

To speak in a general sense, there are more cool regions in France making quality wine than there are warm to hot regions. The reverse applies in California, so if you were wanting to generalise about the wines of France and California, you could say with a measure of justification that because of its warmer climate, Californian wines are richer, riper and rounder than French wines. This is because when grapes are able to ripen more quickly to higher levels of sugar, they can but certainly not always produce wines of more richness, concentration and mouthfilling character than those that struggle in a broadly cooler climate to become fully ripe.

Because it has a large number of cool and warm to hot regions, and because its wine regions are so incredibly diverse in a physical, geological and climatic sense, it’s perhaps harder to speak in such general terms about Australian wine. The everyday Australian wines from labels like Lindemans, Jacob’s Creek, Yellow Tail and Rosemount Estate do generally come from the warmer inland regions of this country. They are typically ripe, generous and flavoursome, and, while they might offer more value for money, are not stylistically all that different from the less expensive Californian wines from large makers like Gallo, Woodbridge and Sutter Home.

Because of the influence of people like Robert Parker, who prefer the super-ripe and porty examples of Australian shiraz usually from the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale in South Australia to the total exclusion of all other wines made in this country, there is also a level of perception around some quarters that the only high-quality Australian wines are made in this style, or even indeed that Australia does not make anything else worth drinking.

This is patently incorrect. I have introduced people all over the world to the finer, more elegant and savoury wines from Australia’s cooler regions, many of which are frequently confused by experienced tasters for French wines. Without wishing to suggest that Australian winemakers are seeking to replicate the French product, it is sometimes enlightening to see that when fruit is carefully grown in certain sites, and when the wine is made using techniques traditionally used in France, the results can be astonishingly similar. We’re seeing this most these days with chardonnay, blends of shiraz and viognier, and also with some cabernet sauvignon and merlot blends from cooler areas.

However, the main point beneath all this is that regardless of whether or not there is some crossover in style, the best French wine in the world comes from France, the best Californian wine from California, and the best Australian wine from Australia. In Australia’s case, there is no wine equal in the world of Eden Valley riesling, Hunter Valley semillon, Margaret River chardonnay, Barossa Valley shiraz or northeast Victorian muscat and tokay.

Frankly, I believe it’s really a case of ‘vive la difference!’, which is exactly the spirit with which I will be crawling around the Napa Valley in California in about two weeks time.
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