The special quality of wines from vineyards near the sea is part of the folk lore of wine, and we point to the famed wines of Bordeaux as the standard. Many times on my travels winemakers inland have explained to me that the special quality of their wines is because the vineyards are close to water and wave a hand at the nearby river or lake. There is no doubt that a large body of water, of oceanic size, is an intimate part of the vineyard weather-climate of all districts with ocean frontage. The two standouts in Australia are Margaret River and McLaren Vale.
Margaret River identifies with cooler wines even though McLaren Vale is further south drawing our attention to the role of the inland heat. Tasting McLaren Vale wines with those of the Barossa Valley is a fascinating experience as the chill of the Ocean plays with the summer heat of the ripening period to different degrees. Both districts should be a regular part of your drinking and the subtlety is to see the difference and not say one district is better than the other. Still the heat has made this a big wine at 15.3% alcohol.
