Australian wine drinkers have come a long way since taking up table wines from the 1950s. The use of fortified wines slowly declined, table wine casks boomed, then we increased bottled purchases.
Later different varieties were demanded, and the rush was on to deliver Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. The market matured again with plantings in new locations like Tasmania. Then around 2000 a new range of varieties appeared, particularly famous Italian varieties like Pinot Gris.
Next the long awaited appreciation of Grenache and Mataro, some vines of which were now 100 years old, arrived just in time to save the vines that escaped the 1980s vine pull scheme. Mataro loves a climate like the Barossa Valley and customers will enjoy the length and strength of the resulting flavours.
