Australian Wine Making Industry And It's History

Like a fine red wine, Australia’s wine making industry continues to mature and grow in complexity as the years pass. Compared to the millennia-old wine making traditions of Europe, Australia’s wine making industry is relatively young and does exceptionally well with 21st century ideas such as bio dynamics and buying wine online. The 230-odd years since Captain Arthur Phillip brought the first wine grapes to Australia are barely an instant in the grand sweep of history, but Australians have made the most of this short time.

Over the last few decades, Australia has become one of the top wine making countries in the world. The volume of its wine production consistently ranks in the top six worldwide, and Australia has recently begun to challenge the three top wine making countries—France, Italy, and Spain—in total export volume. Today, Australian wine sales total around 1.5 billion liters every year, contributing about $2 billion annually to the domestic economy, much of which now comes from consumers buying wine online.

The turn-around has been incredible. After all, it was not so long ago that the Australian wine industry was primarily known for its sweet and fortified wines, which can be quite good, but let’s face it—they don’t exactly grab the attention of wine critics and sophisticated wine consumers. Australian winemakers have been able to take a few international wine prizes here and there since the early 1800s, but most of the fine Australian wines have been made by small vineyards that didn’t have the volume to consistently send their wines abroad.

The modern Australian wine boom started during the Second World War, when thousands of international troops participating in the Pacific theatre were stationed in the country. And wherever there are thousands of young men on furlough or supporting military activities, the fact is that beer, wine, and spirits will be in high demand. It’s no secret that certain industries tend to grow financially during wartime, and the Australian wine industry is one of them.

To seal the deal, the post-war period saw a massive influx of European immigrants looking for new beginnings. These new Australians from countries like Spain, France, and Poland brought their old-world knowledge of wine and applied it to the unique climates and soils of southern Australia. When their efforts were combined with the hard work of hundreds of long-standing Australian wineries that had already been producing fine wines for generations, it lead to a bounty of new and reinvigorated wines that, after just a few decades, made it possible for Australia to stand shoulder to shoulder with any other wine making country in the world.

Looking back on the recent history of Australian wine, it’s obvious that Australians have turned their short wine making history into an advantage. Lacking a long tradition has allowed them to bring new and innovative ideas to a global industry that is not always known for its versatility. This spirit of freshness and innovation carries into the internet age, when millions of consumers interested in buying wine online are waiting for the industry to catch up with demand. Australian winemakers are already at the front of the pack, but what’s truly scary for international competition is that the Australian wine industry still has plenty of room to grow.