Guide to Australian Wine Tours, Wine Trails, Wineries, Festivals and Locations

There are Australian Wineries in Every State

The famous Australian wine industry is the 4-largest wine exporter in the world exporting over 420 million litres a year to many countries includes Britain, USA, Japan and China and also to the traditional old world countries such as Spain, France and Italy and Spain. There is also a major domestic market for Australian wines and the wine industry is a significant part of the Australian economy through wine production, export and also tourism.

Wine in Australia originated in 1788 when Captain Arthur Phillip, of the first fleet from Britain brought wine vine cuttings into Australia. The first vines planted died because of the unsuitable soil. But John MacArthur planted vines in the now-famous Hunter Valley region and later plantings in Victoria and South Australia saw the first wine for sale domestically by the 1820s. Today, the Hunter Valley is one of the world`s most famous wine growing regions. In 1831, the viticulturist James Busby undertook a 3 month 3-month tour of France and Spain and collected 543 vine cuttings (about 360 of which survived).

With these cuttings he started the first vineyard in the are where the Sydney Botanic Gardens is located, as well as in Victoria and South Australia.

It is not widely known that Australia has some of the oldest vines in the world because most of the Australian wine regions escaped the phylloxera plague, which completely wiped out many of the old-vine plantings in Europe during the 1800s.

Today there are over 1900 wineries in Australia in 60 wine major regions, with about 100 recognised geographic districts.

There are wineries in every state including New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia and also in the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory.

Australian wines are regarded as some of the best in the world. When you visit Australia make sure join one of the myriad of wine tour to see and taste Australia's wide range of wine styles and varieties.

You can do it in so many ways - on horseback, on a walking tour, bus tour, via a vintage car, by motorbike, push bike, hot air balloon, by limousine, helicopter or even by camel (well almost).

This is a great way to find out about Australian wines and many of the tourist centres and travel agents can arrange and book tours for you. On these tours can meet the winery owners and wine-makers, taste wines at their cellars doors, feast on fantastic regional foods and see the spectacular countryside. Short and extensive tours can be arranged.

Fortunately the 4 most famous and popular wine regions are close to the major cities - Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. You can choose from a one day wine tour through to a 12 day Wine Extravaganza Tour covering an entire region. Many of the regions have Wine Trails, or combined Food and Wine Trails that you can tour yourself in you own car yourself in your own car, or you can join a bus trip or and organised wine tours. Various Wine Festivals are also held throughout Australia to showcase local wines.

Australia has various regional definitions Zones, Region and Sub-region (Districts).

The names of the major areas including these types are shown below