Australian Wine History Wine was brought to Australia by the early European settlers in the late 18th Century.  Within 50 years the first wines of Australia were being produced and sent back to Europe.  James Busby often referred to as the father of Australian Wine Industry was a renowned viticulturist.  During the early 1830's James Busby toured the wine regions of France and Spain collecting vine stock of many grape varietals.  These original grape vine stocks were transferred to Australia and New Zealand by Busby, who became a "British Resident" of the territory.  James Busby was an accomplished writer with works including A treatise on the culture of the vine and the art of making wine. (Sydney, 1825) A manual of plain directions for planting and cultivating vineyards and for making wine in New South Wales. (Sydney, 1830) Journal of a tour through some of the vineyards of Spain and France (Sydney, 1833) Australian's have been making wine seriously since the mid-1850's even competing in French wine competitions.  Australian wines often scored highly in the competitions, but were always snubbed by the French when the growing region was revealed.  However, gold medals were often won by Australian wines against French, Spanish, and Italian wineries. Australia survived most of the phylloxera problems that plagued the wine world in the late 1800's.  Only the province of Victoria suffered heavy losses before American root stock could be used to stop the vine disease. Australia's landmass is almost 3 million square miles making it almost as large as the continental United States.  Australia's primary wine grapes are Shiraz, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Savignon.  Australia contains more than 1,100 wineries in 26 different wine regions. Australian wine history is rich in and exciting as the millions of people who live there today.  It is one of the largest producers and exporters of wine in the world.  Australian wines are respected the world over as some of the finest produced.

Australian Wine History Sites  Wikipedia - Australian Wine Excellent resource on the history of the Australian wine industry.  Includes links to wine region, reference books, and related Australian wine sites.  Wine History - Foster's Group Detailed account of twentieth century Australian wine history which chronicles the change in wine varietals in Australia and the driving factor behind the development of the wine industry.  Wine Records - South Australia A record of the transformation of a fledgling wine producer into its present state as one of the most respected wine countries in the world. The theme includes extracts from early Australian writers on wine, brief accounts of the lives of national wine figures and the changing language of wine.