There are a lot of wine regions in Australia. Some of the better ones:

Barossa SA
Coonawarra SA
Padthaway SA
Adelaide Hills SA
Clare SA
Margaret River WA
Yarra Valley Vic
McLaren Vale SA

Some others too.

I am from the Barossa Valley in South Australia so am naturally biased to Australia's premium and one of the oldest wine growing regions in Aust.

The Barossa established the Austalian wine industries craze for Shiraz, or Syrah as the French and Americans call it.

Shiraz is a red (or black) grape and makes everything from light table reds to medium and dark full bodied dry table wines. Also fortified - tawny or ports, and also excellent sparkling shiraz's.

Did you know the Barossa has the oldest Shiraz vineyards in the world, and some of the oldest surviving vineyards in the world as well? From the 1880's, as most of the world suffered a phyloxera disease blight in the late 1800's with South Australia escaping this disease (and quarantine keeping it out since).

The Barossa was settled in 1836 (my ancestors arrived 1838) and vineyards were planted in the first two decades of settlement. The climate in the Barossa is Mediterannean with cool wet or moist winters and warm to hot dry summers. The sea is only 80 kms away and moderates the inland temperatures to a degree. The climate is ideal for full bodied red wines.

These old vines and newer ones have been used to make very big and full bodied wines such as Penfolds Grange, the wine flagship of Australia. But also many others including: Barossa Valley Estates E & E (see paragraph below); St Hallett Old Block Shiraz; Rockfords Basket Press (good value for price); Peter Lehmann Stonewell etc

An early tip. The Barossa Valley Estate E & E Black Pepper Shiraz - get hold of it now! Good press news for this winery will be around later in the year and it will be much in demand. How's that for an inside tip!

Most of these wines are not cheap but extremely good value compared to over priced French wines with names but perhaps not the goods in the bottle

Wine quality is made in the vineyard not in winery. This is a universal fact. All that minute fiddling some French wineries do does not add to flavour, colour, aroma, it just adds to the cost and price. We have a French owned winery setup only a kilometre away and sold them some grapes last year. These wines end up costing over $200 per bottle, yet another Australian winery where I used to work won prizes for Semillon (white) for a Semillon varietal selling for $A17 per bottle.

Good value Shiraz from the Barossa starts at about A$16 per bottle. Try St Hallett Faith shiraz (also the Blackwell label which is excellent and becoming more widespread in the USA), Barossa Valley Estates Moculta and Ebenezer Shiraz's.

Here endeth today's lesson in Shiraz.