The First Fleet brought vines to Australia in 1788. Propagation and winemaking developed rapidly with the establishment of numerous vineyards in the now suburban areas of Sydney. With the surveying and settlement of the country new viticultural areas were established. By the 1890's the Hunter, Barossa and Yarra Valleys were producing wines.
The primary focus of the wine industry before the 1950's was fortified wines. The Rutherglen district of northern Victoria produced and still produces some of the country's greatest fortified wines and many of the original family wineries still operate today. Fortified wines were the main focus as the additional alcohol provides the wine with protection against microbiological attack making it suitable for storage and transport.
German and Italian immigrants were largely responsible for the development of the Barossa and Riverina wine regions respectively. Many of their descendants still operate family wineries today.
The 1960's saw a major shift in wine production to sweet and sparkling wines. In the later part of the 1960's the shift in preference was to red wines of the fuller bodied Bordeaux style. This boom in red wines was sparked by a large increase in immigration and a strong economy.
1970's saw the aromatic wines boom. The trend was to semi-sweet fruit driven styles such as Gewürztraminer, Gewürztraminer Riesling, and Rhine Riesling. The 1970's also saw the introduction the wine cask ("bag in a box"). This simple invention was an Australian one and is attributed to several companies. Angoves were the first to introduce it to the market in 1965 followed by Penfold's Wines.
By the end of the 1970's as large plantings of Traminer and Riesling were starting to come into production the wine preference changed to dry white table wines and the Chardonnay boom. Chardonnay continued to be the wine of preference throughout the 1980's and has retained prominence amongst white wine drinkers till today.
The late 1980's saw Australian ("New World") wine break into the traditional markets of Europe. Australian wines were and are perceived as being clean and fresh with fruit driven white styles and robust reds. This export boom created a greater demand for our red wines than the whites fuelling the start of the red wine boom and this is still the trend today.
In 1995 we had secured about 1.5% of the world wine trade and today this has risen to 3%. In 1993 the Wine Industry Enquiry as part of their investigations introduced a strategic plan for the growth of the Australian wine industry through export called "Strategy 2025". Strategy 2025 sets out the major goals for the industry as to the total area under vine, what countries we wish to export to and at what level.
