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Importers of Fine Wines Since 1919 | Resources for the Trade |
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The Land of OzAustralia has a certain mystique. Its peoples are boisterous and outspoken. They are independent thinkers and champion rule breakers. Firmly anchored in the Southern Hemisphere, Australians live a reversed life. Christmas is celebrated mid-summer. Harvest is February through April. Water spins the other way down the drain. Some bushes have aroma, while some flowers do not. Swans are black. The stars are unrecognizable to someone from north of the equator. But, as the Aussies say, “No worries, mate!” In the Middle of Nowhere
Australia is a world onto itself. It represents the world’s largest island—and its smallest continent. The oldest land formations on earth are found in Australia. Its poor, depleted soils have been called fossils in and of themselves. Although many refer to Australia as a “New World” nation, chronologically speaking, it is, in truth, one of the oldest spots on the planet. Europe is considered “Old World”; but Australia, as a land mass, is older. The country is flat. Its average elevation is a scant 990 feet. Most of its mountains have been worn down to dust. The land is parched by a hot, dry climate and an unrelenting sun. Rain is scarce. Survival of the FittestInto this unforgiving terrain, the English deposited its unforgiven. The overwhelming majority of the prisoners had no agricultural skills. There were written texts to follow, but those instructions were geared to the plant cycles of the Northern Hemisphere. Seeds were inadvertently sown in the fall. Plants were pruned during their season of growth. The learning curve was steep.There were no native grapevines in Australia. Settlers brought wine culture to the continent when the first ships sailed into Sydney Harbor in 1788—and the authorities championed the vine. Wine was considered a civilizing drink—not a bad beverage to have on hand midst a colony of convicts.. Previous| Next
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Australia is roughly 80% the size of the USA with a population the size of New York state. Talk about wide open spaces!
Eighty-five percent of the plants growing in Oz are found no where else on earth. Most of its animals are nocturnal.
Stromatolites, primitive blue-green algae, believed to be the world’s first living organisms, still thrive off the coast of Western Australia. Australia is home to one of the oldest human cultures on earth. Cave paintings in Western Australia are twice as old as the Egyptian pyramids!
Just as California’s Gold Rush populated that state, Australia’s Gold Rush brought new immigrants Down Under in the 1800s. The grapevine followed the miners. Fortune seekers needed libation; vineyards provided it—but, after the mines petered out, the populace drifted away. Without a large local population to sell to, wineries shipped the majority of their wines abroad. In fact, they shipped them far a field. The neighboring Asian market had no wine culture, so goods were sent back to the motherland.
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People are greatly outnumbered in Australia. The country boasts a population of 20 million, yet there are 50 million kangaroos, 120-160 million sheep, and 350 million rabbits. 
Ninety percent of all Australians live within thirty minutes of the beach. No wonder surfing and other water sports are so popular!
Oz is the only place on the planet where marsupials (e.g., kangaroos) are the dominant form of mammalian life.
In colonial Australia, laborers’ wages were partly paid in rum or wine. Back then, all alcoholic beverage could be used as currency.