Its adaptability to different soils and climates, and malleability in the wine room make Chardonnay one of the most popular and ubiquitous grapes. Responsible for some of the world’s most thrilling white wines wines including Champagne, it is in its homeland of Burgundy with villages such as Chablis, Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet that producers craft arguably some of the world’s finest wines. Chardonnay is also synonymous with California, where it can display riper, tropical fruit flavors, rather than the more restrained stone fruit and steely, mineral qualities often associated with its Old World and cool climate counterparts. While there are terrific fresh and vibrant Chardonnays made solely using stainless steel, the grape also knits terrifically well with oak, lending greater depth and weight in the form of a nutty, toasty and somtimes buttery component.
Accounting for nearly half of the country’s production, South Australia is one of the most important wine producing regions and consequently reflects the majority of our selection of Australian wine. Production is focused in the south eastern corner around Adelaide where the sub-regions Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Adelaide Hills, and Clare Valley are located. Further south in the state is the Limestone Coast Zone where the cooler sub-regions of Padthaway and Coonawarra produce some of the country’s finest Cabernet Sauvignon.
Adelaide Hills is a wine growing area in the Mount Lofty Ranges region of South Australia. It is one of the largest wine regions in the state, reaching the Fleurieu Peninsula and McLaren Vale in the south, and the Barossa and Eden Valleys in the north. Both the region's proximity to the state capital, Adelaide, and a thriving tourist industry based on its natural beauty have boosted the Adelaide Hills' wine industry. It also happens to be the one of the oldest wine-growing areas in Australia, with significant viticulture practiced during the late 19th Century, followed by a revival in the 1970s and 1980s.
Key to the region's grape growing is the altitude of its vineyards, which range from 1312 to 2130ft (400–650m). This gives the region a cool climate, but the numerous valleys on this hilly terrain – with different slopes and exposure to sunlight – offer a varied range of mesoclimates, making the correct site selection vital. In general, the northern part of the region, with its predominantly west-facing slopes, is colder than the southern elevations, where coastal effects moderate the temperatures. Throughout the Adelaide Hills region, the ripening season is dry; this, along with the colder temperatures, allows the grapes to mature at a slow pace, resulting in concentrated wines.
The cool climate of Adelaide Hills is perfect for Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Semillon, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir; the latter two also go into the region's sparkling wines. The white still wines are characterized by clean and fresh varietal flavors and crisp natural acidity. Most of the Chardonnays go through malolactic fermentation for added complexity. The long and cool growing season also reliably ripens red grapes in most years, when grown in the right locations. Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlot are dominant.
White wine is a wine whose color can be pale-yellow, yellow-green, and yellow-gold colored. The wine is produced from a variety of grape varieties. The flavor and color comes from the juice of the grape and sometimes the skin of the grape as well. Interestingly, not all white wine comes from white grapes. Some select red grapes are used as in Champagne.
