By Victoria Rollison
A great glass of white wine is the perfect accompaniment to most meals. If you always choose Chardonnay due to tradition, or you’ve stuck with Sauvignon Blanc because you know you like it, it’s time to sample some other varieties. Here, Rescu. looks at the different types of white wine available and the regions that specialise in them.
Chardonnay
The wine regions of the Yarra Valley, Margaret River and Coonawarra are all well known for their Chardonnay wines. Chardonnay is a sweet wine with bubbles and a fruity, acidic flavour.
Pinot Gris
Pinot Gris is a less well-known white wine as it is relatively young in Australia, but is fast becoming a favourite.
The Mornington Peninsula in Victoria and wine regions in Tasmania produce great examples of the Pinot Gris, which come in two main styles – a fresh simple flavour that is perfect for a summer day, and a richer, spicier version that improves with age in the cellar.
Riesling
The Australian Rieslings, unlike in Europe, are mostly made in dry styles. This has made this type of white wine extremely popular internationally, thanks to the balance between a fruity flavour and acidic taste, which makes it perfect as an accompaniment to most foods.
South Australia’s Clare and Eden Valley regions are celebrated for their Rieslings and the famous Barossa Valley produces a very popular full-flavoured Riesling. The Great Southern region of Western Australia also produces some good varieties of Riesling.
Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc has a green fruit taste, often describes as ‘citrus like’ or having a flavour of grapefruit, lemon and lime. The popularity of Sauvignon Blanc is increasing in Australia, which means more wine makers are producing new types all the time.
This variety is mostly grown in cooler wine regions, such as the Yarra Valley, Adelaide Hills, Margaret River, Orange and Tasmania.
Sémillon
Sémillon is an old favourite for many white wine drinkers, with different regions boasting their own flavours. The Barossa Valley boasts a deep yellow wine, with a hint of peaches, mangoes and vanilla. Sémillons from the Hunter Valley are very different, with a much paler colour and taste.
In WA’s Margaret River, they produce a Sémillon that is a good mix between the Barossa and Hunter styles in a wine that can also be kept to age.
Verdelho
Australian wine regions have made the Verdelho flavour famous by turning it from a sweet fortified wine into an unfortified, still table wine.
With a nutty taste, it is very different from other white wine varieties and is perfect on a hot day with a few nibbles. Western Australia, the Hunter Valley and South Australian regions all produce their own take on the Verdelho wine.
So think about these wine facts the next time you’re buying a bottle of white wine.
And enjoy your wine tasting!
Reference / Further Reading:
Wine Australia’s website.